Well, this one's a no-brainer. Bill Barr won't say it, but Trump will. From an interview with Chuck Todd:
CHUCK TODD:
If you could have one do over as president, what would it be?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
Well, it would be personnel.
CHUCK TODD:
Who is it?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one --
CHUCK TODD:
That’s your, in your mind, that's your worst mistake?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
Yeah, that was the biggest mistake.
CHUCK TODD:
Is Bill Barr your Roy Cohn?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
He should’ve never -- I think he's a very talented, very--
CHUCK TODD:
But do you know what I mean by that? You've always said --
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
No, no, look --
CHUCK TODD:
“Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Is he your Roy Cohn?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
You have to understand, Roy Cohn, but I had many, many lawyers. I mean, a lot of lawyers. Roy was one of them. He was a tough guy. Bill Barr is a -- first of all, Bill Barr --
CHUCK TODD:
Is he cut from the same cloth, do you think?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
Bill Barr is a very, he’s equally tough. He's a fine man. He's a fine man. The job he's done is incredible. He's brought sanity back. I think he’s real -- I don't think, I know, he's respected. You know, he loves the Department of Justice. He saw what was happening. He has done a spectacular job. Now he's in the process of doing something and I stay away from it. I really, I stay away from it. But I think he feels that what's happened in this country was a very bad thing and very bad for our country.
Part of the attempt to smear Barr. The Left really does fear that man. I hope their fear is warranted.
ReplyDeleteYes--but it won't work. I don't think the Left has ever had to deal with an AG like this one. And I think Trump handled it well.
DeleteIs Bill Barr your Roy Cohn?
ReplyDeleteAn obnoxious question in an obnoxious interview by an obnoxious talking head.
Yes. But I think Trump pretty much anticipated it and, in any event, turned it to his own purposes. His style is deceiving--he's more adept than he seems at first.
DeleteMS--It's all about The Narrative, and reinforcing The Narrative. Should Trump respond in a way useful to media, media gets to repeat the comparison, the characterization and character assassination attempt on Barr. It's they "When did you stop beating your wife" ploy. It's devoid of integrity--an unethical, underhanded, dirty trick.
DeleteChuck Todd is a toady for the Democrat Party. I believe that his wife works for the party or an officeholder.
DeleteHopefully Trump is being honest when he says "I stay away from" from whatever Barr's doing. He seems to know that's the best way to help Barr - leave him alone until asked for help. Barr is probably Trump's only trusted ally in the entire administration.
ReplyDeleteI know I wouldn't trust any of the other cabinet members to do whatever they saw fit. Trump knows he's the only one who's not going to be swayed by the D.C. Swamp. Well, both Trump and Barr. It's those two against the Swamp. Not sure if I like those odds, but I've donated more $$$ to Trump than any other politician in my life and I'm not about to stop.
I agree. Or put it this way--AG is such a critical position. There may be some others that he can trust--although don't ask me to name them--but none in as critical a position.
DeleteTime and events worked against the appointment of Sessions, an honorable man who seemed to believe Senatorial decorum still operated as he joined the executive administration. Fat chance.
ReplyDeleteHe went from being a member of the opposing party, to the enemy, in the eyes of Democrats.
Trump thought he was getting a point man on the immigration issue, when it turned out he needed a junkyard dog on the Russia hoax/coup.
I was talking about this with my wife this evening. I suggested that in a weird way Trump may have lucked out with Sessions. Yes, Sessions was a disaster in the way you and Trump state it. OTOH, if Trump had asked Barr to be AG at the start, Barr probably would have turned hin down and Trump would have got somebody perhaps more effective than Sessions but certainly not a Barr. As it is, after two terrible years, it looks like Trump has wound up with a real pillar for his administration as well as a nonpareil AG.
DeleteSo, what I'm saying--without Sessions, probably no Barr. Weird how things work.
DeleteWhy is Trump giving interviews to the likes of Chuck Todd and George Stephanopoulos? How does this help him in any way? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteI presume it's for the audience, and because--despite the overall hostility of the interviewers--the appearance gives him "legitimacy". In the eyes of viewers, not the media, but that's all he cares about.
DeleteThe President knows what he is doing.
DeleteFor example, when he stated that he would take information from foreigners and wouldn't tell the FBI, he knew what he was doing.
He has his reasons and that's why he does it. I'm not saying that he never makes a mistake. But sometimes he likes to stir the pot, sometimes he like to knock the opposition off of its game and sometimes I think that he is just sending up a trial balloon.
He subscribes to the theory that there's no really bad publcity. He always tries to stay before the public eye, and thus, as you say, during a slow news cycle will often "stir the pot" to maintain his presence before the public eye.
DeleteBarack Obama's Roy Cohn was Eric Holder.
ReplyDeleteYes!
Delete