The Republican Party has a historic opportunity to revive the old Reagan coalition. The person standing in the way is the 45th president, writes the former attorney general.
First off.....I, a life long republican of the Northeast variety, do not want to see the old republican party come back. I just do not.
I am all for and fully support religious freedom. Bakers etc should not be forced to bake for anyone when doing so violates their religious beliefs. But neither do I want to have the religious right to have a dominant influence.
Tax cuts are great until they lead to financial ruin. You want to spend, then tax, but do not run up huge debts.
I do not want the republican party of Wall Street. Let the democrats have it. I want the republican party of small business and main street.
I do not want back the republican party that is lead by neocons, always looking for a foreign war or proxy war on which to spend tens of billions, cause massive disruptions, waste countless lives and make us even more hated around the world. I want a well trained, well armed, military that is capable of defending the nation but not one that is constantly looking for a place to fight.
I want a republican party of the Ron DeSantis type and not the Mitch McConnel type.
Trump served his purpose. It might have been good to have him beat Biden and serve a second term but I do not want him back. He is too toxic and with the democrats in such a horrid place we need someone that is sensible on more than just policy. We need someone that can form a large coalition against the far left. Trump is not up to that. DeSantis is our best choice and he also would not be term limited.
I would give my left arm for a DeSantis ticket with Tulsi Gabbard as VP.
For once I am at an almost complete loss for words. I agree with everything Mr. Barr has written. Including that President Trump's accomplishments need to be acknowledged. I would, however, only add one more caveat about President Trump. He is 76 years old and would be 78 if and when he assumes office. Meaning he'll be 82 when he leaves. No matter how vital Trump may appear now, a lot can happen in the aging process. So, in addition to being temperamentally questionable, President Trump is just too old. The Republican Party has a deep bench of excellent candidates. We need a younger, less divisive leader.
Who exactly is Mr. Barr talking to? Does he really think that most of the huge cohort who voted for President Trump did not know that he was childish, self-centered, and undisciplined? Oh- thank you for opening our eyes!
Mr. Barr needs to talk to himself, Mitch McConnell and the other folks in the leadership of the Republican Party. There are tough questions they need to ask themselves. Among them are: Why do so many Republicans call us the Stupid Party?
Why did so many Republicans disdain John McCain when we (the leadership) thought he was wonderful?
Why did so many Republicans despair at Mitt Romney's candidacy?
How many Republicans admired Bob Dole as an individual but knew he would lose?
Why was Lindsey Graham horrified and surprised at the media and Democratic treatment of Brett Kavanaugh when conservative voters were not?
How are we 'leaders' completely out of touch?
What have we done to show that we don't despise the people we want to vote for us?
Have we looked in the mirror and understood that our weak, spineless responses to things like the IRS targeting conservatives, the betrayal of the Constitution in the treatment of the Jan. 6 protestors, and dozens and dozens of other issues are what make people support Donald Trump even though they agree with all our complaints about him?
Time to look in the mirror, Mr. Barr and do your own mea culpas. I happen to agree that if he can't change and learn (which I don't think he can) Donald Trump should step off the stage. But, I think that if Republican leadership cannot change and learn then they should also do so.
Absolutely spot on. Trump had his chance and he blew it. DeSantis can pick up the Trump base and broaden the party as he has done in Florida to an even broader coalition than Reagan's.
Barr is living too long in DC if he thinks Republicans can revive the old Reagan coalition and win a presidency by canceling the guy who has the firm backing of 35% of confirmed Republican voters.
If the Barrs, DeSantis, Romneys,Ryans of the party want to ever win an election, they should find a way to coalesce around the leader of that base. The Democrats have no problem coalescing around and lionizing the current nasty partisan in the White House.
If Barr had disclosed the existence of Hunter’s laptop and the then pending criminal investigation of it, there would never have been a Ukraine impeachment or the sudden rise and election of Basement Biden. I don’t remember Barr disclosing the contents of the laptop after the Bobulinski interview or when Biden said it was Russian disinformation.
These Swamp creatures owe Trump and Republicans an apology for their silence. It will be Republican folly to listen to them now. The base knows the truth and will stay home if Trump is not the nominee.
Try winning with suburban housewives when Democrats run like they just did as bulwarks against national abortion bans and codifying Roe.
100% agree. Trump is a single issue guy, and the issue is himself. He needs to get himself and his attendant distractions out of the way of the business of politics and governing and allow the party to focus on someone creative and serious. 2024 cannot be about Trump v Biden. America needs so much better than that.
Yeah well, you would say that. I'm sorry; did you say that the reason Trump had so much trouble governing was the one in the mirror? You only suffered in the periphery of the blow back against someone standing up to the cabal running our country. Bill, I put so much faith in your integrity; I lost. You deluded yourself into thinking you were above the fray and too high-minded to struggle in the mire with lesser beings. Well, you and your ilk have this country where we are today. Thanks so much. Like the old farmer who came out of the cellar with everything destroyed in the storm saying "Ain't it fine the wind stopped blowing"! Faith without works is dead and the way your ideas smell so are your ideals. Keep 'em.
It seems everyone needs Trump. Everyone except the nation.
Dems need Trump to win.
The media need Trump to sell.
Anti-Trumpers need Trump so they can say I told you so.
Pro-Trumpers need Trump to tell the world I told you so.
Prosecutors need Trump for headlines and scalps.
Trump needs Trump to stoke the fire in that expansive narcissistic belly of his.
Our country is falling down around us, yet we’re obsessed with Orange Man.
Our schools cannot teach.
Our medical industry long ago abandoned its obligation to do no harm.
Industry has defenestrated capitalism from the corner office window and installed its wokier step-sibling. So what if ESG destroys the single most powerful engine known to man for relieving poverty.
Family? Optional.
Sovereign borders? Meh.
Our churches twist themselves into theological pretzels to fill pews.
We’ve abandoned one half of our population — boys — because it’s easier to deal with the mood-swings of feminists than teach boys to channel the aggression that comes with masculinity.
A schlubby-socked brat who never learned right from wrong has unleashed a financial scandal the implications of which we’re only now beginning to fathom. But, hey, Democrats got theirs.
Marauders hold our cities hostage, but our leaders insist law-abiding citizens must relinquish their weapons.
We’re militarily and economically incapable of dealing with our two existential enemies, one which threatens nuclear war, the other that challenges our allies’ sovereignty, while buying allegiance of the Third World with gleaming chip factories.
We can’t see past a group’s faces to measure an individual’s character.
I’ve got an idea. Let’s ignore The Donald and commit to cultivating true statesmen bore-sighted on saving our Republic.
“If Trump had run his reelection campaign on that platform, and dialed his churlishness back just a little, he would have won”
—————————————————-
Trump is definitely going to lose if he’s the nominee, but I don’t think personality tweaks are the key to victory when a lumbering communist skinhead who chased a black guy down the street with a shotgun and who can’t speak English just beat a heart surgeon in Pennsylvania.
I was a huge Trump supporter, precisely because he seemed like a giant wrecking ball. And that's exactly what Washington DC deserved and still deserves.
Immediately after the 2016 election, I started a Facebook Group, Praying for our President. It grew to over 140,000-members and we had tens of thousands of posts per day leading up to the election. In October, we were suddenly shut down without warning and without recourse — ostensibly because one of the members posted something about alternative treatments for COVID-19. (A post we would have deleted ourselves as off-topic, given a few hours)
This type of big tech and media meddling was definitely a brand of "stealing the election." The media handling of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was absolutely egregious. Anyone who believes a man who couldn't get 300 people to a Lady Gaga concert legitimately got more votes than Obama is drinking a very special kind of Kool-aid.
Obviously...and I mean painfully obviously...the Democrats took their usual vote-cheating schemes to a whole 'nother level
Nevertheless, meddling or no meddling. Cheating or no cheating. Trump lost. And then he lost me in the aftermath of the election. I can't believe he's STILL talking about the last election. It's absolutely pointless and counter-productive. I will not be supporting him this time around.
Ron DeSantis & Tulsi Gabbard to unite the nation.
Meanwhile, I'm in the process of becoming an Irish citizen. The whole country has lost it's ever-lovin' mind. Peace out, people.
The problem with Bill Barr’s anti-Trump positions is that the alternative for the GOP are Bill Barr establishment types… and voters are sick of Bill Barr establishment types.
Fraud absolutely prevented his second term, and it is the collusion of the Deep State, Bill - of which you are the poster boy - that prevented the overwhelming (even that term is an understatement) evidence from being presented to the public. Add to that the judiciary's refusal to hear any evidence - for the purpose, of course, of preventing its being entered into the public record - and the circle is closed.
What was the main purpose of Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution, creating the Supreme Court? It is to provide a means for adjudicating disputes between states - yet the Supreme Court refused to hear the lawsuit of Texas against the so-called "swing states" - Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, alleging fraud in the 2020 election. The fix is in, and you, Sir, as the perfect Trojan Horse, allowed, aided, and abetted that fraud. I have to say one thing: you're good. Really good. Unfortunately, you're also a crook.
Bari - snaring the former AG is a real coup. You are building an empire; never let up. We need you. I hope I live long enough to see you buy the NY Times.
First off.....I, a life long republican of the Northeast variety, do not want to see the old republican party come back. I just do not.
I am all for and fully support religious freedom. Bakers etc should not be forced to bake for anyone when doing so violates their religious beliefs. But neither do I want to have the religious right to have a dominant influence.
Tax cuts are great until they lead to financial ruin. You want to spend, then tax, but do not run up huge debts.
I do not want the republican party of Wall Street. Let the democrats have it. I want the republican party of small business and main street.
I do not want back the republican party that is lead by neocons, always looking for a foreign war or proxy war on which to spend tens of billions, cause massive disruptions, waste countless lives and make us even more hated around the world. I want a well trained, well armed, military that is capable of defending the nation but not one that is constantly looking for a place to fight.
I want a republican party of the Ron DeSantis type and not the Mitch McConnel type.
Trump served his purpose. It might have been good to have him beat Biden and serve a second term but I do not want him back. He is too toxic and with the democrats in such a horrid place we need someone that is sensible on more than just policy. We need someone that can form a large coalition against the far left. Trump is not up to that. DeSantis is our best choice and he also would not be term limited.
I would give my left arm for a DeSantis ticket with Tulsi Gabbard as VP.
For once I am at an almost complete loss for words. I agree with everything Mr. Barr has written. Including that President Trump's accomplishments need to be acknowledged. I would, however, only add one more caveat about President Trump. He is 76 years old and would be 78 if and when he assumes office. Meaning he'll be 82 when he leaves. No matter how vital Trump may appear now, a lot can happen in the aging process. So, in addition to being temperamentally questionable, President Trump is just too old. The Republican Party has a deep bench of excellent candidates. We need a younger, less divisive leader.
Who exactly is Mr. Barr talking to? Does he really think that most of the huge cohort who voted for President Trump did not know that he was childish, self-centered, and undisciplined? Oh- thank you for opening our eyes!
Mr. Barr needs to talk to himself, Mitch McConnell and the other folks in the leadership of the Republican Party. There are tough questions they need to ask themselves. Among them are: Why do so many Republicans call us the Stupid Party?
Why did so many Republicans disdain John McCain when we (the leadership) thought he was wonderful?
Why did so many Republicans despair at Mitt Romney's candidacy?
How many Republicans admired Bob Dole as an individual but knew he would lose?
Why was Lindsey Graham horrified and surprised at the media and Democratic treatment of Brett Kavanaugh when conservative voters were not?
How are we 'leaders' completely out of touch?
What have we done to show that we don't despise the people we want to vote for us?
Have we looked in the mirror and understood that our weak, spineless responses to things like the IRS targeting conservatives, the betrayal of the Constitution in the treatment of the Jan. 6 protestors, and dozens and dozens of other issues are what make people support Donald Trump even though they agree with all our complaints about him?
Time to look in the mirror, Mr. Barr and do your own mea culpas. I happen to agree that if he can't change and learn (which I don't think he can) Donald Trump should step off the stage. But, I think that if Republican leadership cannot change and learn then they should also do so.
What did Biden get 81 million votes? Kamala will get 85 million. Can we stop pretending it matters who we nominate?
Either we spend $2 billion collecting ballots from people who weren’t going to vote at Bass Pro Shops and Toby Keith concerts or we lose.
Absolutely spot on. Trump had his chance and he blew it. DeSantis can pick up the Trump base and broaden the party as he has done in Florida to an even broader coalition than Reagan's.
Barr is living too long in DC if he thinks Republicans can revive the old Reagan coalition and win a presidency by canceling the guy who has the firm backing of 35% of confirmed Republican voters.
If the Barrs, DeSantis, Romneys,Ryans of the party want to ever win an election, they should find a way to coalesce around the leader of that base. The Democrats have no problem coalescing around and lionizing the current nasty partisan in the White House.
If Barr had disclosed the existence of Hunter’s laptop and the then pending criminal investigation of it, there would never have been a Ukraine impeachment or the sudden rise and election of Basement Biden. I don’t remember Barr disclosing the contents of the laptop after the Bobulinski interview or when Biden said it was Russian disinformation.
These Swamp creatures owe Trump and Republicans an apology for their silence. It will be Republican folly to listen to them now. The base knows the truth and will stay home if Trump is not the nominee.
Try winning with suburban housewives when Democrats run like they just did as bulwarks against national abortion bans and codifying Roe.
Good piece. Identifies Trump's strengths along with his weaknesses.
Barr is a staunch Republican, of course, so his critique is delivered as a kind of Republican rally chant.
But I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I think the only way to restore America is to break the duopolistic chokehold of the two-party system.
100% agree. Trump is a single issue guy, and the issue is himself. He needs to get himself and his attendant distractions out of the way of the business of politics and governing and allow the party to focus on someone creative and serious. 2024 cannot be about Trump v Biden. America needs so much better than that.
Yeah well, you would say that. I'm sorry; did you say that the reason Trump had so much trouble governing was the one in the mirror? You only suffered in the periphery of the blow back against someone standing up to the cabal running our country. Bill, I put so much faith in your integrity; I lost. You deluded yourself into thinking you were above the fray and too high-minded to struggle in the mire with lesser beings. Well, you and your ilk have this country where we are today. Thanks so much. Like the old farmer who came out of the cellar with everything destroyed in the storm saying "Ain't it fine the wind stopped blowing"! Faith without works is dead and the way your ideas smell so are your ideals. Keep 'em.
It seems everyone needs Trump. Everyone except the nation.
Dems need Trump to win.
The media need Trump to sell.
Anti-Trumpers need Trump so they can say I told you so.
Pro-Trumpers need Trump to tell the world I told you so.
Prosecutors need Trump for headlines and scalps.
Trump needs Trump to stoke the fire in that expansive narcissistic belly of his.
Our country is falling down around us, yet we’re obsessed with Orange Man.
Our schools cannot teach.
Our medical industry long ago abandoned its obligation to do no harm.
Industry has defenestrated capitalism from the corner office window and installed its wokier step-sibling. So what if ESG destroys the single most powerful engine known to man for relieving poverty.
Family? Optional.
Sovereign borders? Meh.
Our churches twist themselves into theological pretzels to fill pews.
We’ve abandoned one half of our population — boys — because it’s easier to deal with the mood-swings of feminists than teach boys to channel the aggression that comes with masculinity.
A schlubby-socked brat who never learned right from wrong has unleashed a financial scandal the implications of which we’re only now beginning to fathom. But, hey, Democrats got theirs.
Marauders hold our cities hostage, but our leaders insist law-abiding citizens must relinquish their weapons.
We’re militarily and economically incapable of dealing with our two existential enemies, one which threatens nuclear war, the other that challenges our allies’ sovereignty, while buying allegiance of the Third World with gleaming chip factories.
We can’t see past a group’s faces to measure an individual’s character.
I’ve got an idea. Let’s ignore The Donald and commit to cultivating true statesmen bore-sighted on saving our Republic.
“If Trump had run his reelection campaign on that platform, and dialed his churlishness back just a little, he would have won”
—————————————————-
Trump is definitely going to lose if he’s the nominee, but I don’t think personality tweaks are the key to victory when a lumbering communist skinhead who chased a black guy down the street with a shotgun and who can’t speak English just beat a heart surgeon in Pennsylvania.
I was a huge Trump supporter, precisely because he seemed like a giant wrecking ball. And that's exactly what Washington DC deserved and still deserves.
Immediately after the 2016 election, I started a Facebook Group, Praying for our President. It grew to over 140,000-members and we had tens of thousands of posts per day leading up to the election. In October, we were suddenly shut down without warning and without recourse — ostensibly because one of the members posted something about alternative treatments for COVID-19. (A post we would have deleted ourselves as off-topic, given a few hours)
This type of big tech and media meddling was definitely a brand of "stealing the election." The media handling of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was absolutely egregious. Anyone who believes a man who couldn't get 300 people to a Lady Gaga concert legitimately got more votes than Obama is drinking a very special kind of Kool-aid.
Obviously...and I mean painfully obviously...the Democrats took their usual vote-cheating schemes to a whole 'nother level
Nevertheless, meddling or no meddling. Cheating or no cheating. Trump lost. And then he lost me in the aftermath of the election. I can't believe he's STILL talking about the last election. It's absolutely pointless and counter-productive. I will not be supporting him this time around.
Ron DeSantis & Tulsi Gabbard to unite the nation.
Meanwhile, I'm in the process of becoming an Irish citizen. The whole country has lost it's ever-lovin' mind. Peace out, people.
The problem with Bill Barr’s anti-Trump positions is that the alternative for the GOP are Bill Barr establishment types… and voters are sick of Bill Barr establishment types.
Fraud absolutely prevented his second term, and it is the collusion of the Deep State, Bill - of which you are the poster boy - that prevented the overwhelming (even that term is an understatement) evidence from being presented to the public. Add to that the judiciary's refusal to hear any evidence - for the purpose, of course, of preventing its being entered into the public record - and the circle is closed.
What was the main purpose of Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution, creating the Supreme Court? It is to provide a means for adjudicating disputes between states - yet the Supreme Court refused to hear the lawsuit of Texas against the so-called "swing states" - Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, alleging fraud in the 2020 election. The fix is in, and you, Sir, as the perfect Trojan Horse, allowed, aided, and abetted that fraud. I have to say one thing: you're good. Really good. Unfortunately, you're also a crook.
Great article.
Trump’s time has come and gone.
It was fun while it lasted.
Bari - snaring the former AG is a real coup. You are building an empire; never let up. We need you. I hope I live long enough to see you buy the NY Times.