After his presser to address the Mueller Report (for the 5th time before it was released to congress and the public) the verdict is in on Attorney General (AG) William P. Barr. He is definitely a political hack and just the hired gun that Mr. Trump was searching for. He had no problem at all as US Attorney General in throwing all of the employees at the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the bus as an additional step to acquit his obligation as a hired gun to Mr. Trump, a position which he openly sought to fill by way of a 19-page unsolicited memo that he wrote and supplied to Mr. Trump and his lawyers before he was selected for the job. The Attorney General of the United States/American people did not stop at throwing the employees at the DOJ under the bus, instead, he went on to throw all Americans under the bus as well. At his Thursday 4/18/19 presser, he acted as if he were Mr. Trump’s personal attorney rather than the American people’s attorney by – in essence – absolving Mr. Trump of any wrongdoing in how he has conducted himself during the time that he has been in office! To make matters worse, he did not even have a problem in lying to achieve what he probably thought was the perfect political spin of the report and perfect timing to drop it. Another one bites the dust; AG Barr has sold his soul to Mr. Trump! Should we take bets on, not if but when Mr. Trump will throw AG Barr under the bus? Based on Mr. Trump’s track record, it is sure to happen.
Anyway, after this press conference as I watched while the cable news hosts and their show’s contributors scrambled to review the redacted Mueller report and analyze it in an effort to share its findings with the American people, it was not hard to detect an air of sadness on the faces and in the voices of many of those contributors who were lawyers. Not only had many of them held AG Barr in high esteem but they had expressed a great deal of confidence in him, labeled him as an institutionalist, expressed their opinion that he would do the right thing and urged that everyone give him the benefit of the doubt after he was confirmed by the senate; but many of them had also expressed why they felt this way. It was because they had either worked with him or in some other way become closely affiliated with him during the course of their careers. They had found his reputation to be stellar. Perhaps Mr. Barr’s reputation had been stellar up until now. And whether he was simply power hungry or desired to associate himself with Mr. Trump due to his love of the law, belief that he was right in his assessment that a sitting president could not obstruct justice and therefore could not be subject to the charge of “obstruction of justice” and he wanted to see the person who occupied the Oval Office (Mr. Trump) succeed,” once Mr. Barr entered Mr. Trump’s orbit that did not matter; his fate was sealed. Because everything that Mr. Trump touches either dies or is indelibly stained.
I still struggle to understand how one man – especially a man like Mr. Trump, could come in and tear down what the founders worked so hard to establish and it took America hundreds of years to build on, build up, uphold and spread throughout the world and gain their respect, in one fell swoop. Does it mean that we need to take a really close look at our democracy and those things that are in place as regards how we govern ourselves and to assure that that democracy remains strong? Perhaps. One thing is for sure though and that is that if we intend to even have the opportunity to make an assessment regarding this while our democracy is still intact we must step up to our responsibility as American citizens to get informed on politics, stay informed, and vote! It is a frightening thing to witness a man such as Mr. Trump be able to so easily manipulate the system and skew the field in his favor when there are so many supposedly savvy and powerful politicians in place to protect the American people against this kind of thing.
Make America Great Again? Wow! Based on information in the Mueller Report it seems that at least Russia would be on board with this mantra. Of course it would have to be based on their interpretation of how to make America great again. This likely would include a puppet American president that would be controlled by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. Let’s say, for instance, someone like America’s current Mr. Donald J. Trump of the United States of America, Mr. Donald J. Trump. According to the report, Russia did a lot to help Mr. Trump to get elected while at the same time doing as much damage as possible to Hillary Clinton and her campaign. And although this report does not contain information that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Trump and individuals associated with his campaign conspired with Russia in interfering with our 2016 election, there is plenty of evidence that indicates that they did. I challenge you to read the report. But I must warn you in advance that it is long; 448 pages long. And after you read it, even if your takeaway is different from mine, you will likely be moved to become more cognizant of what is happening in politics and hopefully be moved to stay informed and vote. This challenge also applies to Mr. Trump’s dedicated and seemingly immovable base. Although you might refuse to accept anything negative about Mr. Trump from anyone who does not agree with him, hopefully you will believe what you read for yourself.
To everyone who reads this article and especially to Mr. Trump’s immovable base mentioned in the preceding paragraph, I implore you to always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line