Conservative scorches 'broken man' Bill Barr: 'This is your brain on partisanship'
William Barr has joined the growing list of Republicans who concede Donald Trump's profound character flaws, but very few of them will go so far as admitting they wouldn't vote for him again.
The former attorney general has published a memoir describing a president who "went off the rails" after losing the 2020 election, and he agreed Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection -- but Barr still finds it "inconceivable" to vote against that kind of man, wrote conservative columnist Amanda Carpenter for The Bulwark.
"Barr is literally saying he can’t mentally grasp the idea that voting for a Democrat would be a better alternative to voting for someone he directly observed trying to hijack American democracy," Carpenter wrote. "Someone, please make a commercial featuring this broken man: This Is Your Brain on Partisanship."
Barr joins other broken men and women from the GOP who agree Trump tried to end constitutional democracy with his lies, but like Chris Christie, Nikki Haley and Mike Pence, he won't rule out giving the twice-impeached former president another shot at finishing the job.
"People like Barr, Christie, Haley, and Pence will offer their criticisms when there is a whiff of opportunity — either in the form of speaking fees, book sales, or the ability to test future political prospects," Carpenter wrote. "Then they start measuring the cost-benefit of their calculated risk. Do they get applauded as a strong, principled leader who could be the future of the party? Or are they ostracized by the influencers at Fox News, their donors, targeted voters, and future employers?"
Only a handful of Republicans -- Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and a handful of former Trump aides among them -- have risked their political careers to challenge Trump, and Carpenter doesn't put any stock in those who refuse to put their skin in the game.
"For most of the operators, the mental hurdle of putting country over party is, as Barr put it, 'inconceivable,'" Carpenter wrote. "If being a good Republican means voting for a twice-impeached, insurrection-inciting, Putin-praising, 2020 loser . . . then so be it."
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