Bill Barr, who served as the final Senate-confirmed Attorney General in the Trump administration but has a long history in politics before ever joining Donald’s team, isn’t thrilled with the prospect of Trump running for president for a third time in a row.
It’s definitely not everybody in the GOP who would even care about Barr’s thoughts, but some no doubt would have an interest, and it marks yet another example of disinterest in and disconnection among prominent GOP figures from Donald’s latest run for office, which he confirmed earlier this week after endlessly hinting at it. “He failed,” Barr said in an interview conducted for PBS. “He didn’t do what the whole country hoped, which — that he would rise to the occasion and rise to the office. He didn’t do that. So he’s had his chance. He obviously does not have the qualities necessary to unite the party, which is the first step on the road back, and he should stand aside.” Watch below:
Bill Barr on Trump: “He failed. He didn’t do what the country hoped – that he would rise to the occasion and rise to the office, and he didn’t do that. He’s had his chance. He obviously doesn’t have the qualities necessary. He should stand aside.” pic.twitter.com/u15SlwwAuF
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) November 19, 2022
The figure who might take over Trump’s stead is Ron DeSantis, the currently serving and recently re-elected Republican governor of Florida, who prevailed over his Democratic challenger in the midterms by a margin of nearly 20 percent, according to early results. DeSantis’s popularity likely also helped Republicans to win super-majorities in both chambers of the state legislature during the midterms, making legislative Democrats in Florida state government nearly strategically irrelevant. In this year’s elections, some of the key candidates with which Donald aligned himself lost, defeated by large margins from Michigan to Pennsylvania. Candidates for governor and both chambers of Congress were among those defeated. To be sure, DeSantis also stumped for out-of-state contenders who lost in the midterms, but it seems just in terms of branding that he aligned himself less closely with the candidates than Trump. For Donald, it’s a loyalty contest with himself at the center.
There is a growing tide of polling showing the Florida governor defeating Trump at both the national and state levels if the two were to actually face each other, although DeSantis hasn’t confirmed a candidacy. Obviously a presidency helmed by either would be destructive, policy-wise. Among Ron’s legislative hits is a newly judicially restricted bill imposing harsh limits around the teaching and promotion of concepts like white privilege and affirmative action in both educational and workplace environments. Apparently, the Republican commitment to free speech only lasts as long as the officials in charge like what’s being said.
