In a stunning analysis of the former president’s legal peril on Fox News Sunday, Barr cited and concurred with the assessment of Fox News legal contributor Andy McCarthy.
“If even half of it is true, he is toast,” Barr said. “I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning.”
Barr went on to take a flamethrower to Trump’s claims that he is being politically persecuted.
“This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here or a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous,” Barr said. “Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. His adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims. And I’ve been at his side defending against them when he is a victim. But this is much different. He’s not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them.”
The former attorney general acknowledged there has been bad blood between him and his old boss. But he cited other instances where he has supported Trump to make clear he views this case as a completely different animal.
“He’s been angry with me for a while,” Barr said. “But you know, I defended the president on on Russia-gate. I stood up and called out (Manhattan District Attorney) Alvin Bragg’s politicized hit job. And I have spoken out for 30 years about the abuse of the criminal justice process to influence politics. But this is simply not true. This particular episode of trying to retrieve those documents, the government acted responsibly. and it was Donald Trump who acted irresponsibly.”
I'll argue with Barr saying that past allegations were just "political enemies on a witch hunt," but he's right about these allegations being extremely serious. Just one of these charges could put Trump in federal prison for 20 years. For a nearly 77 year old man used to luxury, this might as well be a life sentence. If Trump enters a federal penitentiary, I don't think he'll be exiting alive. (Assuming no Republican president pardons him.)
While judges do a have a lot of power, they aren't necessarily beholden to the politicians who appoint them. Trump learned that the hard way already at the Supreme Court.
It's also how the GOP gets more and more radical. Right now, there are two types of Republicans:
True Believers. These people actually think that globalist socialist Democrats are using rainbows bought by Soros to turn kids trans. (Or whatever their conspiracy of choice is today.) They 100% believe this is true and will fight with everything to prevent it.
Power/Money Seekers. These people know that the Conspiracy Of The Day is total bull. They know that repeating it can be dangerous. However, they see that repeating this can get them more power and money. So they continue to repeat it.
The problem for the Power/Money Seekers, though, is that even they tend to have a line they won't cross. If they hesitate for even a second in crossing a line, then the True Believers will swoop in, call them RINOs, and replace them.
Over time, there will be less and less Power/Money Seekers and more and more True Believers which just will make the GOP even more dangerous. (There is a theoretical third kind of Republican, the Sane Old School Conservative, but spotting one of these in the party is rarer than spotting a unicorn riding a unicycle.)