The blog follows A.G. Barr very closely, as anyone with a law degree and experience as an attorney needs to. This is likely the third most powerful man in the nation behind Trump and McConnell, even more so than Chief Justice Roberts.

Thus, when friends that have known him for forty years start coming out in interviews to warn that he’s an extremely dangerous man, we all need to listen. Short and sweet, Barr was a fascist long before Trump could spell “GOP.” Trump only believes in aggregating power in himself, while Barr believes in using that power for things beyond himself.

According to an article in The Independent, relayed by Rawstory, Barr isn’t going anywhere, because Barr sincerely believes in authoritarian and fascist government. He is not going to tear himself from the one guy who’s managed to bring it to the U.S.

“Despite the public break with Trump and the recent reports of extant resignation plans,” Feinberg reports, “sources who’ve known Barr over the years aren’t convinced that he’s going anywhere anytime soon. Barr, they say, has exactly what he wants in Trump, namely a president whose lack of firm convictions — except for a sense that his allies should never face criminal convictions — has allowed his third attorney general to have free rein.”

Regular readers of the blog will take note that this is exactly the opposite of what we speculated will happen last Friday – that Barr will need to resign soon. We need to read all this knowing that Barr may “want” a lot of things, but he cannot do “whatever he wants.” He oversees tens of thousands of attorneys at DOJ, which is the one department in government closest to rioting and insurrection over the lack of adherence to the rule of law and constitution.

Barr may “love” what he has in Trump, but he cannot do his job if DOJ is insurrection. The point is, though, that there are indications that Barr truly would “love” a fascist authoritarian dictator in the U.S.

For his article, Feinberg interviewed some people who have known the 69-year-old Barr for decades — and they described him as someone who is motivated by a ruthless type of ambition and authoritarian instincts. One of the interviewees, Jonathan Smith, who knew Barr when they were students at Horace Mann High School in New York City, described the attorney general as someone who has long been “radically right wing.”

Radically “right-wing” sounds far more accurate than the sober, experienced but conservative attorney we were promised at the confirmation hearings. And it gets worse:

Lohman, who also knew Barr from Horace Mann, noted that Barr picketed an event at Horace Mann High School because it was serving as a fundraiser for the NAACP. According to Lohman, Barr believes in “some weird ass version of Catholicism” and “almost unlimited executive power” — and Barr’s “fascist” views made Trump appealing to him.

“Weird ass version of Catholicism” nearly always means “Opus Dei,” and I’m pretty sure that’s what is being referenced here. We’re not going into that deep dive, but you might just take it on trust that Opus Dei is not associated with progressive rights, democracy and social justice … at all.

“There are people out there who are fascist; William Barr, in my view, is one,” Lohman told the Independent. “And I evidently picked up on that a long, long time ago.”

Right, and there-in lies the problem.

Barr really does have a problem with Trump tweeting out shit in the middle of court cases and pardoning buddies. There “really is a problem” when Barr is telling Trump to just shut-up, and Trump paying Barr no mind at all.

Barr may be wholly fine with all the shit Trump does, indeed “love it” as a fascist himself. But, Barr still has to have a DOJ to implement it, and he’s been attempting to tell Trump that he “cannot do his job” – implement fascism – if Trump can’t keep his mouth shut from time to time.

But we can be assured, Barr is a true believer. We just don’t know if Trump is able to keep himself from his worst tendencies. Trump could make it such that Barr has no choice but to resign. As always, we will be keeping an eye on him.

****

Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom