Tag Archives: William Barr

Stopping Trump’s Loose Cannon

By Robin Bates | Published: June 23, 2022

Some of the officials who bravely stood up to Trump after his electoral defeat enabled him earlier. They are like the gunner with the loose cannon in Hugo’s “93.”

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Les Miz and Trump’s Execution Spree

By Robin Bates | Published: January 3, 2021

As Trump and Barr go on an execution spree, Victor Hugo’s thoughts on the guillotine come to mind.

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If Jesus Were to Return

By Robin Bates | Published: November 20, 2020

I suspect that certain Christians would vote for Trump over Jesus if the latter were to return. That’s the point made by this Scott Bates poem.

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Treachery at the Justice Department

By Robin Bates | Published: September 27, 2020

Anne Perry’s “Treachery at Lancaster Gate” seems to be about the 19th century but describes Barr’s corruption of the Department of Justice only too well.

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How Trump’s GOP Enforces Loyalty

By Robin Bates | Published: December 10, 2019

Trump’s GOP has ways of disciplining members who depart from their leader’s talking points. Koestler’s “Darkness at Noon” explains how such pressure works.

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What Baldwin Would Make of Barr

By Robin Bates | Published: December 8, 2019

William Barr’s recent comments to police officers reveal an attitude toward people of color that James Baldwin would recognize instantly.

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The Temptation of the Attorney General

By Robin Bates | Published: November 28, 2019

A legal scholar applies C. S. Lewis’s “Screwtape Letters” to AG Barr, accusing him of being a lawless legalist who embodies force without spirit.

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The Seductive Lure of Power

By Robin Bates | Published: June 16, 2019

Monday Pundits are puzzled why respectable people yield to the lure of Donald Trump and join his administration, even though they invariably emerge tainted. I don’t have in mind those grifters like campaign chair Paul Manafort, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, or EPA’s Scott Pruitt, who were corrupt […]

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We Need Barr to Be a Homeric Hero

By Robin Bates | Published: June 2, 2019

Monday Asked last week about damaging his legacy on behalf of Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr invoked Homer. “Everyone dies,” he said, “and I am not, you know, I don’t believe in the Homeric idea that you know, immortality comes by, you know, having odes sung about you over the centuries, you know?” In […]

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