Jackie Calmes notes that "Bill Barr has been on a tear lately." That's for sure. Calmes writes,
Barr’s truth-telling is welcome, especially since much of it is happening on Fox News, whose audience typically doesn’t get much of that about Trump. Yet the straight-talk would have been more welcome when Barr was in power, when it would have mattered more.
I'm certain few critics of Barr's record at the Justice Department would disagree. There has been more than a bit of head scratching about Barr's change of tune (including his recent testimony before the January 6 Committee).
What's gotten into Barr? Calmes suggests, "Three years later, Barr’s talk of Trump’s culpability just smacks of a way to salvage his legacy (and sell his book)," as a number of observers suggested after Barr's earlier committee testimony.
I think these critics are missing something. If we look at Barr's public statements throughout his tenure in the Trump administration, including his comments after the election, his resignation as A.G. in December 2020, his testimony before Congressional investigators this past spring, and his recent remarks after the purloined trove of documents showed up at Mar-a-Lago, there is a remarkable consistency.
Barr has done his best, at every step -- whether deflecting or derailing criticism of Trump, or disparaging Trump -- to serve the interests of the Republican Party. And at every juncture, Barr was in lockstep with the big daddy strategist of Washington Republicans, Mitch McConnell.
Barr and McConnell may not represent most Republicans, certainly not MAGA Republicans, but their public stances have virtually never diverged. They both have the same theory of the case. Both sought to shield Republicans from the damage then-President Trump inflicted on the party (by diminishing, deflecting, and denying), and then pivoting toward a hoped-for separation of the party from Trump after his 2020 loss -- from the time it became clear that Trump would contribute to losses in Georgia of two senate races in play, to today, when an expected red wave in the midterms appears much less likely.
Trump's determination to make his grievances and grudges the focus of political debate is not, of course, the only factor weighing down Republicans in 2022. There is also the arrogant and increasingly unpopular Supreme Court, Republican governors and senators vying to be the most Trumpian candidate of all heading into the 2024 presidential campaign, and MAGA extremists up and down the ballot across the country. But of course Trump had a heavy hand in bringing all of this about.
McConnell and Barr appear to be on the same page regarding the best strategy for overcoming the Trump baggage the party just can't shed. They couldn't be more in step if they were actively coordinating their positions, which is hardly implausible. (I don't insist that they are right in their judgments, only that they share a coherent, pragmatic strategic approach.)
While I'm sure Bill Barr would like to sell books, I doubt that he cares much about his popular image. Neither does Mitch McConnell. And both men are consummate political operators intent on serving the interests (by their lights) of the Republican Party.