Bill Barr, who served as attorney general under Donald Trump, laughed off suggestions from the biased media that the former president actually wants to have his political enemies murdered in cold blood.
Although Barr and Trump's relationship soured after the former AG refused to back some of the 45th president's arguments that the 2020 election was stolen from him, Barr surprised some when he endorsed Trump in the '24 race.
See:
Trump Responds to Bill Barr's Endorsement As Only He Can in Humorous Fashion
Barr continued to defend the former president Thursday when he appeared on CNN's "The Source" with host Kaitlan Collins and said that the biased press takes Trump "too literally" when he uses obviously sarcastic rhetoric and that they often try to drum up controversy when there is none there. Actually, that last part about drumming up controversy is my take, but it's the natural conclusion from Barr's remarks.
"Journalists" took the completely normal use of the word "bloodbath" and turned it into a national outcry, yet were dead silent when crazed Democrats accused Biden's chief political rival of wanting to execute people.
Compare and Contrast:
Media Fail Compilation: 'Bloodbath' Headlines in Lockstep With DNC Talking Points
Unhinged Hillary Clinton Accuses Trump of Wanting to Be Like Putin and Murder His Enemies
In his conversation with Collins, Barr said Trump was prone to saying outlandish things, but in the end, he simply doesn't "think the threat is there."
Watch (and yes, I know that the CNN chyron unsurprisingly obsesses over other matters):
Here's how it went down, much to the chagrin of the CNN anchor who obviously wanted different answers:
COLLINS: …Alyssa Farah Griffin, who was Trump’s communications director [and who’s now on The View, which tells you all you need to know about her], posted yesterday [Thursday] and said that you were present at a moment when Trump suggested executing the person who leaked information that he went to the White House bunker when those George Floyd protests were happening outside the White House. Do you remember that?
BARR: I remember him being very mad about that. I actually don't remember him saying “executing,” but you know, I wouldn't dispute it… I mean, the president would lose his temper and say things like that. I doubt he would have [laughs] actually carried it out.
COLLINS [aghast]: But… he would say that on other occasions?
You can almost feel Collins' discomfort and annoyance; one can imagine her thinking, "C'mon man! Give me the answer that I want so I can make a viral tweet! Say he wants to kill people, SAY IT!"
But he wasn't buying what she was selling:
BARR: The president, you know, the president had a… I think people sometimes took him too literally and, you know, he would say things like similar to that on occasion to blow off steam. But I wouldn't take him literally every time he did it.
COLLINS: Why not?
BARR: Because at the end of the day, it wouldn't be carried out and you could talk sense into him.
COLLINS [incredulous]: But just because it's not carried out and you could talk sense into him, doesn’t that still mean that the threat is there?
Collins should probably have given up there and then, but I guess she thought she was smart enough to trip him up. She was wrong:
BARR: No. I mean, I think—I don't think the threat is there. The thing that I worry about President Trump is not that he's going to become an autocrat and do those kinds of things.
COLLINS: Why not?BARR: Because I don't think he would, at the end of the day.
COLLINS [clearly getting annoyed that he’s refusing to play her game]: What's the basis for that, that, that understanding that you have? Is it just your own hunch?
BARR: That's my feeling, having worked for him and seen him in action. I don't think he would actually go and kill political rivals and things like that.
Barr can be somewhat of a conundrum; he's said things both roundly critical of Trump yet, as noted, recently endorsed him for the presidency anyway. In this interview, however, he's 100 percent correct that Trump's political opponents revel in trying to turn almost anything the former president says into some over-hyped controversy. What makes it more aggravating is that Biden routinely "jokes" about wanting to punch Trump—which would be an obvious act of political violence—yet the press just ignores it.
Eat crow, Kaitlan Collins, and look for another story because this dog isn't hunting.
Watch the full interview here.
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