Bill Barr, Donald Trump’s former Attorney General, once had been a supporter of the 45th president. But now he says it’s time for the Republican party to move on. Increasing numbers of Republicans do as well.

Barr appeared last week on PBS’s Firing Line with Margaret Hoover in which he said it would be a “tragedy” if Trump were the Republican nominee for president once again.

I didn’t see that broadcast. But what caught my eye was an article Barr wrote for the Substack Common Sense. He bluntly titled it: Trump Will Burn Down the GOP. Time for New Leadership.

Barr wrote:

“But it is now clear he lacks the qualities essential to achieving the kind of unity and broad election victory in 2024 so necessary if we are to right our listing republic. It is time for new leadership.” 

However, this was not a hit piece on the former president. Indeed, Bill Barr pointed out many of his strengths, such as his willingness to give voice to unpleasant truths. Trump also confronted issues that other politicians dodged. And policy-wise, Trump launched an incredibly strong economy. He also began restoring American military strength, brokered Mideast peace deals, and pulled out of dangerous agreements with Iran and Russia. Plus, unlike the current president, Trump spoke openly about the threat that is Communist China.

Politically, Trump also demonstrated a willingness to confront uncomfortable issues. He spoke openly about the things that other politicians would dodge.

Credit: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0.

Most importantly, he gave voice to those of the middle and working class. Bill Barr wrote:

“Above all, Trump had accurately diagnosed, and given voice to, the deep frustration of many middle-class and working-class Americans who were fed up with the excesses of progressive Democrats; the shameless partisanship of the mainstream media; and the smug condescension of elites who had mismanaged the country, sold them out, and appeared content to preside over the decline of America.”

The problem, however, is that Trump cannot, and will not, rein in his massive ego. Nor will he step back from his default mode of not merely competing with others, but seeking to destroy them in the end.

Trump Focused Too Much on His Base, Writes Bill Barr

Barr wasn’t a “Never Trumper” in 2016. Nor was he an acolyte of the Trump-hating Lincoln Project. While he would have preferred any other candidate to be the Republican nominee that year, he did like millions of others who felt the same way.

He voted for Trump, and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, Barr’s best wishes didn’t pan out:

“I hoped that Trump would rise to the seriousness of the office and the moment. So once he became the GOP’s nominee, I supported him.”

“Unfortunately, after he was elected, Trump brought his wrecking-ball style to the task of governing the nation. He did not temper his disruptiveness and penchant for chaos. While his basic policy judgments were usually sound, his impulsiveness meant that things were almost always about to fly off the rails. When he became fixated on bad ideas or wanted to take things too far, it took his senior staff and cabinet secretaries an ungodly amount of maneuvering to keep him on track.”

Barr felt that Trump should’ve focused on his accomplishments in the White House in his re-election. He should’ve “dialed back his churlishness,” as Barr wrote, which would’ve gone further with support in the suburbs. But he didn’t, instead preferring to whip up his already hyped-up base:

“Despite the persistent advice from his advisers that he address the loss of support in the suburbs, he focused almost exclusively on energizing his base, and he did this by putting out a steady diet of red meat designed to arouse the passions of those who already supported him …”

“There were two basic problems with this strategy. First, Trump’s base did not need to be whipped up, they were already galvanized. Second, Trump pandered to his base in a way that reinforced and intensified the alienation of many suburban voters in the battleground states.”

Donald Trump created a populist base that lacked an ideological core. Many probably couldn’t even define what it means to be “conservative.” But they saw Trump as their champion, someone who would annihilate the “RINOs,” or a nebulous Deep State. The hardcore base welcomed the wrecking ball that was Donald Trump because, in their minds, no one else could save the country.

As a result, wrote Bill Barr, a record number of Trump’s supporters turned out to vote for him in 2020. Trouble was, he also alienated a greater number of Americans who voted for Joe Biden as a sort of respite from Trumpian chaos. Barr concluded:

“Fraud did not prevent Trump’s second term. Trump himself was the reason.”

Trump Should Channel Reagan. But He Won’t.

In his article, Barr said that it’s time for the GOP to seek inspiration from Ronald Reagan: take advantage of the unpopular progressive swing of the Democrat party and unite to oppose it.

“That opens up a historic opportunity for the GOP—the opportunity to revive something like the old Reagan coalition: a combination of Republican-leaning, college-educated suburbanites; culturally conservative working-class voters; and even some classical liberals who are repulsed by the left’s authoritarianism.”

Unfortunately, Trump is incapable of accomplishing such a task. It takes discipline, strategy, and planning — things that are foreign to his nature. It also involves “playing well with others,” another thing that Trump does not do well.

Typically during primary season, the fur flies as presidential contenders try to defeat each other. Eventually one becomes the nominee of the party, and Republicans coalesce around their champion, even if the winner wasn’t their favorite. After all, you go into battle with the army you have, not the army you want.

Not so with Trump. Not content with merely defeating his political opponents, he seeks to terminate them so they will be unable to ever threaten his power.

He’s already doing that to his biggest competition: Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump has called him “Ron DeSanctimonious,” and threatened to “tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering — I know more about him than anybody.”

Trump’s base believes that their hero is speaking truth about his rival. For example, Trump loyalists are now comparing DeSantis to another hapless victim of DJT’s venom: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whom Trump had dubbed “Low Energy Jeb.” Trump devotees are calling DeSantis “Jeb Lite,” and maintaining that because Bush supposedly supports DeSantis, then DeSantis must be hopelessly flawed.

However, the irony is that when Jeb Bush left office in 2007 after two terms as Florida governor, he left quite a record of accomplishments. The state’s economy was growing an average of 7.2%, and its cash reserves had grown a whopping 654%. Bush took on the teachers’ unions, and made impressive improvements to Florida’s flagging public school system. As a result, Jeb Bush left office with a 64% approval rating. Those are hardly the accomplishments of a “low energy” loser.

But rather than debate Bush on the issues, Trump set out to destroy him forever with sophomoric insults and name-calling. It worked.

This goes well beyond “mean tweets.” Unfortunately, Trump’s loyal base is more enthralled by such gladiatorial bombast than earnest debate, or by forming a Reagan-like coalition.

Bill Barr May Get His Way in 2024

Bill Barr concluded his commentary with this:

” … he does not have the qualities required to win the kind of broad, durable victory I see as necessary to restore America. It is time for the 45th president to step aside.”

Trump won’t step aside, of course, but he may be pushed aside instead.

Trump’s polling among Republicans is fading fast, while DeSantis’s is surging. His relentless drumbeat about a stolen 2020 election is losing traction, and he offers nothing new in policy. Major GOP donors are jumping ship. And while Trump can sound statesmanlike in front of a teleprompter, he is unable to maintain a serious persona.

There will never be a “new and improved” Donald Trump. Other than his most ardent followers, rank-and-file Republicans may take Bill Barr’s counsel and reject Trump’s bid for 2024, preferring another candidate as their standard bearer.

Meanwhile, as Barr wrote, “Trump will burn down the GOP.” Or, as a Republican friend of mine put it, “Trump is dividing our party.”

It’s long past time for Trump to leave the political scene. We Republicans can — and should — do better.

Featured image: United States Department of Justice/Wikimedia Commons/cropped/public domain.