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A service for political professionals · Friday, March 29, 2024 · 699,709,469 Articles · 3+ Million Readers

Think Nothing Else in Trump World Can Shock You? Read This

By Joe Rothstein — October 13, 2019

On Friday, October 11, Attorney General William Barr addressed the students and faculty of Notre Dame University’s law school. The topic of his speech was “religious freedom.”

Here are a few excerpts from that speech:

"We see the growing ascendancy of secularism and the doctrine of moral relativism. Basically, every measure of this social pathology continues to gain ground."

Barr described what he saw as the consequences of this "moral upheaval."

"Along with the wreckage of the family, we are seeing record levels of depression and mental illness, dispirited young people, soaring suicide rates, increasing numbers of angry and alienated young males, an increase in senseless violence and a deadly drug epidemic.

“Among the militant secularists are many so-called progressives. But where is the progress? We are told we are living in a post-Christian era. But what has replaced the Judeo-Christian moral system? What is it that can fill the spiritual void in the hearts of the individual person and what is the system of values than can sustain social life? The fact is, that no secular creed has emerged capable of replacing the role of religion.

"This is not decay. This is organized destruction. Secularists and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values."

Let’s state the obvious here. For the attorney general of the United States to reveal that he sees the entertainment industry, academia, and “all other forces of mass communication” conspiring to bring down religion and traditional values is not only appalling, it’s frightening.

This is War on Christmas thinking. The kind of bilge we used to associate only with the radical right fringe. Glenn Beck. Rush Limbaugh. Ann Coulter. But this is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States talking, legitimizing these views to the faculty and students of one of the nation’s most respected law schools. This isn’t an evangelical minister arguing that Christianity is in peril. This isn’t a media commentator trying to build his or her audience. Barr nominates and supervises all the nation’s U.S. attorneys. He has a lot to say about who gets nominated as federal judges. And he has proven himself all too willing to use the massive power of the Justice Department to protect and defend Donald Trump. No matter what.

William Barr’s first act as attorney general was to deceive the public about the conclusion of the Mueller report. His most recent appearance in the news was the disclosure that he has traveled the world looking for anyone to claim that Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter, benefited illegally from Ukrainian corruption. In between that rotten sandwich, Barr has used the Justice Department to defend the indefensible—-flipping official policy on civil rights, reapportionment, humane handling of asylum seekers, and more. Even going to bat for Donald Trump’s claim that he can’t be investigated or held legally responsible for any civil or criminal behavior.

The U.S. attorney general’s role historically has been to defend the Constitution and our laws. Under Barr, the Justice Department has become Donald Trump’s law firm.

Anyone who believes that Congress should give Trump a pass on impeachment and “let the people decide” in the 2020 elections needs to take a look at Barr’s Notre Dame speech. Then imagine an election where billions in spending, Russia’s interference, voter suppression, a year or more of repeated lies, and other distortions of the election process ends in a result where a few percentage points in a few states matter. Imagine an election where Barr’s Justice Department is asked to weigh in. Imagine a case that goes before a Supreme Court all too willing to follow the precedent of the one that made George W. Bush president in 2000.

That’s more like a stacked deck than the peoples’ choice.

William Barr is likely to still be attorney general in November 2020, and willing to twist any fact and bend any law to save Trump. Barr is not just a Trump loyalist. He's a man on a holy crusade.


(Joe Rothstein is a veteran political consultant and author of the acclaimed thriller, The Latina President and The Conspiracy to Destroy Her. His new novel, “The Salvation Project,” will be released in November).



Joe Rothstein is a political strategist and media producer who worked in more than 200 campaigns for political office and political causes. He also has served as editor of the Anchorage Daily News and as an adjunct professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. He has a master's degree in journalism from UCLA. Mr. Rothstein is the author of award-winning political thrillers, The Latina President and the Conspiracy to Destroy Her, The Salvation Project, and The Moment of Menace. For more information, please visit his website at https://www.joerothstein.net/.