Trump’s Team Eyes the Exits
Farewell,
henchmen.
Ms.
Cottle is a member of the editorial board.
- Dec. 22, 2020
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
In February 2019, William Barr strode into the Department of Justice as the 85th attorney general.
He was on his second tour of duty, having first held the post under President
George H.W. Bush. Despite some observers’ concerns about his criticism of the Russia investigation and, more
generally, his expansive view of presidential authority, Mr. Barr
assumed office with the reputation of a seasoned, wise man, a grown-up in an
administration teeming with unruly brats. At the very least, he was an upgrade
over then Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, the Trump toady installed as an emergency seat warmer
when Jeff Sessions was ousted.
On Wednesday, Mr. Barr will slouch out
of the cabinet with his ethical compass shattered, his reputation soiled and
his dignity in flames. For fans of democracy, his departure should be met with
rejoicing.
Back in the Bush days, Mr. Barr held
that the attorney general’s “ultimate allegiance must be to the rule of law”
rather than to “the president who appointed him,” as he said in a 1992 speech. This time around, his tenure seemed
aimed at assuring Mr. Trump that he’d been kidding about all that.
Whether misrepresenting the Mueller
report to cover the president’s backside, ordering federal
law enforcement to remove peaceful demonstrators from in front of the White
House or eroding public confidence in the electoral process, Mr. Barr has
repeatedly made clear where his true loyalties lie. Hint: not with the American
people.
Unlike many Trump
lackeys, the secretary wasn’t merely sucking up to the president — though there
was plenty of that. He also used Mr. Trump’s autocratic proclivities to advance
his own long-held vision of executive power. He was seen by many as the
administration’s most dangerous henchman.
Despite all he did for the president,
Mr. Barr still wound up on the naughty list after refusing to advance Mr.
Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and for not working hard
enough to smear Joe Biden’s son Hunter. On Dec. 14, the president tweeted that
Mr. Barr would be stepping down “just before Christmas to spend the holidays
with his family.”
Perhaps dissatisfied with the violence
already done to his legacy, the secretary submitted a resignation letter that
should be required reading for aspiring sycophants. He gushed about how
“honored” and “proud” he was to have played his part in Mr. Trump’s
“unprecedented achievements” — achievements “all the more historic” for
occurring “in the face of relentless, implacable resistance” and a vicious
“partisan onslaught,” the “nadir” of which were the “baseless accusations of
collusion with Russia. Few could have weathered these attacks, much less forge
ahead with a positive program.” On and on he fawned, cementing his place in the
bootlickers hall of fame.
With the cord cut, Mr. Barr has been
inching away from the president the past couple of days. On Monday, he said he saw no need to appoint special counsels
either to oversee the D.O.J.’s inquiry into Hunter Biden’s taxes or to
investigate Mr. Trump’s election-fraud fantasies. Sorry. This is where too
little meets too late.
The attorney general will not be the
only Trumpie to retreat amid a gag-inducing swirl of fawning, preening, base
stoking and earth salting. Also last week, in discussing the transition with
career officials in the education department, Secretary Betsy Devos called on
them to “resist.” Declaring
that her goal had always been “to do what’s right for students,” she pleaded
with the troops to follow her noble example even after she is gone.
This is pretty rich
coming from an education chief most likely to be remembered for championing the interests of for-profit colleges
above those of students. It also seems doubtful that officials will embrace Ms.
Devos’s self-congratulatory lecture after she spent the past four years clashing with them and blaming them for making it hard to get
things done.
Over at the Pentagon, Trump appointees
are reportedly being
less than helpful in getting the incoming Biden administration up to speed.
Meetings have been postponed, and the friction has broken into public view.
Last week, acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller disputed a report by Axios that
he had ordered a departmentwide halt to transition cooperation. He insisted the
camps had mutually agreed to take a break until after the new year. The Biden
team called this balderdash, and the transition’s executive director slammed
the Pentagon for “recalcitrance.” This is hardly the kind of seamless handoff
of power that inspires confidence in America’s national security.
Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo is having a bumpy final stretch of a different sort. In a Friday
radio interview, he noted that “we
can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians” behind the recently exposed
mass hack of U.S. government agencies and businesses. On Saturday, the president
undercut him with a tweet, based on
nothing, suggesting that China may have been the culprit. Mr. Pompeo has yet to
comment on his boss’s alternative theory.
This humiliation came just a few days
after Mr. Pompeo’s holiday-party debacle. Dismissing Covid-19 safety
recommendations — including those issued by his own department — the
secretary invited hundreds
of guests to an indoor bash at the State Department last Tuesday. Only a few dozen people showed up.
Mr. Pompeo canceled his scheduled speech, which raised some eyebrows until it
was announced Wednesday that
he was in quarantine after being exposed to the coronavirus.
Way to own the libs, Mr. Secretary.
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press
secretary, seems set on departing in a blaze of disinformation and
belligerence. Since the election, she has been working overtime,
including frequent appearances on Fox
News, to promote the president’s risible tale of voting fraud. At a
news conference last month, Ms. McEnany — who has been pulling double duty as a
top Trump campaign surrogate — went so far over the line with her fraud fiction
that Fox News’s Neil Cavuto felt compelled to cut away from
her remarks. Give the gal points for shamelessness.
Of course, none of these underlings are
likely to come close to the boss in executing a graceless, puerile, destructive
exit. As the clock ticks down, the president is furiously casting about for a
way to cling to power — Anyone up for a Christmas coup? — even as he works to
divide and weaken the nation that has fired him. If he can’t have his way, he’s
up for smashing as many toys as possible on his way out.
So much for Mr. Trump
— or his people — ever growing into the job.
