During a Sunday interview with former Attorney General Bill Barr on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd was aghast when the Trump administration official declared the far-left base of the Democratic Party to be “dangerous.” What made Todd’s hyperventilating even worse was the fact that he had compared former President Trump to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin only moments earlier in the exchange.
“I believe that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is dangerous for the United States,” Barr told Todd as they discussed the upcoming 2024 presidential election. The NBC host wailed in reply: “You’ve said this quite a bit. It’s an uncomfortable thing to hear from somebody who was needing to provide equal justice under the law as attorney general.”
That’s quite a change from Todd’s attitude toward Barack Obama’s wildly partisan Attorney General Eric Holder. After Holder announced he was leaving the Justice Department in 2014, Todd laughably hailed: “...he’s a very non-political person....Eric Holder wasn't thinking about the politics of an issue....The guy wasn’t political at all...”
On Sunday, Todd continued to admonish Barr: “You really think the left in this country is somehow more dangerous than – than some issues around the world?” Barr pushed back: “No, I just said in terms of the leadership of the country, I think they would be a dangerous choice for the United States.”
Despite being so “uncomfortable” with Barr labeling the left “dangerous,” only seconds earlier in the discussion, Todd had no problem comparing Trump to “totalitarian leaders” like Putin. After Barr criticized Trump for relying on “yes men,” Todd took things way too far:
That is the mark of a lot of totalitarian leaders, authoritarian leaders. They want to be surrounded by people who tell him what they want to hear. We’re dealing with this with Putin right now. Does that not give you pause about his ability to ever become commander in chief again?
Barr responded: “Well, I don’t support his renomination – you know, to be nominated as the standard bearer in ’24 and I’m going to support somebody else.”
Even so, Todd whined that Barr “shocked a lot of people” by saying that he would ultimately support whoever the Republican presidential nominee was in 2024 – including Trump. The frustrated host ranted: “...because you spent a lot of time in your books painting this person as unfit for office....And making it clear that he himself, that he’s got temperamental issues, he’s got character issues, and yet, you would risk that again over any – over Joe Biden?”
“Well, I think there are a lot of American people right now that might prefer being – having him back in office than what we see under Biden,” Barr noted. It was then that he warned of the “dangerous” left-wing agenda of the Democrats.
Barr has repeatedly flustered NBC journalists over the past week, especially when he denounced the nothing-burger Robert Mueller investigation as “a lie which the media pushed” to both Nightly News anchor Lester Holt and Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie.
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Here is a transcript of the March 13 exchange:
11:08 AM ET
(...)
BILL BARR: But after the election, he [Trump] would just listen to this group of people who had no government position but were telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. And he’s ultimately to blame for that. There’s something about him that he, you know, wants to be surrounded by yes men – on the outside of government.
CHUCK TODD: That is the mark of a lot of totalitarian leaders, authoritarian leaders. They want to be surrounded by people who tell him what they want to hear. We’re dealing with this with Putin right now. Does that not give you pause about his ability to ever become commander in chief again?
BARR: Well, I don’t support his renomination – you know, to be nominated as the standard bearer in ’24 and I’m going to support somebody else.
TODD: No, I understand that, but you sort of shocked a lot of people because you spent a lot of time in your books painting this person as unfit for office.
BARR: Well, I also –
TODD: And making it clear that he himself, that he’s got temperamental issues, he’s got character issues, and yet, you would risk that again over any – over Joe Biden?
BARR: Well, I think there are a lot of American people right now that might prefer being – having him back in office than what we see under Biden.
TODD: I understand that. But I’m talking about you. You’ve had first – but you’ve had a firsthand account. You saw it up close.
BARR: Right, well I think elections are a binary choice. And you frequently – and unfortunately sometimes it’s choosing the lesser of two evils. I believe that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is dangerous for the United States.
TODD: You’ve said this quite a bit. It’s an uncomfortable thing to hear from somebody who was needing to provide equal justice under the law as attorney general. Because you said it while you’re attorney general. You really think the left in this country is somehow more dangerous than – than some issues around the world? I mean, you feel like –
BARR: No, I just said in terms of the leadership of the country, I think they would be a dangerous choice for the United States. And, you know, our system, the person who’s in charge of the administration of the criminal law is a politically accountable official. And an official has to be politically accountable, but at the same time dedicated to providing equal justice based on law and facts with no favoritism or partisanship, which I did.
(...)
