Nice try, Bill Barr!
Bill Barr, who’s hated by everyone on all sides and should be in prison somewhere, keeps popping up in the media – because the media loves nothing more than normalizing failed corrupt extremist politicians. This time Barr’s message is that the Republicans should nominate someone other than Donald Trump in 2024.
Well, okay then. No one asked Bill Barr, and certainly no one is relying on him for political advice these days. The right hates him for not helping Trump steal a second term, the left hates him for being every bit as corrupt as Trump, and everyone else thinks he’s post-apocalyptic Fred Flintstone. But there has been a lot of discussion about why Barr is bothering to say this.
When you’re already hated by everyone, the only way to get the media to give you any airtime is if you say something controversial. And because the media (on the left, right, and center) has already decided that Trump will absolutely positively 100% be the Republican nominee in 2024, Barr’s proclamation comes across as controversial.
Of course there’s nothing controversial at all about what Barr is saying. All you have to do is listen to Trump’s rally speeches these days (which almost no one does), and you can see he’s in a stage of cognitive decline where he’s obviously not going to be a 2024 candidate. But the media has already decided to spend 2022 and 2023 chasing ratings by hyping Trump 2024. So by calling for Trump not to be the candidate, Barr gets airtime now for being “controversial” and he gets to look relevant later when the media eventually delivers the “shocking news” about Trump not running in 2024 that they’ll insist no one could have seen coming.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report