Sycophancy runs as wild in Washington DC as the wildfires in Los Angeles, and the time-honored practice is being pursued with a new vigor this January among some Republicans seeking favor with our new president, Donald J. Trump, an infamous narcissist who loves nothing more than toadies reminding him of what a great man he is – something, of course, he already knew.
He was, after all, saved by God to Make America Great Again.
Supposedly.
Anyway, within that mortifying group of fawners you’ll find Rep. Andy Barr (R-Lexington), a standout among those worshipping at the altar of Trump, groveling to a degree that would embarrass Uriah Heep.
Like Chubby and his pals in the Our Gang comedies mooning over Miss Crabtree, old Andy has taken his adoration of the convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter to an embarrassing degree, all in hopes of gaining a pat on the head from the great man, telling him he’s a good boy.
In an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox Business News on Wednesday, Barr gushed that Trump “has a mandate; he is an historically consequential president.”
“I think what President Trump brings to this country is a new sense of hope, a new sense of optimism, of confidence, and we see that in our own constituents, the small businesses and the manufacturers in this country who believe again in the American dream,” Barr said.
Now, as noted in previous columns regarding Sen. Mitch McConnell, the word
“consequential” carries neither positive nor negative connotations. Hitler, after all, was consequential. Whether Trump is somehow able to soar with the better angels remains to be seen, although early reviews are far from hopeful.
And a mandate? Trump, though unquestionably victorious, received less than 50 percent of the popular vote last November and Gallup, in a poll released on Wednesday, determined that, “At 47%, President Donald Trump’s initial job approval rating for his second term is similar to the inaugural 45%reading during his first term, again placing him below all other elected presidents dating back to 1953.”
Some mandate.
Regardless, despite the circumstances, Barr is determined to sidle up as close as possible to the new president, hoping that some of that ol’ Trump magic will rub off on him. It hasn’t worked so far. His candidacy for chair of the House Financial Services Committee, a position he wanted desperately and was thought to be the favorite for, fell short, with the job going to Rep. French Hill (R-AR). That failure might have been the result of a competing political ambition – Andy wants very much to jump to the Senate in two years, replacing McConnell, who is expected to retire. Plenty of folks are expected to compete, and having Trump on your side can’t hurt, even if you have to crawl to get it.
To that end, you can always count on Andy jumping in on Trump’s behalf, invited or not.
When the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop for Washington, spoke at this year’s inaugural Service of Prayer for the Nation, she urged the new president “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared. There are gay, lesbian, transgender children, Democratic, Republican, independent families — some who fear for their lives.”
Poor Andy was outraged that Budde “politicized” the event and that she disregarded Trump’s appointment of Scott Bessent, who is openly gay, to serve as Treasury Secretary and Elon Musk, a gazillionaire and first-generation legal immigrant to lead the so-called and unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, as if those factors had anything to do with the price of eggs, a subject Trump might be trying to avoid at this juncture.
“Bishop Budde’s gratuitous criticisms ring hollow,” Barr wrote on the X social site. “Sadly, the only message Bishop Budde delivered through her unwelcoming and hypocritical words to the President was that the Episcopal Church’s motto of “All are Welcome” apparently doesn’t apply to the majority of Americans who voted for Donald Trump.”
Only in America can a self-described “conservative Episcopalian” be appalled by a minister using the pulpit to encourage an act of mercy. If preachers can’t do that they may as well just go around hawking their versions of the Bible for $59.99.
And what in the world does having a gay cabinet member and a weirdo legal immigrant advisor have to do with certain folks feeling threatened and in need of reassurance? Most folks might even suggest that’s what ministers are supposed to do in the first place.
By the way, Andy, a message of mercy can, indeed, “apply to the majority of Americans who voted for Donald Trump.” Maybe you just don’t have the decency to be one of them.
Then of course, you can find ol’ Andy hyperventilating over Trump’s abominable cabinet choices like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a nomination so putrid even McConnell couldn’t stomach him. But Andy maintains Pete “will rip woke out of our military and restore greatness and mission focus in our mighty fighting forces. The world will be safer under his leadership alongside the President — peace through strength under President Trump!”
Yeah, you bet. Hegseth reportedly had an alcohol problem and paid a woman $50,000 to settle a sexual assault claim (it seems, given his love for Trump and Hegseth, that Andy Barr has a soft spot for men embroiled in sexual assault claims.) But more to the point, Hegseth has no DOD experience and no acumen for running a large organization.
“Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests,” McConnell said. “Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test. But as he assumes office, the consequences of failure are as high as they have ever been.’’
But “peace through strength under President Trump!,’” right Andy?
But the piece de resistance came this week when the White House Office of Management and Budget instituted a freeze on an enormous number of federal grants and other appropriations, potentially trillions of dollars, to determine if they were in line with Trump’s wretched MAGA policies. The order sparked chaos and confusion both inside and outside the federal government, with agencies wondering how they should comply and the 50 states and private organizations wondering just what the hell was going on.
“Trump’s action is breathtaking in scope,” economist Richard McGahey wrote in Forbes magazine, not especially a periodical of the left. “Without clear guidance, agencies are suspending disbursements of funds that already have been approved, cutting back activities ranging across child care, cancer trials, scientific research, international aid, and housing and educational spending.”
The freeze lentfurther credence to claims that Trump intends to govern as an authoritarian over the next four years and pilfer power from the legislative branch, of which our boy Andy is a member who might be expected to protect its prerogatives. But there was Andy to support his idol and set everyone’s mind at ease.
“D.C. Democrats and the liberal media are already spinning their wheels to derail the progress of the Trump Administration,” Barr said on X.
When all else fails, attack the media. Got it.
“This is a temporary, limited pause on initiatives impacted by Trump’s executive orders, including DEI, foreign aid priorities, and certain energy and environmental policies,” Barr continued. “Past administrations — Republican and Democrat – have done similar pauses when taking office.”
What Andy failed to mention in his diatribe is that no president since Richard Nixon, who sought to impound highway funds back in 1972, has endeavored to pocket appropriated monies on such a grand scale. Barr might have noted that The Impoundment Control Act of 1974, adopted in response to Nixon, essentially killed the president’s impoundment authority and required him to obtain congressional approval if he wanted to choke off any appropriations.
This “temporary, limited pause,” as defined by Barr, is against the law. It’s also likely unconstitutional since it is Congress, not the president, who holds the power of the purse.
At any rate, there existed a looming constitutional crisis for a couple days until a DC federal court stepped in and put a halt to the whole shebang until Feb. 3. Concluding that the jig was up, the Trump administration withdrew the order, thus ending the court case and providing the White House with additional time to figure out a way to cheat the Constitution.
So, Andy Barr was quite willing to hand over congressional authority to the Lord of Mar-a-Lago and, despite his law-and-order profile, violate not only the law but the Constitution as well.
Ah, love. It makes you do crazy things.
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Written by Bill Straub, a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Cross-posted from the Northern Kentucky Tribune.
