Former AG Bill Barr: ‘Biden Administration Is Greater Threat to Democracy’ than Trump

A one-time Trump ally is pointing out that the former president is not a threat to America, but the radical agenda of the Democratic Party is. In a Saturday interview, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr explained that he will be voting for his old boss Donald Trump in November, despite his criticisms of the former president.

“I’m not happy with the choice,” Barr said, referring to a Trump-Biden matchup. “But it is a choice, and at the end of the day we have to select between two individuals. … I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think will do the least harm to the country and … that’s clearly Trump and a Republican administration.”

“I think getting control over the border, stopping the lawlessness in our cities, building up the strength of the United States in an ever-more-dangerous world … these are critical things that have to be done,” Barr opined. “And we’ll get them done under a Trump administration.” The former AG added, “At the same time, I think the Biden administration is, in fact, the greater threat to democracy. I think they have a totalitarian temper, they have bought into the progressive movement, and they’re trying to squelch opposition and freedom of speech.”

Upon leaving the Trump administration, Barr became a critic of the former president, calling him “a consummate narcissist” and a “fundamentally flawed person,” largely in relation to Trump’s handling of the 2020 election results. Referring to his prior criticisms of Trump, Barr said Saturday, “I don’t think Biden should be anywhere near the Oval Office, that’s the fact.” He later said, “At the end of the day, you have to remember, serving in his administration, I was fine with his policies. I think his policies were good policies. My problems came with his behavior which I found very troubling after the election.” Barr added:

“And I think the idea that he’s going to be an autocrat and take over power like some right-wing dictator is not the threat facing our country. The threat to our country is from the far-left and the drift that’s been occurring toward really a socialistic system and one that brooks no opposition, that cancels people, that has only one viewpoint taught in colleges, that tries to push parents out of the picture when it comes to the education of their children. It is a heavy-handed bunch of thugs, in my opinion, and that’s where the threat is.”

Barr made similar, though less certain, comments in February. Addressing the Forum Club of Southwest Florida, Barr said, “Voting for Trump is playing Russian roulette with the country. Voting for Biden is outright national suicide.” Ex-Republican Representative Liz Cheney immediately lashed out at Barr, saying that the former AG was “absolutely wrong” in his assessment. Failing to address incumbent president Joe Biden’s growing unpopularity and his administration’s abuses of power, she quipped, “So electing Donald Trump’s not Russian roulette — electing Donald Trump would mean putting in power a man who’s committed to unraveling our constitutional framework. So Bill Barr is just wrong on that.” Cheney also added that, this November, “the most important thing is to defeat Donald Trump, and I’ll do whatever it takes to do that.”

Barr reiterated this position in an earlier interview last week. Barr posited, “I’ve said all along, given two bad choices, I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country. And in my mind, I will vote the Republican ticket. I will support the Republican ticket.” He continued, “I think the real danger to the country — the real danger to democracy, as I say — is the progressive agenda. Trump may be playing Russian roulette, but a continuation of the Biden administration is national suicide in my opinion.”

Barr served as attorney general during the last year of Trump’s presidency. Previously, he had served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush.