Gerson: In Barr, Trump has found a principled lickspittle
By Michael Gerson
The Washington Post
In the normal course of events, the successful demagogue demands and receives cringing deference. But how about a little empathy now and then?
Everyone loves heroic dissidents like Sir Thomas More, at least when canonizing them has no cost. They get all the best press and plays about them. Yet who stops to consider the predicament of the prince? He can always find some lickspittles who will do as they are told. But the problem with lickspittles is their darned undependability. Men or women who are subservient out of self-interest will turn against the prince when their interests change, or when they get a plea deal. One day they are drinking at a prince’s open bar. The next they are talking to “60 Minutes” or congressional investigators. No matter how much the Michael Cohens of the world are favored and rewarded, their allegiance will go with a better bid.
Deep down — at their most honest and vulnerable — what demagogues really want is sycophants who act out of conviction. Is it too much to ask for servants who grovel because they really mean it?
By this standard, Donald Trump must be a very happy man. In Attorney General William Barr, he has finally found someone who licks his boots out of principle.
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