Thread by @EdOverbeek

In spite of his life of ostentatious sin, the Christian Right loves Trump. People like Pence and Falwell Jr. eagerly facilitate his authoritarianism. Today I want to introduce you to another far-right Christian playing that role. You might recognize him.

Bill Barr is on a mission from God. He's railed against secularism and the separation of church and state, and "called for the imposition of 'God’s law' in America."
au.org/blogs/wall-of-…

.@Readeradrift flags a few of Barr's far-right Christian views:

https://twitter.com/ReaderAdrift/status/1113986077520535552

Another one:

https://twitter.com/ReaderAdrift/status/1113985438388240388

In a post today, .@joshtpm put the Barr coverup into this big picture. The picture comes fully into light when you read "Federalist Society" as a shorthand for "far-right Christian legal activist".
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/on-goin…

Here's a primer on the Federalist Society and the impact it's had on our courts, especially under Trump. #NotAll Federalist Society members are on the Christian Right, but its leaders and high court picks are (and overwhelmingly Catholic).
thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of…

The Federalist Society is effectively run by its VP Leonard Leo. Its sister org, the Judicial Crisis Network, uses dark money to push for Federalist Society judges. Another JCN big wig, Jay Sekulow, is also (well look at that!) part of Trump's legal team.
citizensforethics.org/judicial-crisi…

JCN was naturally thrilled to support the Barr nomination.
judicialnetwork.com/in-the-news/bi…

JCN started out in the Bush II years with the view that "every nominee sent to the full Senate receives an up or down vote.” In a *completely unpredictable* twist, JCN dropped that attitude on 1/21/2009, in favor of "careful scrutiny" and road blocks.
citizensforethics.org/judicial-crisi…

In technical terms, that's called "pulling a McConnell". And if you know fundamentalists, this situationally dependent tolerance might look really familiar at a personal level.

https://twitter.com/EdOverbeek/status/1114331050778300416

Like all… good? expensive? lawyers, JCN is consistent in using the language of fairness and the law, but changes their position depending on whether the nominee is on their team or not.

Which brings us back to Barr, whose expansive (to put it mildly) view of presidential power magically becomes tampered when the president is a Dem.

His resume is filled with keeping the right kind of leader above the law while throwing the book at the wrong kind. With every move cloaked in the language of fairness and the law.
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/can-we-…

That's the job of the this group of DC lawyers Josh talks about. Their theocratic bent draws a lot less attention than Mike Pence's or Trump's white evangelical base. There's no good reason it should. They're just the old money version.

Treating figures like Barr, Leo, Sekulow and Don McGahn as just respectable conservatives who all just happen to be far-right Christians is a form of denialism. This is a theocratic movement, and these are its lawyers.

And just as fundamentalism is antithetical to pluralism and democracy (see @C_Stroop for more on that), its lawyers are antithetical to a fair and just legal system. They're there to corrupt democracy from within.
thedailybeast.com/the-secrets-of…

Or more accurately, lawyers like Barr are there to keep democracy corrupted.

https://twitter.com/EdOverbeek/status/895034169687814144

So here's another reason why Barr doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt people keep giving him: he's a theocrat who's dedicated his career to helping people like Trump subvert the law. He's not a toady, he's a fellow traveler.

H/t to @ReaderAdrift for flagging those Bill Barr passages, and to Bill Barr for being an insufferable, duplicitous prig.

@ReaderAdrift So many typos/writing glitches. This is why you don’t tweet with a cold.