Just like Donald Trump, Fox News host Charles Payne and contributor Trey Gowdy are delighted that Bill Barr, the Attorney General for the United States, acts as though he serves Trump, not all Americans.
Republican Rep. Justin Amash laid out a detailed explanation of how Barr has peddled a “false narrative” about the Mueller investigation that legitimizes Trump’s false narrative that it was a witch hunt. The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne has a shorter, layman’s version of how Barr has “proudly and shamelessly corrupted our political conversation to protect a president whose survival depends upon burying facts and clouding public understanding.”
But as far as Payne and Gowdy are concerned, there’s nothing not to love about Barr! On Friday, the two slobbered over Barr on Fox’s Your World show.
"I got to tell you, personally, I think Bill Barr has been refreshing,” guest host Payne said, “and I feel very confident now as to getting some true closure on all of this." He meant closure on investigating the investigators, of course, not the very, very damning information laid out in the Mueller report.
Gowdy, a former prosecutor who almost surely knows how damning the Mueller report is, went along with the propaganda. He painted Barr as a victim. "He's a serious legal mind trying to do a legal job in an impossible political environment, and I appreciate his willingness to accept this role," Gowdy said. "He's a really, really good lawyer, but everything that comes out of his mouth is subject to a political analysis and no lawyer can function in that environment."
"You hit the nail on the head," Payne agreed. But he thought Barr now "at a point right now where he can get something done."
"He's an institutionalist, he's a DOJ guy from way back, he cares very much about repairing the reputation of that department and the bureau,” Gowdy said. Again, meaning going after the investigators while giving a complete pass to the Trump campaign’s very disturbing behavior with Russians.
But no Fox News discussion would be complete without demonizing Democrats, especially any Democrat in a position to harm Dear Leader Trump. So we saw a clip of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, saying there’s an "epidemic of cowardice in the GOP" as a pretext.
Gowdy took his cue: "This is the same Adam Schiff that did everything his power to keep you from finding out that Hillary Clinton had her own server, and classified information traverse that server. He did everything he could to make sure you never found that out, Charles. The dossier, you wouldn't know about it if it was up to Adam Schiff. The FISA application, and what was used in it, you wouldn't know about it if it was up to Adam Schiff. He went to court to make sure you didn't know that the DNC funded Christopher Steele's work, and you wouldn't know about the Strzok page text."
Surprisingly, Gowdy didn’t find a way to work in Benghazi. But, in a classic case of projection, he called Schiff an “overtly partisan charlatan.”
"Really appreciate it,” Payne said, giving Gowdy a stamp of approval at the end of the discussion.
Watch the shamelessness below, from the May 31, 2019 Your World.