Rep. Andy Barr won’t face his constituents or oppose Trump. All for an endorsement. | Opinion
Our Sixth District Congressman Garland Hale “Andy” Barr IV was back in town this week, extolling the virtues of Elon Musk, Donald Trump and tariffs as he mulls whether to jump into the race for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat.
At a luncheon with Commerce Lexington on Wednesday, he offered to listen to constituents who are worried about massive federal funding cuts, even as he defended the chaotic work of the unelected billionaire Elon Musk.
“Come to our office. We will weigh-in on your behalf,” Barr said. “The whole exercise of DOGE is not to end a lot of these worthwhile funding streams. It is to segregate the waste, fraud and abuse, corruption and mismanagement.”
People have been going to his office to no avail because Barr has refused to hold any in-person town halls. He said he would hold a virtual tele-town hall on Monday. On Saturday, numerous groups are holding a town hall in his absence at the Kentucky Theatre.
At the luncheon, the 51-year-old Barr also admitted the potential pain of tariffs to such Kentucky industries as bourbon, but says in the end they will improve markets.
The Chamber of Commerce is a friendly crowd. A town hall probably would not be. Many people in Lexington want answers to Barr’s abetting the dismantling of our democracy.
It’s cowardly not to face your constituents in person, but Barr’s in a bit of a corner. The old-school Idle Hour Country Club Republican wants to run for Senate, and in order to win, he will absolutely need President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
And when it comes to flattering and appeasing Trump, constituent needs will go well to the end of Andy’s to-do list.
This is sad because Barr is a smart, well-educated person, who has made some good laws and supported good causes. He is a true conservative, a Constitutional originalist who believes in smaller government and trickle-down economics, in which you lower taxes for rich people in the idea they will stimulate the economy.
Needless to say, this hasn’t worked very well, and all we have is a class of out-of-control billionaires, but at least it’s a policy position.
He’s a MAGA-come-lately, neither as irrational nor as ignorant as some of his House colleagues.
He voted to certify the election results in 2020 and lamented the violence of Jan. 6. He’s a lawyer and knows Trump is shredding the rule of law.
Barr knows even illegal immigrants should receive due process. He knows, like Chief Justice John Roberts, you don’t threaten judges just because you don’t like their rulings. He knows Congress should not hand over the power of the purse to the executive branch.
He knows we should not invade Canada or Greenland. He knows Trump is not eligible for a third term, despite what Steve Bannon says.
Barr understands, deep down, that Trump and the cartoon villains who surround him putting us in a constitutional crisis. He knows it will hurt and is already hurting the people of his district.
According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, 196,729 people in the Sixth District are covered by Medicaid, more than a quarter of the population, and 10 percent of the district gets SNAP benefits. Both programs are threatened by Congressional cuts.
Anyone interested in World War II always wonders how Hitler was able to become a dictator so quickly, to unleash such fascist horror on the world with what seems like ease. Part of that complicated equation included too many people unwilling to stand up to him because they just didn’t think anything that bad could happen.
Now we are like the frogs in boiling water ourselves. We’re gazing at the White House daily, but still in disbelief that the water is getting much hotter.
Does Andy Barr have a tipping point? If Trump defies the U.S. Supreme Court will he speak out?
When the history books are written, Trump, Musk and the rest of the Red Hat Regime will be judged accordingly.
So will his true believers.
And so will the people who knew better, who could have stood up but decided that personal, short-term gains would be worth the greater loss.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 11:58 AM.
