Andy Barr values Asia’s democracy more than America’s | Opinion

On Sunday our congressional representative, Andy Barr, had an op-ed “Defending Taiwan is vital to U.S. national security and economic interests” reporting on his recent trip with a bipartisan Congressional delegation to show the United States’ “unwavering commitment . . . to the island democracy . . .”

Barr applauded the bi-partisan support in Congress for Taiwan, noting that “stakes are too high for complacency. We must continue to strengthen our partnerships, uphold our values, and ensure that freedom and democracy prevail in the face of authoritarian threats.”

Anyone who had heard or read about Andy Barr’s interview on Fox News just a few days earlier could only conclude that the congressman values democracy in Asia much more than he does in his own country.

When asked on Fox whether he favored releasing from jail those who had participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, he responded: “Absolutely.” Instead, Barr deflected blame for the Capitol attack on Nancy Pelosi, on the shameless grounds that the then Speaker should have secured the place with the National Guard.

“They knew that there was going to be trouble and they did nothing,” Barr declaimed, as though having inadequate security gives the attackers something of a coup mulligan. But Barr was not through with his unwriting of history. The Jan. 6 Committee investigation he airily discredited as “a total fraud,” conveniently failing to explain away the overwhelming evidence that the bipartisan committee found of the well-planned operation.

Never has it been clearer how totally Barr is in step with the rest of his party who are perfectly willing to gaslight and lie in the service of Donald Trump.

Mitch McConnell, Barr’s mentor, showed the way by first assuring that Trump would escape conviction in the impeachment trial that followed the failed coup, then by using the filibuster to kill the creation of an independent commission to investigate Jan 6.

Barr himself joined the vast majority of his Republican colleagues in opposing the formation of the select committee, which Nancy Pelosi created as a final body to determine accountability for the horrific events of Jan. 6. Barr, like most House Republicans saw no good coming out of such a committee, especially when more than a few of his mates on the Republican side were very much involved with the treasonous plans to “stop the steal.”

Andy Barr is obviously a Republican of quite a different stripe.

He won his first Congressional race in 2012 by lying and fear mongering about the phony War on Coal. He has always been a dependable gofer for Corporate America, at the expense of most of the citizens of District Six. In 2018 Amy McGrath came very close to unseating him and likely would have done so in 2020, had she run against him instead of McConnell.

This year, voters have even more compelling reasons to reject this Trump sycophant. In Randy Cravens they have a McGrath-like candidate who, unlike Barr, is truly committed to working across the aisle in good faith for the common good, not just for political show.

Let’s send a message to Barr and all the anti-democrats disguising themselves as Republicans by voting for Randy Cravens.

Robert Emmett Curran is a professor of history emeritus from Georgetown University

This story was originally published June 19, 2024 at 11:29 AM.