On Wednesday, Mr. Trump retweeted calls for Mr. Barr to “clean house” at the Justice Department, apparently referring to anyone with the temerity to maintain allegiance to the Constitution rather than to the president. Characteristically, while interfering in the justice system, Mr. Trump is both insisting he’s doing nothing of the sort and asserting his right to do so. He is trying to turn the people charged with federal law enforcement into presidential fixers, starting with Mr. Barr, who finds himself in a tight spot. Whether or not you believe him when he says the president’s tweets make his job “impossible,” the fact is that he said it, and that Mr. Trump ignored him. Mr. Barr becomes only the latest in a long line of powerful officials Mr. Trump has seemed to take delight in publicly humiliating, including, to name just a few: Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson, H.R.

Source: New York Times February 20, 2020 00:45 UTC