As his presidency fades ever farther into the rearview mirror, even former Republican President Donald Trump's closest allies are belatedly finding the fortitude to call his lies what they were—and the former President seems unable to handle it.
Following a piece in The Atlantic that featured former Trump-appointed Republican Attorney General Bill Barr bluntly calling Trump's election fraud claims "bullsh*t," the former president issued a statement that can only be described as a meltdown.
Jonathan Karl, who wrote The Atlantic piece, tweeted excerpts of Trump's statement, seen below.
Donald Trump has some words to say about Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell (\u201canother beauty\u201d). It\u2019s a rather lengthy statement that seems to confirm the rage he feels toward his former AG \u2026 here are a couple excerpts:pic.twitter.com/sMAx7eq6OF— Jonathan Karl (@Jonathan Karl) 1624852887
In his statement, Trump lashed out at both Barr and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, among his closest allies and linchpin enablers of his agenda, calling them "spineless RINOs," a Republican buzzword meaning for "Republican In Name Only."
Of Barr, Trump ranted:
"... Barr ... [is] being used in order to try to convince people that the election was legitimate when so many incredible facts have now come out to show conclusively that it wasn't."
All fifty states have since confirmed at least once there was no substantive fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The Atlantic piece, titled "Inside William Barr's Breakup With Trump," provided a number of explosive details about what was going on behind the scenes as Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election—efforts Barr bluntly characterized as nonsense.
As he put it to Karl:
"My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there..."
"We realized from the beginning it was just bullsh*t... There had been no discrepancy reported anywhere, and I'm still not aware of any discrepancy."
Barr also told Karl Kentucky GOP Senator McConnell prevailed upon him to speak out about Trump's claims beginning in mid-November, just after Democratic President Joe Biden's win was finalized. McConnell felt Trump's "Big Lie" and associated conspiracy theories were damaging the country and the Republican party.
Naturally, Trump lashed out at McConnell in his statement too:
"Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty... What really damaged the Senate Republicans was allowing their races to be rigged and stolen... because spineless RINOs like Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell did nothing."
Trump's statement went on to repeat his election fraud lies.
He even threw in a few digs at former Obama administration Secretary of State and 2016 election Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, for old time's sake.
It appears that @jonkarl\u2019s reporting has upset the former president.pic.twitter.com/rBAsWFfo05— Andrew Feinberg (@Andrew Feinberg) 1624851111
On Twitter, people were astonished at just how deranged Trump's statement was.
this is unhinged and not a single reporter should pretend otherwisehttps://twitter.com/jonkarl/status/1409361276216696832\u00a0\u2026— Jessica Huseman (@Jessica Huseman) 1624856719
Holy moly. Our utterly deranged most recent Former President just released an absolutely crazed, delusional, lie filled, rambling lengthy attack on William Barr for telling the simple truth about Trump\u2019s insane election fraud lies. The man is unraveling mentally more by the hour.— Spiro Agnew\u2019s Ghost (@Spiro Agnew\u2019s Ghost) 1624851497
The incoherent rantings of Donald Trump are those of a dangerous, diminished and delusional manhttps://twitter.com/jonkarl/status/1409361276216696832\u00a0\u2026— Barbara Comstock (@Barbara Comstock) 1624854303
Siri, What's the definition of triggered?https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1409353825652203524\u00a0\u2026— KND (@KND) 1624857867
Wait.\nMitch McConnell is a Rino now??\nWow.\nAnd Bill Barr, too...\n\nMy, my, my.\nThis will win the suburbs for sure.\nGrifter.https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1409353825652203524\u00a0\u2026— Terry Dresbach (@Terry Dresbach) 1624855622
How much of the day did Trump spend crafting his Bill Barr statement to really nail the whiny incoherence?— Schooley (@Schooley) 1624852259
This is actual gibberish.https://twitter.com/jonkarl/status/1409361276216696832\u00a0\u2026— Franklin Leonard (@Franklin Leonard) 1624897216
Others were just thrilled to see Trump squirming as his former allies continue to turn on each other.
I don't like to amplify TFGs words, but this actually cheered me up, they're turning on eachother's glorious to watchhttps://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1409353825652203524\u00a0\u2026— Melonie Sibbitt\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 (@Melonie Sibbitt\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6) 1624857428
"Incredible facts" - in other words NOT credible. He's so desperate and I'm here for it. I'm guessing 81 million others are enjoying it too.— \ud83d\ude37 Deb Lane \ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udf0a\u270a\ud83c\udffe\u270a\ud83c\udfff\u270a\ud83c\udffd (@\ud83d\ude37 Deb Lane \ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udf0a\u270a\ud83c\udffe\u270a\ud83c\udfff\u270a\ud83c\udffd) 1624853028
It's not only members of his Administration who seem to be turning on Trump because of his election lies.
Recent reports indicated even his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner distanced themselves from Donald Trump Sr. as he refuses to give up his obsession and accept his loss.
Elaine Miles/Facebook
@doctor_kristinm/Threads
@PeteHegseth/X
The White House