On Winners and Losers and Who Writes the History

Bill Barr has applied a semi-truism about ancient military history to democratic politics and the rule of law.

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Attorney General William Barr ignited yet another firestorm last week by dismissing all charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Then Barr threw more gas on the fire when Catherine Herridge of CBS asked him, “When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written?”

“Well,” Barr replied, “history is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who’s writing the history.”

The full quote turned out to be less cynical than the ubiquitous sound bite. Barr added, “I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It … upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice.”

My own view of the Flynn episode is that the former decorated general behaved poorly—by his own admission lying to the FBI—but the FBI behaved terribly, too. Flynn was caught up in a counterintelligence investigation that became a politicized criminal investigation without sufficient evidence of a crime.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    Jay Janney6 min
    History is written by the ones better at branding. That the south created a romanticized history is proof of that. Those who tell tales better write history. Those who get tenured write history textbooks, which students mostly ignore. It's a shame the overlap between those two groups is so small.

    Other than his penchant for obscenity, Michael Lewis would write an excellent history textbook. Bill Bryson would as well.

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    Bill Nelson

    “history is written by the winners..."
    This is no longer true, if it ever was. Gen. Grant's reputation has recently been rehabilitated, even Nixon's to some extent. I collect presidential biographies, and you will be taxed to find one that has a negative view of Pres. Kennedy. The record is that he was not that great a president, but there are certain "rules" for historians to follow or they are going to be dumped on (people will poor over their work looking for any errors). And certainly histories of Pres. Reagan are written to make a point.
    I suspect that the history of the Trump administration will be quite negative because the majority of historians are liberal to progressive. And I expect that the actions of the AG will be treated very critically. And not particularly fairly. Even now, people who served Trump have suffered, or been punished, in the court of public opinion.

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    Joe Gaeta

    I think Trump is an immature, narcissistic, opportunistic blowhard. But, multiple things can be true at once - it can also be true that what the intelligence community and higher-ups in the Obama administration engaged in corruption of the highest order. I can rise above my disdain and see what is so plainly obvious: that we had the top people in power using the most powerful tools to ruin US Citizens by violating the basic trust and Constitutional Rights.

    I used to think those who worried about abuses were overstating their case. I have had to rethink my position on giving all this snooping power to the FBI/NSA/CIA. But, apparently we have to let “historians” decide. Bullshit. We have direct transcripts, texts, logs, etc.

    This is insanity.

    Again, I'm no Trumper at all. I'm more sad over his presidency than angry, really. I certainly don't mind if one HATES him. But I do expect rational, critical thinking. I just wish Goldberg (and French) would be honest with themselves and stop leaving the door open for Obama/Brennan/Clappper, et al. to have good, honorable intentions. Jonah and David pontificate about character and integrity - and Trump's lack of both. But, they can't see that the crapulence from the Obama admin and the intelligence community cuts to the throat of what we expect from our constitutional representative republic? Where are the devastating columns condemning THIS?

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    The Bell Tower

    It’s a good point. In an effort to defend Barr and He Who Shall Not be Named, the right rushes to concede the leftist talking point about winners writing history. The bonfire of the strawmen will be the end of us all.

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    Logical

    Pat_Riot's "The Alex Jones Principle," aka AJP

    I must confess. I admire Pat_Riot. He has more patience than me; and I like that.

    I want to expand on the AJP by coing a term called Aholism. Aholists are those who practice Aholism.

    Aholism is usually exhibited by intellectuals (i.e. those who have demonstrated high-level of expertise in one or more professional areas). An ivy degree, someone who memorized the bible, a successful district attorney, some versed in medieval history, or someone who mastered particle physics. They come in all walks of life. Bible is usually the most unique.

    I believe most of them use their knowledge and pedigree to gather and offer insights to the commoners. They keep digging deeper in their space to better themselves so that they gain more insights for the benefit of their peers or followers.

    The Aholists use their unique advantage cynically to create a flock. The flock first falls in love with the Aholist for their pedigree (as outlined above). The Aholist then starts dividing "us" and "them" to consolidate the gains.

    This will eventually give the Aholist money, power, fame, and occasionally extra sex.

    This is not that complicated.

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  6. Avatar photo
    J.R.

    I think we under-appreciate how important time is in correcting the record... It has taken a while for something like the 1619 Project to be widely reported and accepted, and it's subject isn't (mostly) modern. History is absorbed at a different rate than it's created, and it's appreciated even more slowly. It seems like things that are recorded the most accurately, or the most sincerely (with thought to the future), are the things that shocked us the most or the things that had the broadest agreement or support. I sincerely hope that your balanced reading is what's remembered a century from now, but I worry that as the speed at which we share information increases, so will the speed that we forget or gloss over merely inconvenient or unfortunate events.

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  7. Scroop Moth

    Judge Sullivan doesn’t tolerate government misconduct in criminal cases.

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  8. MeAgain

    When his case is so firm, why he have did come up with something dumb like that? Or perhaps politics in the DC trenches is just getting more bitter.

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  9. Mike Z

    So many perspectives and opinions. History will not be kind to the Trump Presidency. He will have much to say after his Presidency attacking at will anyone who disagrees. Stunned he will come to realize that those very Republican politicians that blindly supported him wish to preserve their legacy. Oh the tales that will be told.

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  10. Victoria Ferauge

    Reading this article and some of the comments I find it interesting how the FBI has become "the bad guys." I seem to remember a time when that was not the case. At all. Once upon a time conservatives/Republicans were the "law and order" party firmly on the side of law enforcement and against liberals who wrote laws that were far too favorable to suspects and prevented, we said, police officers and FBI agents from doing their job. (And if they cut a few corners or were a bit overly enthusiastic in pursuing justice, well, generally we gave them a pass. ) For some reason that is no longer the case. So I would like to know: Did the FBI change or did we?

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    1. C Winter

      Experts in authoritarianism recommended that we start a diary at the beginning of Trump's term because we will start to believe and do things we never thought possible. It was a tool to use to keep ourselves grounded by reminding ourselves of who we are and to prevent us from getting caught up in the whirlwind of a charismatic personality. Demagogues like Trump tap into the emotional centers of a person's brain, overriding rational thinking, and once you hook them emotionally you can do the thinking for them. He is now sowing doubt about Dr. Fauci, for example, because he won't lie for Trump and downplay the coronavirus. He wants people to live in the reality he has created in his mind, called a shared psychosis. Not all supporters, for sure, have fallen for it and support him for other reasons but enough have that it has become a cult movement.

      Trump attacks the FBI for the same reason he attacks the media -- to escape accountability. His ties to Russian mobsters/oligarchs are no secret and his constant demonization of the FBI has allowed him to purge it of some who had been investigating Russian organized crime.

      For example, in 2013, the FBI arrested 29 men accused of running a gambling ring out of Trump Tower. The ringleader was a Russian citizen who also ran a money laundering operation out of his condo directly beneath Trump's own living quarters. FBI had trouble locating this man, but several weeks later he showed up in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant, sitting in the VIP section a few seats away from Trump. This Russian mob boss is Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov. The U.S. attorney responsible for the raid on Trump Tower was Preet Bharara, whom Trump fired soon after being sworn in for no reason. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and this is just one story of many.



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      1. Victoria Ferauge

        Fascinating. So if I understand this weird reality you describe, in it we cannot trust politicians, federal employees, CEOs, law enforcement, journalists, scientists, and experts. But we are supposed to put our faith in a New York real estate developer with ties to the Russian mob? Well, it would make a great movie. :-)

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      DougCLE

      I think the FBI is run by people, and people are flawed. I don’t think Flynn should be let off the hook, but neither should we forget one J. Edgar Hoover in our rush to defend that fine institution.

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      Pat Riot

      I liken it to people watching The Sopranos or Breaking Bad: when the protagonist is a criminal, then you root against the cops. That's what Trump has done to the GOP.

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