Bill Barr Told Trump Even Some Supporters ‘Just Think You’re a F*cking Asshole,’ Says Woodward Book

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Former Attorney General Bill Barr advised Donald Trump that he would lose the 2020 election because voters — including some of those who liked his policy ideas — “just think you’re a fucking asshole,” according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
The book, “Peril,” states that Barr wanted to be direct with Trump during the April 2020 conversation, according to Insider, which obtained an early copy of the book.
“In my opinion, this is not a base election. Your base is critical, and you’ll get it out,” Barr reportedly told Trump during an Oval Office meeting. “And there are a lot of people out there, independents and Republicans in the suburbs of the critical states that think you’re an asshole. They think you act like an asshole and you got to, you got to start taking that into account.”
The book states that Barr pushed Trump to try to appeal to wider base, saying that he should focus more on the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy — “not all this other shit, not every grievance you have.”
However, Trump reportedly replied: “I need to be a fighter. I’ve gotten where I am because I’m willing to fight.”
Insider reported that Barr underscored that Trump needed to expand his talking points beyond his “grievances,” because suburban Republican voters “don’t give a shit.”
“Your base cares about seeing [former FBI director James Comey] and the rest of those guys held accountable, but these other people don’t,” Barr said, according to the book. “They don’t care about your fucking grievances. And it just seems that every time you’re out there, you’re talking about your goddamn grievances.”
The book also states that Barr pushed Trump to back down from attempting to repeal birthright citizenship, something that is constitutionally protected, as well as to not try to repeal the entire Affordable Care Act because the case would be a “fucking loser for you.”
“We’re in the middle of a COVID epidemic,” Barr said, per the book. “And you are now creating uncertainty as to people’s medical coverage. And you haven’t put up a substitute and we’re going to lose the case.”
“Peril,” which contains other revelations about the inner workings of the Trump administration, will be released on Tuesday.