Eric Holder Clarifies

President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan put liberals in a bind. They didn’t know whether to respond by saying, “America is greater than ever”–after all, Barack Obama had been president for the last eight years–or by saying what they really thought, “America has never been great.” Mostly they just fumed.

Yesterday on MSNBC, President Obama’s self-described “wing man,” Eric Holder, came out of the closet:

host Ari Melber had asked him: “There is a lot of talk about America being a leader as a democracy, quote unquote, in the 1800s when women and African-Americans couldn’t vote. What kind of democracy is that?”

Holder, unprovoked, then used his answer to tear into Trump’s campaign rally cry.

“That’s exactly right. And that’s what I hear these things about ‘let’s make America great again’ and I think to myself, ‘exactly when did you think America was great’?” he said on the show.

“It certainly wasn’t when people were enslaved. It certainly wasn’t when women didn’t have the right to vote. It certainly wasn’t when the LGBT community was denied the rights to which it was entitled.”

Melber then asked Holder if he believes Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan had discriminatory undertones.

“Does that phrase echo as discrimination in your ears?” the MSNBC host asked.

“It takes us back to what I think, an American past that never in fact really existed. This notion of greatness,” Holder replied.

Glad you cleared that up, Eric.

I can’t help noticing, though, that America has been pretty great to Eric Holder. He attended Columbia University (where he was a student radical), no doubt on scholarship, as well as Columbia Law School. He has spent much of his career working for the U.S. government, first in the Department of Justice, then as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, next United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and then Deputy Attorney General under Bill Clinton.

He then left the government for a while to work at Covington & Burling, perhaps Washington’s top law firm. No doubt he joined the firm as a partner and was able to forgo the long years working his way up as an associate that most partners have to put in.

Holder then served for six years as President Obama’s Attorney General and “wing man,” after which he rejoined Covington & Burling, where he remains today. I would guess that a partner with Holder’s political connections and public profile earns at least $2 million a year. His job, which probably involves little or no actual legal work, leaves him plenty of time to pontificate on cable news shows.

At every stage of his career, Eric Holder has met with preferment and privilege. Through his life, he has been largely supported by the American taxpayers whom he detests. Eric Holder may not think America is great, but as I said, America has been pretty great to him.

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