Drake: Sen. Barrasso is swinging even farther right than ever before

But it was a hollow sentiment, as many of Barrasso’s words in favor of bipartisanship have proven to be since he became a U.S. senator 17 years ago. In practically the next breath, he attacked a Democrat-backed election reform bill he claimed made it “easier to defraud and cast doubt on every election in our future.”

He voted to certify the 2020 presidential election results, but never called out any of former President Donald Trump’s lies about fraud securing Joe Biden’s win.

Barrasso is one of many Republican leaders endorsing Trump’s 2024 bid. He’s also backing the half-baked U.S. Senate candidacy of Kari Lake of Arizona, a radical election denier.

Barrasso is seeking a fourth term. He has breezed to victory in every election since he was named to replace the late Sen. Craig Thomas in 2007.

But in his initial entry into politics in 1996, he lost the GOP Senate primary to Mike Enzi. A pro-choice candidate, Barrasso was the favorite, but faltered under Enzi’s anti-abortion attacks.

Barrasso’s been running from that humiliation farther to the right ever since. That’s likely to continue if Wyoming elects him for six more years.

By 2007, Barrasso was no longer a moderate on abortion or most issues. His application to succeed Thomas noted he had “voted for prayer in schools, against gay marriage and [for] legislation to protect the sanctity of human life” in the Wyoming Senate.

Barrasso’s long-term dream was to be in the U.S. Senate. He visited the Casper Star-Tribune when I was on its editorial board shortly after he was sworn in.

The new senator was giddy. He marveled about how Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts was the only Democrat around when he took the oath of office. Afterward, he invited Barrasso and his two children, Peter and Emma, to his office, and they were admittedly starstruck looking at Kennedy’s family photos and letters collections.

“For us, it was an incredible lesson in history and an incredible welcome to the Senate,” Barrasso said.

But unlike Enzi, who enjoyed collaborating with Democrats, especially Kennedy, Barrasso took a more partisan approach to legislating. He was one of the GOP’s leading critics of then-President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, appearing on Fox News to issue apocalyptic, inaccurate warnings that it would take medicine out of physicians’ hands and put government bureaucrats in charge.

Barrasso has never sent a clear message on the dangers of climate change. In 2007, he warned energy producers of the inevitability of legislation to curb greenhouse gases linked to global warming and urged them to get on board.

But by 2009, Barrasso flip-flopped. He told Environment and Energy Daily that he was “legislatively on the same page” as right-wing Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who called climate change “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” and infamously brought a snowball to the Senate floor to “prove” global warming doesn’t exist.

Barrasso has since acknowledged humans contribute to climate change. But he refuses to call it a crisis, and is furious about President Joe Biden’s “whole-of-government assault on American energy production.”

Barrasso was a loyal foot soldier for Trump, rarely disagreeing with him. He voted against convicting Trump in his two Senate impeachment trials.

How has Trump rewarded Barrasso for his loyalty? Trump told a far-right Sheridan radio show he had a favorable opinion of Barrasso early, but didn’t hear from him toward the end of his presidency. “I sort of think he’s a good man, but he turned out to be really a flunky for Mitch McConnell,” Trump said.

By endorsing the likes of Lake, Barrasso is all in on giving Trump a Republican majority, even if it results in a trainwreck.

Lake has been linked to shady far-right figures, including QAnon conspiracy peddlers and Nazi sympathizers. She still proclaims she’s the “real governor” of Arizona, despite losing by 17,000 votes and having her lawsuits thrown out. Yet Barrasso was one of several U.S. senators who last month helped her raise $330,000 at a Washington, D.C., event.

Last week, Lake told her supporters to get ready for an intense election. “We are going to put on the armor of God,” she said. “And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.”

Would the 2007 version of Barrasso, pinching himself over making it to the Senate and meeting Kennedy, have any problem with foisting the likes of Kari Lake — or even worse candidates — on a gullible electorate?

Given that today Barrasso doesn’t seem to have any qualms about it, probably not. Perhaps obtaining such political power was his goal all along, but Wyoming deserves elected officials who serve the people and not their own egos.