John Barrasso, US Senator, a Rorschach Test

Inked abstraction of the absent soul of Sen. John Barrasso, (R—Wyo). Photo by author, May, 17, 2025.

Barrasso, now serving a 4th term as US Senator from Wyoming. Supra-Republican. The guy who used to stand shoulder-to-shoulder behind Mitch McConnell and the 3 or 4 other Republican men with red ties, (Thune and Cornyn etc.), at press conferences. Now he’s Senate Majority Whip! One of the most ‘important’ politicians in the USA.

Barrasso’s face, a rictus of mean-spirited partisanship, flits across TV screens on shows like “Meet the Press”, slathering the untruths issued by Donald Trump on Trump’s outsized ego like it’s some kind of aloe vera balm, a prostate gland, no doubt, now swollen to emperor-sized proportion. Barrasso’s fealty is palpable, a kind of ceremonial ass-and-ring-kissing, previously unavailable to such an otherwise quite common man.

4 terms for Senator Barrasso long ago fulfilled the old political cliche, “He got into politics to do good and did very well indeed.” And he won’t go away, it seems!

Yes Barrasso, to quote Wallace Stevens, “The world is ugly/And the people are sad.” You’ve gone on far too long ‘helping’ make the country look and feel this way. Cease and desist!

Yes, some sort of disappointment or outrage with this man’s political record and longevity needs to be registered. I’ve tried, leaving at least a dozen messages on his office voicemail in Casper, Wyoming, writing at least a half-dozen messages on the John Barrasso, R-Wyo website, expressing my dismay with the Trump administration and the part he plays in it, without receiving one reply, even though the website indicates Barrasso will respond.

J’accuse senator John Barrasso! Too much misplaced power has been put in this man’s hands. Plus, impoliteness is always poor form, as is riding upon the coat-tails of Trump’s toadstool. Add to these accusations mendacity, intoleration of the loyal opposition, overstaying one’s welcome…

Enough! A statewide Wyoming billboard campaign must ensue to stop this man from running for yet another term! PARDON BARRASSO comes to mind.