A few days ago, the nominee for Attorney General, Todd Blanche was told by TX, Senator John Cornyn he must do a couple of things before securing the Senator's vote to advance his nomination. First, Mr. Blanche must meet with a group of Jefferey Epstein's victims. Second, he must sign a paper pledging that the $1.76 billion proposed, "anti-government weaponization," proposal--which includes a lifetime get out of tax audits and prosecution clause for Donald Trump and his family--is truly and forever dead. Blanche had sworn it was, but his testimony wasn't good enough for Cornyn. He wanted it in writing. In other words, he smelled a rat.
On the surface those two requirements sound pretty simple, right? They certainly didn't include things like killing a lion and hydra which Hercules, among other things, had to do.
Seemingly within minutes Blanche met with some of Epstein's victims. Unfortunately, by all reports, it didn't go well--for the victims anyway. The women there claimed Blanche was cold and condescending. During one exchange he snapped, "Can you get to the point already." During another, he denied having anything to do with Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a minimum-security facility where she is afforded four-star privileges. One victim described his whole attitude was, "...like, you have an Epstein problem, right?" In the end, the nominee for Attorney General of the United States told all of them they needed to take their issues to the FBI.
Ok, so he was an asshole. The obligation was to meet with them. No one ever said he had to act like a decent human being when he did. Mission accomplished.
Then came the snag and apparently it is a big one. Todd Blanche refused to sign anything that said the $1.776 billion fund was dead. It didn't matter he had already sworn under oath it was. By God, he wasn't signing anything. Reports said the orders not to sign came straight from the White House.
News network analysts ran wild with theories why. Speculation ranged from the subtle--Trump doesn't want to knuckle under to the Senate on principle. (The President sets conditions on congress, not the other way around, no matter what the Constitution says.) To the conspiratorial--Trump needs the money to pay his troops for another insurrection. Then finally to the obvious--Donald Trump really, really wants that audit and jail free future for himself, his boys, and his son-in-law.
In any event, we all just learned that, at least in Donald Trump's rapidly melting brain, the fund that Blanche swore is dead, is, in fact, very much alive. Well, that and the President of the United States believes one's word, even under oath, doesn't mean shit. It only counts if you write it down and sign it.
Of course, John Cornyn isn't the only republican who is gumming up the works when it comes to Todd Blanche's nomination. North Carolina Senator, Thom Tillis, who initially wavered back and forth on it, has firmed up his opposition now that Blanche has refused to put his name to paper. The two men are both leaving the Senate in January. Trump, always the diplomat, posted the reason why they won't be back on social media. In part it read, "John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee..."
That's right, Donald Trump is complaining that two guys he stabbed in the back aren't doing exactly what he wants. Not to worry though. The President has figured out the problem. He also wrote in the same post he might temporarily withdraw Blanche's nomination, keep him as acting AG, then bring up the nomination again after both Senators are gone.
Does anyone see a possible flaw in that plan? How about the mid-term elections? While the odds are still iffy, the democrats have a real chance to take control of the Senate. In fact, right now in TX, democrat, James Talarico holds a slight lead in the polls over Trump's pick, Ken Paxton. In North Carolina, former democratic governor, Roy Cooper also holds a slight edge over former RNC chair, Michael Whatley. Both leads are within the margin of polling error, and democrats will need more wins beyond NC and TX to take control. However, for a man with tanking poll numbers himself, it sure feels like Donald Trump is a tad over-confident.
Obviously, this all might suddenly blow over. We know you can never trust a republican these days. They say one thing, then the next minute act like they've never said it at all. One example being the late Lindsey Graham's post insurrection rant about Trump. There are plenty of others, actually too many to count. Pessimism aside, for the moment anyway, Todd Blanche's nomination looks as dead as he swore Trump's coveted slush fund is.
We can only hope it's true. Just as we have to hope it won't be resurrected sometime down the line. You know, like that fictional bad boy, Michael Myers.
7-31-26
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