Someone got Bill Barr out of the airport security queue for this.
The former Attorney General, last spotted amongst the proles standing in a three-hour TSA line, has penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling on the Senate to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General. And if you were hoping Barr’s endorsement would give skittish Republican senators the kind of full-throated cover they might need, well. Read the op-ed.
Here is Barr’s assessment of what Blanche would bring to the permanent AG role: he “will run the department as effectively as anyone could under President Trump.” That’s… not inspiring. Indeed, it’s just about the faintest of praise imaginable. But Barr’s argument for Blanche’s nomination actually gets worse.
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Because the op-ed quickly devolves into what is essentially a hostage negotiation. The former AG writes that Trump “isn’t required to have anyone confirmed to fill the spot” and theorizes Blanche, as Deputy AG, can stay on the job, or Trump could install temporary appointees without Senate sign-off. The threat gets explicit in Barr’s telling. “It wouldn’t force the president to make a better choice,” Barr writes. “It will simply invite more chaos and a less desirable appointment.”
And then there’s this passage, “Mr. Blanche doesn’t shy away from giving the president straight-from-the-shoulder advice and, where warranted, pushing back on bad ideas. He doesn’t always prevail, but, frankly, no one has a better chance of getting through to Mr. Trump.” So, we have a mad king and Blanche is the best hope anyone has of occasionally talking him down from the parapet, and the Senate should factor that into its math. It’s less an endorsement than a crisis management argument dressed up in op-ed clothing.
This is the confirmation battle we’re in now, with the mainstream right arguing that Blanche is the least-bad option, the New York Times editorial board calling him unfit for office, and a handful of Republican senators who will ultimately have to decide whether “as effectively as anyone could under President Trump” is good enough for the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
It is, at minimum, an honest assessment of the situation… whether it’s a convincing one is another question entirely.
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Earlier:
- Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer
- ‘Todd Blanche Is Unfit For Office,’ Says The New York Times Editorial Board
- Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.
- John Oliver Turned Todd Blanche’s Groveling Into A Dr. Seuss Book
- Todd Blanche Is Your New Attorney General. Probably.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1