The Todd Blanche Conundrum

We are treading very, very dangerous waters

By: Austin Abbring

August 4, 2026

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche

We are dangerously encroaching upon the reality of Todd Blanche becoming the Attorney General (AG). Following his dropping the $1.8 billion Trump slush fund - in writing now, officially -, Blanche gained two more Senate votes ahead of his final confirmation vote later this month. Senate Republicans Tom Tillis (NC) and John Cornyn (TX) finally agreed to back Blanche in the vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Todd Blanche is now one confirmation vote away from being confirmed as Attorney General. Republicans cannot lose more than two votes, assuming all Democrats vote “No” to block his confirmation. Senator Susan Collins of Maine is a staunch no, and there are two undecided votes: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. 

Tillis and Cornyn finally deciding to endorse Blanche is in response to his dropping the aforementioned slush fund that he and Trump attempted to establish earlier this year that would have rewarded a number of political allies - including the violent rioters who attempted to overthrow our democracy on January 6th. For Donald Trump, and ostensibly the Trump family, the tax audit immunity is still in place. Blanche has only put in writing that future tax-related filings are not applicable to this immunity, only past filings. Which, obviously, is all around despicable. This should not exist; there is no argument to justify this measure. 

Should Blanche be confirmed, we will be making history, folks. Just in a very bad-for-democracy kind of way. It would be the first time that a United States president’s personal criminal defense lawyer who defended said president in court would become the country’s attorney general. Just a handful of reasons as to why this would be incredibly problematic: the obvious partiality, or political bias; and the inability to separate the role of being the country’s top prosecutor, who is meant to uphold and dispense our laws, would now be cognizant and subservient to the president’s personal agenda. 

We have already seen just that in the few short months that Blanche has been acting AG. In that timeframe: Blanche has created the “anti-weaponization” fund, the tax audit immunity for Donald Trump and his family, the complete bungling (or dare I say, cover-up) of the continued release of the Epstein files and transparency around those files and redactions, the Comey investigation, the Southern Poverty Law Center indictment, the Democratic fundraising group ActBlue investigation, and the massive losses of personnel across the Justice Department, in divisions such as the Civil Rights Division. That is only half the iceberg; he has been a busy man. You can clearly see the picture I am painting here: Blanche has already been corrosive to our democratic norms in just the short time he has been acting AG. I do not want to imagine what happens going forward should he be officially nominated. I guess there aren't all that many democratic norms left to break at this point in the wake of the Trump era, so maybe I shouldn't worry so much. 

Now, with the recent - and by recent I mean today’s - leaks of Blanche discussing further entrenched abortion ban measures, he may see some hesitancy amongst a couple of Republican Senators he would need votes from. He already lost Susan Collins over this, where he promised anti-abortion groups further crackdowns by this administration, including on mail-order abortion pills. This is one of the dangers in Trump’s presidencies, as he has now appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices. This, in conjunction with an AG who is entirely at his disposal, is going to lead to some serious implications for abortion rights. We have seen infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates increase in states with either full abortion bans or immediately following their bans. In fact, ever since the overturning of Roe v Wade, national abortion rates have slightly increased. Mothers have had to travel to other states to receive treatment, and telehealth expansions are why Blanche, Trump, and the Republicans are coming after it - especially if they maintain control in November.

This is yet another reason why these midterms are so immeasurably vital. Please vote as if your life counts on it. Republicans are coming after Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, unchecked lawlessness in Iran, and will enact harsher abortion restrictions. There are dozens of women who have died as a result of the Dobbs decision. Women are bleeding out in their cars outside of hospitals. 50,000 people die prematurely every year due to lack of healthcare access. Social Security keeps two-thirds of our elderly out of poverty. We have killed well over one thousand Iranian civilians in our illegal, unjustified war. Do not forget this as you head to the polls and cast your ballot.