Sarah Longwell and Andrew Weissmann focus on why Trump’s pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, is dangerous and likely to be confirmed despite a long record of enabling Trump’s most abusive DOJ behavior. They then widen out to Trump’s election-fraud messaging, the dismantling of election oversight, and the symbolic/structural destruction of public institutions in Washington, from the Kennedy Center to the White House grounds.
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This episode is a sustained critique of Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general and a broader warning about how Trump is using the Justice Department and election machinery. Weissmann’s core thesis is that Blanche should be unconfirmable: he is not just ethically compromised, but also ineffective and incompetent in ways that make him especially dangerous because he repeatedly helps execute Trump’s agenda while losing credibility with courts and observers. Longwell and Weissmann argue that Senate Republicans are likely to confirm him anyway because they believe Trump will simply recycle someone even worse if Blanche is blocked, and because the party has become accustomed to accommodating Trump rather than checking him. Weissmann breaks Blanche’s record into two buckets: outrageous, potentially illegal conduct, and plain incompetence. …
The immediate setup is a confirmation fight: Blanche is likely headed toward approval unless senators get pinned down on concrete abuses. Tactical risk is that the process moves fast and the opposition gets outflanked by procedural speed.
Over the next few weeks, the likely path is normalization unless hearings become disciplined and costly for Republicans. If oversight remains hollowed out, election-fraud narratives and DOJ politicization will keep reinforcing each other into 2026.
The long-run implication is a regime shift in which legal institutions, election administration, and civic symbolism are all subordinated to presidential loyalty. The enduring risk is not one scandal but the creation of a new baseline where abuse of power is treated as routine.
Todd Blanche is likely to be confirmed even though the hosts think he is unfit for the job.
Longwell says confirmation now looks likely because senators are signaling support.
Blanche’s conduct can be grouped into two buckets: unethical or illegal actions, and incompetence.
Weissmann explicitly frames the case this way and uses multiple examples.
Blanche’s record in Trump’s legal fights shows weak courtroom performance and low credibility.
Weissmann says Blanche lacked presence, made poor arguments, and lost credibility in the Stormy Daniels case.
Were you a Hills person, a Real World person, an Apprentice person — did you watch any of those shows?
Andrew says he watched zero of those shows.
How did the Stormy Daniels case turn out for Todd Blanch — he won that case, right?
Andrew corrects her — that was the one case they got Trump on, not a win. He explains Blanch was part of the losing team and that he was surprised by how poorly Blanch performed in court, lacking presence and losing credibility with the judge.
Couldn't they just do the indefinite acting appointment instead of trying to confirm Todd Blanch, since they did that a lot in the first term when they knew they had unconfirmable people?
The response says they should deal with the world as it is — they're moving forward trying to confirm him. Yes, he could stay as acting for quite some time with all the rules about time limits and when Congress sits, but it's going to come up for a vote.
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