😳“Blanche Trance” Edition

Jul 16, 2026

Todd Blanche arrived at his Senate confirmation hearing insisting he isn’t Donald Trump’s “yes man.” That’s an awkward argument to make after spending the better part of two years saying “yes” to Donald Trump. Senators from both parties pressed the president’s former personal attorney on whether he could possibly serve as an independent attorney general after so enthusiastically serving as Trump’s chief legal shield. Blanche assured them he could. Somewhere, the Justice Department’s credibility quietly asked to be excused from the room.

The problem isn’t that Blanche once represented Trump. Every defendant is entitled to vigorous legal representation. The problem is that he never seemed to stop acting like Trump’s lawyer after joining the Justice Department. Whether defending politically charged investigations, advancing Trump’s grievances or insisting the department’s actions were above reproach, Blanche has repeatedly looked less like the nation’s top law enforcement officer than the president’s in-house counsel.

Confirmation hearings are supposed to answer one simple question: Is this nominee capable of putting the interests of the country ahead of the interests of the president who nominated him? Blanche’s testimony mostly answered a different one: How many ways can someone say, “Trust me,” while asking senators to ignore everything they’ve watched him do for the past two years?

The attorney general’s client is supposed to be the Constitution, not the occupant of the Oval Office. Todd Blanche may sincerely believe those two things are one and the same. That’s precisely why so many Americans believe he is the wrong man for the job.