Dem
47
GOP
53
Some senators are not that bright (yes, Alabama and Wyoming, we are looking at you), but now that Markwayne Mullin has moved on to bigger and better things, all of them have at least a 4-year college degree and most have a graduate degree (22 Masters, 47 J.D.s, 4 M.D.s, and 4 Ph.D.s). As a group, they are not stupid. They all know that Todd Blanche is completely unfit to be AG, yet on Saturday he was confirmed 50-49. Every Democrat voted against confirmation, as did Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME)—whose Senate election would have been torpedoed by an "aye" vote—and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the only Republican senator with a spine. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was indisposed and did not vote. It would have been interesting if Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had voted "nay" and they had to roll McConnell into the Senate to get the 50th vote, so J.D. Vance could break the tie. Blanche was too much even for Sen. John Fetterman (D!-PA), who voted with all the Democrats to reject Blanche.
What strikes us as the most noteworthy aspects of this whole business are:
None of those three senators will be returning next year on account of Trump forcing them out, one way or another. He can no longer threaten to primary them. Now they have power over him, rather than vice-versa. Cornyn and Tillis pretended to care about the giant $2 billion slush fund Trump wants and made a big show about making Blanche pretend he won't allow it. But Trump really wants this, so he will tell Blanche that unless he caves immediately, he will be dumped, just like Sally Yates, Jeff Sessions and Pam Bondi. Blanche will obey and cave immediately. Cornyn and Tillis know this very well, but still couldn't summon the courage to simply vote "nay." So great is Trump's power. Cornyn served 7 years on the Texas Supreme Court, 4 years as Texas AG and 24 years as a senator. He knows very well how the justice system is supposed to work. If Tillis didn't know, Cornyn could have told him.
Cassidy is a doctor. He took an oath that said: "First, do no harm." It didn't say "First, do no harm to your patients, but boy oh boy can you harm anyone who is not your patient to the max, even the entire county." Cassidy "defended" his vote by saying: "Mr. Blanche showed poor judgment in approving the anti-weaponization slush fund and exempting the president from IRS audits. No American should be unfairly targeted by the law, but no American should be above the law." Just so you are not confused, this is why Cassidy voted to confirm Blanche, not an explanation of why he voted to reject him. He also defended his vote by effectively saying if Blanche is shot down, maybe the next nominee will be even worse. The Senator apparently didn't consider the possibility of rejecting that one, and the one after, and the one after that until there was one who was fit for the job.
Murkowski, in contrast, voted "nay" and let Blanche have it with both barrels. She said: "The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration. I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case." She also noted that the slush fund is off the table only until Blanche is confirmed. She has no illusions that it is really dead. She also criticized the DoJ for the deal giving Trump and his children immunity for past actions, including failure to pay taxes.
As to Collins, once again she has cast a "principled" vote that was not actually decisive. Funny how it works out that way for her so often. There is much scuttlebutt that Cassidy was going to be a "nay," but that he took a bullet for Collins so that she could be a "nay" instead. If this is true, we think it does not reflect well on either of them.
Needless to say, once Blanche was confirmed, Democrats were beyond furious. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School, said: "The problem with confirming Todd Blanche is that he has never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump. He just can't do it. He does not represent the American people now. He will never represent the American people. He will never do what's best for the American people. He will only do what's best for Donald Trump, and you cannot leave someone like that as the nation's number one law enforcement official."
If you don't mind us mixing some metaphors, this kabuki theater is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Blanche was already acting AG and could have stayed that way until either Jan. 20, 2029 or the first time he didn't instantly obey Trump's orders, whichever came first. In terms of power, this confirmation changes nothing. But Blanche coveted the title of attorney general, and Trump delivered to a grateful Blanche, who will now deliver for an ungrateful Trump, justice be damned. (V)