This is the August 17, 2026, edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter.Subscribe hereto get it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday through Friday.
“I’m not going to pledge that, and no attorney general should ever pledge that.”
— Attorney General Todd Blanche on being asked to pledge his independence from President Donald Trump
On Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists dragged Officer Mike Fanone down the Capitol steps. They beat him with the pole of a “thin blue line” flag and repeatedly tased him at the base of his skull until he suffered a heart attack.
Todd Blanche shamelessly stood next to the president this week and said anyone who touches a federal law enforcement officer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Where was Blanche when Donald Trump pardoned every cop beater who attacked the Capitol that day — trying to overturn what Trump’s own officials called the safest election in American history.
When asked what message pardoning cop beaters sends to police officers, Blanche bizarrely said: “We will protect you.”
Todd Blanche knows he is lying. That’s not the news here. The real takeaway from this sordid affair is the message Trump and his minions sent the bad guys that day: “Do the crime, skip the time.”
Message received.
After the thugs were pardoned, their crimes multiplied.
Child molestation. Home break-ins. Threats to kill politicians. A conspiracy to murder FBI agents. One Jan. 6 convict even threatened the life of a D.C. cop on the anniversary of that bleak date.
But for the president, even pardoning these cop beaters isn’t enough.
Now Trump wants them paid.
That’s what makes Todd Blanche’s bland pronouncements look even more hypocritical, and makes the man uniquely unqualified to be Attorney General.
WHAT THEY SAID
Richard Haass on Trump’s drawdown of troops in South Korea
“The president is essentially dismantling, brick by brick, the edifice and architecture of American national security policy around the world. It’s irresponsible — and the Chinese and Russians will take note.”
Jonathan Lemire on Joshua Báez
“The beauty of baseball is that this guy has the best debut we’ve ever seen on Saturday, and then yesterday, 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. That’s the nature of the game — it just humbles you. But it also reminds you why baseball is great. A sport that has been played for a century and a half, and you can still walk into the park every day and see something that takes your breath away.”
Jonathan Martin on Sen. Jon Ossoff’s presidential prospects
“If he wins Georgia this fall by even 4 or 5 points, that’s a landslide. Biden won by a hair in ’20, and Trump won narrowly in ’24. If he hangs a 5-point margin in Georgia, Katie, bar the door. There’s going to be a huge push to draft him into the race.”
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