Donald Trump hasn’t exactly gotten along well with his attorneys general. Ten days into his first term, for example, the president fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she notified the White House that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had lied about his post-election talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government and was potentially vulnerable to a blackmail campaign.
In the months and years that followed, Trump clashed with Jeff Sessions during his tenure as attorney general, accusing the Alabama Republican of “disloyalty” and being an “idiot.” He later similarly condemned Bill Barr, calling him a “spineless RINO” and a “disappointment in every sense of the word.” The president wasn’t even satisfied with Pam Bondi, complaining that she didn’t move quickly or aggressively enough to meet his partisan demands.
So the good news for Todd Blanche is that he was narrowly confirmed early Saturday morning, in the closest vote in American history for an attorney general nominee, to lead the Justice Department. The bad news for Blanche is that it’s an open question as to just how long he’ll like the job. The Washington Post summarized:
[Blanche will officially assume the title of attorney general] under competing pressures from a president intent on seeing his enemies put on trial, a federal judiciary increasingly skeptical of those efforts and a Republican-led Congress harboring growing doubts about Blanche’s ability to say “no” to his boss.
The Justice Department’s career staff has been ravaged by firings, departures and low morale over the past year and a half, as its traditional independence from the White House has evaporated. And its to-do list has only grown longer, including stepped-up efforts to prosecute fraud, illegal immigration and violent crime while pursuing the sweeping, politically charged investigations of foes that the president has demanded.
There’s broad agreement that serving as Trump’s attorney general isn’t easy. A recent Slate piece described it as “the worst job in Trump’s Cabinet,” adding that under the incumbent president, this is an “impossible, degrading, no-win job.”
That might have seemed hyperbolic, but it’s an observation grounded in fact. Trump has a very specific vision in mind for the position — and it’s not pretty. As has become painfully clear, the president wants a partisan loyalist to serve as his personal tool, using the Justice Department to advance Trump’s goals and interests at all times, under all circumstances, without regard for other considerations.
The president, in other words, expects an attorney general who’s part puppet, part weapon and part cheerleader. Anyone serious about the rule of law or apolitical ethical limits need not apply.
I’ve seen some analyses that have described the office under Trump as “an impossible job,” largely because no one can be quite pathetic enough to satiate all of the president’s whims and demands. It’s a fair point, to be sure, but what if Blanche is that pathetic?
By all appearances, unlike guys such as Sessions and Barr, Blanche doesn’t actually want to lead the DOJ or oversee federal law enforcement; Blanche simply wants to serve Trump.
Blanche may very well be the first and only attorney general Trump actually gets along with because he and the president share a view of the office. By tradition, those in this role strive to be “the people’s lawyer.” As he awaits his formal swearing-in ceremony, the attorney general-designate has no such ambition.
Blanche has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to be the American people’s attorney general; he wants to be Trump’s attorney general, serving as little more than an instrument of the president’s will, turning his office into an extension of the West Wing. His goal is to serve one American, not 340 million Americans.
For all intents and purposes, Blanche is slated to be little more than the AGINO — Attorney General in Name Only — as the president continues to exert control over the Justice Department. Whether and how long Trump’s former defense lawyer remains comfortable in such a pitiful position remains to be seen.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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