Todd Blanche may be the most cowardly Attorney General ever. Fortunately, he is also incompetent.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies before Congress.
(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images) Donald Trump has appointed his personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, as attorney general. Blanche has been the acting AG since Trump fired Pam Bondi.
This nomination raises a crucial question that we are often forced to ask these days: how screwed are we?
I could argue that Blanche is worse than Bondi, but that would be a distinction without a difference. Like Bondi, Blanche is willing to do whatever Trump tells her to do: She’s willing to file frivolous lawsuits against Trump’s enemies, use the awesome power of the Justice Department to support Trump’s private financial interests, and say literally anything Trump wants her to say.
Blanche stands out for her willingness to do all this without any shame or legal independence. Bondi said and did everything Trump wanted her to do, but she seemed to at least be trying to give the appearance of independent thinking. White, on the other hand, seems allow Trump to draft legal documents himself. Bondi was a puppet, but Blanche is a simple sock puppet: Blanche can only move her mouth when Trump puts his arm in Blanche’s butt.
Blanche rose to fame and power as Trump’s personal lawyer during the Stormy Daniels saga. For some reason, there are people, apparently including Trump, who believe that Blanche defended Trump “successfully” during the trial surrounding his hush money payments to Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. But Trump and Blanche, lost this case. Trump was convicted on 34 counts falsification of commercial documents. He avoided prison only because Judge Juan Merchan went out of his way and granted Trump an “unconditional release” in 2025 after Trump took over the presidency. If Trump had lost the 2024 election, he would probably be in prison, thanks in part to Blanche’s pathetic defense.
Blanche’s incompetence was the defining characteristic of her tenure in government. As acting AG, he did nothing but file frivolous and absurd lawsuits against Trump enemies like James Comey. He is also responsible for the white grievance redressal fund this was intended to pay for Trump’s private January 6 army. This idea was so bad that even other Republicans bleached at this thought and I turned it off.
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Blanche is the worst lawyer because he only does what his client wants. He doesn’t give any advice, he doesn’t tell the client that his ideas are bad, and he doesn’t even give those bad ideas the most acceptable legal form. He just does what he’s told. He is more a notary than a legal advisor. You can call any lawyer whose QR code you scanned on the subway and get Todd Blanche.
But that’s not why Blanche is unfit to lead the Justice Department. A metro lawyer could fine an AG if he understood that his client was the American people. But Blanche doesn’t think she’s working for the American people. He doesn’t even think he works for the US government. Blanche’s one and only client is Donald Trump. Blanche never stopped being Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney, even as Trump was given increasing prosecutorial powers within the Justice Department. Confirming Blanche as AG is like letting the mob boss choose the police commissioner.
That said, Blanche’s characteristic, her incompetence, might also be the saving grace for the rest of us. An incompetent AG tasked with carrying out Trump’s orders is much better than a competent AG trying to carry out Trump’s orders. Consider the list of people who served as attorney general (acting or confirmed) during Trump’s two terms:
Jeff’s Sessions Matt Whitaker William Barr John Eastman (Eastman was never acting AG, but during the lead-up to the January 6 coup attempt, after Trump lost the election and Barr refused to try to overturn it, Barr was forced out and Eastman effectively ran the DOJ for several days) Pam Bondi Sorry, friends, but I can’t look at this list and think “Oh no, not Todd Blanche, how are we ever going to survive?” Sessions is as close as you can get to having a Klansman leading the DOJ in the 21st century. Whitaker was a toilet bowl salesman. Eastman would have ended the republic if he could. Bondi spent more time working on his burned books than on his legal briefs.
And then there’s Bill Barr, by far the most effective attorney general Trump has ever had. Barr was useful to us for about three weeks when Trump was trying to overthrow the government, but other than that, Barr was a terror to democracy. He was a relentless and effective advocate of strongman control. He helped turn the “unitary executive theory” into a blank check for Trump’s attempts to destroy the administrative state. And he used every power available to the DOJ to hide the truth and lie to the media.
If (or when) Trump tries to overthrow the government again, will Blanche stand in his way like Barr once did? No, of course not. Blanche will do everything she can to help her client achieve his goal, no matter how illegal or unconstitutional that goal is. But Blanche will be bad to this. He’s not as smart as Barr or as creative as Eastman. He doesn’t have Sessions’ connections and he can’t even sell a toilet bowl as effectively as Whitaker. Even Bondi could at least make a mean girls impression. All Blanche can do is put Trump’s Truth Social posts on DOJ letterhead and wait for the MAGA Supreme Court to bail him out.
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This does not mean he should be confirmed as attorney general. Democrats should do everything in their power to stop it — and, frankly, even Republicans should demand a more effective defender of their worst desires. If he gets the job, his tenure will be horrible and lawless. Trump will use the power of the DOJ against his perceived enemies without facing any legal accountability.
But how is it different from everyday? How would it be different with any AG Trump appoints?
If you want to stop a sock puppet, you don’t demand another sock. You disarm the guy animating the puppet. Donald Trump served as “acting” attorney general for his entire second term. As long as he holds power, it doesn’t really matter which puppet he chooses to speak his words.
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Elie Mystal Elie Mystal is The nationjustice correspondent and columnist. He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. He is the author of two books: New York Times bestseller Let me respond: A Guide to the Constitution for Black Men And Bad Laws: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining Americaboth published by The New Press. You can subscribe to his Nation newsletter “Elie c. US » here.
