Podcaster Chuck Todd melted down over the Senate’s confirmation of Todd Blanche as U.S. attorney general, claiming — without providing evidence — that Republicans who voted for him have inflicted damage on America that will take “decades” to fix.
“I do not think he understands the distinction between being the lawyer for Donald John Trump and the lawyer for the people,” Todd said of Blanche. “This is damage that’s going to take decades to get out of, and this confirmation has just made the project of fixing America a lot harder and a lot longer.”
Todd, a longtime Trump critic and former host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” argued that Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and John Cornyn (R-TX) had caved to pressure from people to whom he referred as “Trump’s goons.”
“I know the reality that they live in. I have empathy personally. These people are terrible. The Trump goons come after anybody that stands in their way, and goons is the way to call them. I understand the incoming that they’re receiving, and they just want to go into retirement, and they’re in their 60s and 70s, and they don’t want to do this. It’s exhausting, and then after they leave, they will tell us how terrible it is,” he lamented on his podcast.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Senate confirmed Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as the nation’s attorney general following a drawn-out process marked by political bargaining and divisions within the Republican Party.
The chamber voted 50-49, with two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) — joining Democrats in opposing Blanche’s nomination. Collins said her vote stemmed from her belief that the Justice Department “has become increasingly political.”
“Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation,” she said in a statement earlier this week.
Cornyn, working with Tillis, exacted a major concession from the Trump administration in exchange for their votes: kill the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that drew bipartisan backlash and never materialized.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who had also voiced strong concerns about Blanche, ultimately fell in line, providing the pivotal vote.
“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,” Cassidy said. “But the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump, and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”
That rationale angered Chuck Todd, who argued Senate Republicans have repeatedly appeased Trump on issues ranging from January 6th, public health, and the rule of law.
“But at the end of the day, they didn’t have the guts to do this when it mattered. Look, they have to sleep at night. I don’t know if they will be able to,” Todd said. “What’s the point of advice and consent? All you’re going to do is consent. And consent. I guess we should call it advice and capitulate, because that’s what this feels like–a capitulation.”