Todd Blanche’s confirmation is on hold, perhaps indefinitely, and it’s down to the objections of two GOP outliers: Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Senator John Cornyn of Texas.
Last week, Epstein survivors and family members of the late Virginia Guiffre urged both men to consider Blanche’s nomination as a slap in the face to victims of the sex trafficker’s horrific cycle of abuse. Now, it seems Cornyn and Tillis are doing just that, and it’s pissing Tr*mp all the way off, to the point where Blanche is now possibly going to be dumped by Tr*mp altogether.
The prevailing story is that Cornyn is holding his vote hostage specifically over Blanche’s waffling on the subject of Tr*mp’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, a payout that could provide J6 rioters—including at least one convicted s*x offender—with easy access to “Tr*mp bucks.”
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But behind the scenes, there’s more to the story.
This month, Epstein survivors have been using in-your-face ACT-UP tactics to impress upon Cornyn, Tillis, and other undecided Republicans the grave problem with Blanche’s confirmation. This week, Dani Bensky and other survivors passed out binders full of printed-out Epstein files for the Senators to read in addition to last week’s letter explaining how “Todd Blanche is bad for the business of justice.”
He is that: while Blanche hasn’t had much to say about the LGBTQ+ community, he’s subtly cheered on his predecessors’ moves to limit LGBTQ+ protections from the wings. Last year, when Blanche’s DOJ tried to intimidate hospitals into handing over their gender-affirming care records at Tr*mp’s command, Blanche complied to the fullest. Before that, he applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to limit LGBTQ+ history teachings in schools.
There’s also the looming embarrassment Tr*mp and his allies face from the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room pop-up that’s still in Washington, mere minutes away from the White House. Try as Blanche might, he’s not getting away from his Epstein association, and it’s hurting his chances. Tr*mp himself declared that in light of the snafu, he might end up dropping Blanche’s nomination altogether. Cry me a river!
But even if Tr*mp follows through and kicks Blanche to the curb, he’s still got Cornyn to deal with. Earlier this year, Cornyn lost his primary after Tr*mp endorsed his competition, Texas AG Ken Paxton. Like Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and House Republican Thomas Massie, he’s now refusing to go down quietly.
Massie and Cassidy have stood in the way of getting Tr*mp’s pet agenda through in the form of the SAVE act, as well as signing on to the War Powers Resolution Act to limit Tr*mp’s Iran authority. Earlier this summer, Cassidy and Tr*mp had a screaming match during a lunch session where the senator asked for answers concerning the endless Iran war. Massie has stood ten toes down on his commitment to amplifying the voices of Epstein survivors and releasing the files in accordance with his co-authored Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Now, Cornyn, too, is biting back. Like Cassidy and Massie, he’s got nothing to lose, and he’s refusing to let Tr*mp have his way through the Blanche confirmation.
Whether the true problem is the slush fund or the Epstein drama, Republicans in the House and Senate are flexing their newfound muscle and showing Tr*mp he’s no longer the boss of them. In a different timeline, one where Mitch McConnell isn’t AWOL and Lindsey Graham isn’t dodging pitchforks in hell, Tr*mp wouldn’t need those extra votes to push his agenda through.
“They think they can roll me,” Cornyn told CNN yesterday. Emboldened by the loss of his seat, he’s now doing the one thing that’s guaranteed to piss Tr*mp off the most, and interfere with his Epstein cover-up agenda.
They say you reap what you sow, and Tr*mp has continually sowed chaos since the beginning of his disastrous second term.
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