The Cassidy roll
By As Donald Trump’s approval ratings sink into the abyss, even Republican senators whose political careers Trump unceremoniously disposed of remain with him all the way:
The Senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as the next attorney general early Saturday, capping a tumultuous path to office for President Trump’s former personal attorney.
The big picture: Blanche’s appointment is a win for the Trump administration, especially after a journey that saw some Republicans hold out at multiple stages of the process.
- At one point Trump threatened to keep him as acting attorney general for months, after two GOP senators withheld their votes to advance him from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) both eventually supported Blanche’s advancement after Blanche confirmed that a controversial $1.776 billion fund to pay out perceived victims of political weaponization was dead.
Driving the news: The pre-dawn vote was split 50-49, mostly along party lines.
- Every Democratic member present voted against the Trump nominee, joined by GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine). Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was not present amid a lengthy health-related absence.
- Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) was broadly seen as Democrats’ best shot at blocking Blanche’s nomination, but he announced Friday that he’d vote in favor of the president’s former personal attorney.
If Cassidy is your best chance to stop a Trump nominee, I’m afraid it’s “let’s bring back smallpox” time again. And his latest tribute to Trump is particularly important, because it allowed Susan Collins ot have another moment of fake independence, although you can be 100% sure that her vote would have been there had Thune needed it.
The Department of Justice is as clearly Trump’s personal law firm as ever, and that’s because that’s how the Republican conference wants it.
