Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Well, folks, I suppose we can finally stop wondering what could possibly go wrong.

The Senate has now confirmed Donald Trump’s former personal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, as the Attorney General of the United States. Because apparently when you’re trying to convince the country that the Department of Justice is completely independent from the president, the obvious solution is to put the president’s former lawyer in charge of it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Blanche wasn’t merely some random lawyer who happened to cross paths with Donald Trump once at a cocktail party. He was Trump’s personal attorney. He represented him in criminal matters. He was part of Trump’s legal defense team.

And now he is the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Let’s just sit with that for a moment.

The Attorney General is supposed to be the lawyer for the United States of America—not the lawyer for Donald Trump. The distinction is rather important. In fact, it is the entire fucking point of having a Justice Department that is supposed to operate independently of the White House.

But apparently we have decided that distinction is just unnecessarily complicated.

The Senate confirmed Blanche 50–49, with the vote taking place in the early morning hours as the Senate was preparing to leave for recess. (Le Monde.fr⁠)

Because nothing says “we are completely comfortable with this decision” quite like holding the vote while most of America is asleep.

It has the unmistakable aroma of a legislative version of quietly sneaking out of the house after curfew.

“Hey, everybody! Nothing to see here! We’re just confirming the president’s former personal lawyer to run the entire federal law-enforcement apparatus at four in the morning. Go back to sleep.”

And before somebody tells me this is an unfair comparison, let me explain the comparison I’m making.

This isn’t about whether Todd Blanche is personally competent as a lawyer. It isn’t even necessarily about whether he is a good person. It is about the fundamental conflict created when the president’s former personal attorney becomes the person responsible for overseeing investigations involving that same president.

That is precisely why recusal rules and ethical independence matter.

In fact, Blanche had previously been advised by Justice Department ethics officials that he should recuse himself from matters involving Trump. (Senator Schiff⁠)

And now the guy who was supposed to recuse himself from Trump’s cases is running the entire department that handles those cases.

That is not exactly what I would call a reassuring organizational chart.

And this is where the comparison to Roy Cohn becomes difficult to ignore.

Cohn was famous for operating as Donald Trump’s mentor, fixer and personal attorney, and for treating the machinery of government as something to be manipulated on behalf of his clients and allies.

The Attorney General is supposed to be the exact opposite of that.

The Attorney General is supposed to be the person who can look the president in the eye and say:

No.

Not “No, sir, because the polling isn’t good.”

Not “No, sir, because the Senate might get upset.”

Not “No, sir, because Fox News might have a problem with it.”

No, because the law doesn’t allow you to do that.

That is the job.

And that is precisely why the Senate’s decision matters.

Because if the president can install his personal lawyer as the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, the question isn’t merely whether the DOJ has been politicized.

The question becomes whether we are redefining what the DOJ is for.

Is it still an institution whose responsibility is to enforce federal law regardless of who happens to occupy the Oval Office?

Or is it becoming the president’s legal department—with a few million employees, guns, prosecutors, grand juries and federal prisons attached?

Because those are two very different things.

And here’s the part that really makes my Gen-X bullshit detector start screaming:

We’ve spent decades hearing Republicans lecture everyone about the importance of law and order.

Law and order.

Law and order.

Law and order.

Apparently the slogan has now been updated to:

Law and order, provided the order comes from the guy in charge.

The irony is almost too perfect.

The people who spent years screaming about Hillary Clinton’s emails, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Benghazi, FBI investigations, congressional investigations and the supposed weaponization of government are now apparently perfectly comfortable with putting the president’s personal lawyer in charge of the Justice Department.

Because apparently government weaponization is only terrifying when the other team has the weapon.

When it’s your guy holding it?

Well, that’s different.

That’s patriotism.

That’s leadership.

That’s probably just “draining the swamp,” somehow.

And before anyone accuses me of declaring that the weaponization of the DOJ is now legally or factually “complete,” let me be precise: that is my characterization of what this appointment represents. But the concern isn’t imaginary. Blanche’s confirmation has already been described by critics as a major threat to the traditional independence of the Justice Department, particularly because of his previous role as Trump’s personal lawyer. (The Guardian⁠)

So congratulations, America.

We have apparently reached the stage where the person who used to defend the president can now decide who gets investigated by the federal government.

And they held the vote in the middle of the damn night.

What could possibly go wrong?

Honestly, at this point, I’m afraid to ask.

Because every time we do, somebody in Washington seems to interpret it as a fucking challenge.