Todd Blanche's bonafides as a trump mouthpiece and defense lawyer were all on parade during the business-fraud/hush-money trial in Manhattan, where he repeatedly butted heads with the trial judge, was called out as "unprofessional", and ultimately lost the case.
He also served as chief counsel for the notorious Paul Manafort in one of the latter's many criminal indictments.
Bottom line: A long history with trump, his criminal organizations, and trump-adjacent bad guys. And now practicing his trade on a national scale as a top DOJ henchman for trump's revenge tour. A real piece of work, to which we can all agree.
Yes, but what accounts for his departure from his storied career as an AUSA in the Southern District of New York, appointed by liberal democracy stalwart Preet Bharara? I looked up Blanche's bio. He's a grad of Brooklyn Law, 2003. Not a top tier, as was Bharara's Columbia. This fits with Anne Applebaum's theory of the right-wing political entrepreneurs who have lost out on the top elite jobs and go on to use disinformation, corruption, and social media to undermine democratic institutions, often motivated by cultural pessimism and a desire for power.
Thank you for this summary of the news. I haven’t been able to keep us as much the last couple days, so this is very helpful. Also just a comment: I love Pope Leo!
First, about Blanche. I just can't see how anybody who works for Trump (and even more so in his second term) can ever be considered to have any discernible amount of morality or ethics. This goes double for anybody trained in the law. Blanche's ambition certainly seems to have overwhelmed all possible matters of propriety he may once have had, leaving him behaving like a remora who somehow thinks of Trump as a ravaging shark rather than the rapidly deflating hot air balloon he's become.
The ultimate problem with this Administration is that Trump has already promised to pardon anybody who gets in trouble for having followed his orders, which makes any thought of a future Nuremberg trial highly problematic. Knowing this, all of his toadies understand that there will be neither restraints nor consequences for whatever they do, and we need to be prepared for them to do all of the drastically unlawful things they believe will be necessary to keep Trump in power and their personal asses out of the fire. There are no better angels left to appeal to.
Last, kudos for Pope Leo. If that video clip gets enough distribution, MAGA heads will be exploding nationwide like the Fourth of July.
Although Todd Blanche has never explained himself, I think he is an example of a true MAGA convert. He once lived in the DOJ ecosystem, but now he has realized that the country is in a crisis that demands a totally new approach to politics and governance. The leftwing Antifa America-hating enemy must be fought with every means fair and foul. To give a parallel, Vance once called Trump a Hitler like figure but later saw the light and joined the MAGA army. Of course, with Vance there was clearer element of self-advancement in the conversion.
Yet again, in this case re Blanche: I keep saying they’re all insane — our leaders, both private and public — and I sound nuts. Yet there’s no proof that I’m wrong (literally only Mackenzie Scott excepted).
So back to Blanche: An insane, moronic feral monster has appointed people to top level positions with the primary attributes being willing to stroke the monster’s ego and look good on TV. Behind those two are being willing to put in some effort to satisfy the madman’s whims.
And there is Blanche, in no way an outlier among his peers.
Trying to impute to him being better than that is a form of sanewashing: It’s just wrong IMO. They’re all insane and denying that does no one any good.
We freely re-empowered someone proven to be completely unfit for any office involving any responsibility to the public, POTUS obviously most of all, and need to come to terms with the awful thing we did. And trying to see Trump’s people as being in any way normal frustrates that necessary exercise. Reelecting was an act of historic stupidity. Trying to see those people as better than 5hey are frustrates the learning process.
Todd Blanche's father was was a strict, authoritarian Pentecostal preacher who preached from home for a while and was also imprisoned at one point. Check out Nina Burleigh's article on Blanche at her substack American Freakshow. His childhood contributed a lot to what he is today. Many of these MAGA nuts have daddy and/or mommy issues.
Blanche seems to be a clumsier, more outspoken version of Bondi. But he’s following Barr’s precedent. Right now, the legacy media is serving as his stenographers. Soon the conventional wisdom will award him the job praising his no nonsense approach and accessibility. These things are no longer dispositive anymore, but still a substantial influence, despite the discrediting of both.
Terri Gross, "Fresh Air" on NPR, years ago interviewed now deceased author, Phillip Kerr, about his Bernie Gunther Berlin Noir. She asked why he wrote said noir and highlighted the Heydrich, Himmler et al figures. Answer: they were mostly lawyers or at top of their professions, and PK believed people needed to be reminded of this reality. [. BTW, very good noir series. ]
"Is Todd Blanche Simply Morally Obtuse and Ethically Tone Deaf?" Always the same question, Incompetent or Malevolent? And the answer with right-wingers is always yes.
on the Iranian women in detention: More and more our government policy is based on outright lies. Starting a war based on nonexistent weapons of Mass destruction was bad enough, but the lies are creeping into smaller but critical aspects of our democracy. The Fifth Circuit just OK'd the Texas posting of the ten commandments in all classrooms, relying on the Bremerton Coach case.
In that case Gorsuch flat out lied about the circumstances of the coach's ""short, private, personal prayer" and that Kennedy ""offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied" That is total BS: he held the prayers midfield with the whole team surrounding him. The only was they were "otherwise occupied" would have been if they were privately thinking "holy shit, I can't believe this" instead of praying.
And so decades of law about promoting religion in schools went down the tubes, apparently. Not, of course, that a non-Christian kid faced with teachings of a religion not his own, daily, can really be 'otherwise occupied,"
And now we have a woman dying for lack of medical attention because someone lied about her and that lies papers over the fact that nothing she did warranted what happened in any event, including revocation of the green card.
Todd Blanche's bonafides as a trump mouthpiece and defense lawyer were all on parade during the business-fraud/hush-money trial in Manhattan, where he repeatedly butted heads with the trial judge, was called out as "unprofessional", and ultimately lost the case.
He also served as chief counsel for the notorious Paul Manafort in one of the latter's many criminal indictments.
Bottom line: A long history with trump, his criminal organizations, and trump-adjacent bad guys. And now practicing his trade on a national scale as a top DOJ henchman for trump's revenge tour. A real piece of work, to which we can all agree.
Yes, but what accounts for his departure from his storied career as an AUSA in the Southern District of New York, appointed by liberal democracy stalwart Preet Bharara? I looked up Blanche's bio. He's a grad of Brooklyn Law, 2003. Not a top tier, as was Bharara's Columbia. This fits with Anne Applebaum's theory of the right-wing political entrepreneurs who have lost out on the top elite jobs and go on to use disinformation, corruption, and social media to undermine democratic institutions, often motivated by cultural pessimism and a desire for power.
Thank you for this summary of the news. I haven’t been able to keep us as much the last couple days, so this is very helpful. Also just a comment: I love Pope Leo!
First, about Blanche. I just can't see how anybody who works for Trump (and even more so in his second term) can ever be considered to have any discernible amount of morality or ethics. This goes double for anybody trained in the law. Blanche's ambition certainly seems to have overwhelmed all possible matters of propriety he may once have had, leaving him behaving like a remora who somehow thinks of Trump as a ravaging shark rather than the rapidly deflating hot air balloon he's become.
The ultimate problem with this Administration is that Trump has already promised to pardon anybody who gets in trouble for having followed his orders, which makes any thought of a future Nuremberg trial highly problematic. Knowing this, all of his toadies understand that there will be neither restraints nor consequences for whatever they do, and we need to be prepared for them to do all of the drastically unlawful things they believe will be necessary to keep Trump in power and their personal asses out of the fire. There are no better angels left to appeal to.
Last, kudos for Pope Leo. If that video clip gets enough distribution, MAGA heads will be exploding nationwide like the Fourth of July.
I'm hoping that states will bypss the pardons and indict some of these fine folks.
I hope the MAGA heads explode. God bless Pope Leo.
Also , something about Todd Blanches eyes look lost? empty? I don’t have the words
Although Todd Blanche has never explained himself, I think he is an example of a true MAGA convert. He once lived in the DOJ ecosystem, but now he has realized that the country is in a crisis that demands a totally new approach to politics and governance. The leftwing Antifa America-hating enemy must be fought with every means fair and foul. To give a parallel, Vance once called Trump a Hitler like figure but later saw the light and joined the MAGA army. Of course, with Vance there was clearer element of self-advancement in the conversion.
Kathleen, FYI, my theory of the case: https://morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.com/p/is-todd-blanche-simply-morally-obtuse/comment/248810849. Heavily influenced by Anne Applebaum's "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism" (2021).
Yet again, in this case re Blanche: I keep saying they’re all insane — our leaders, both private and public — and I sound nuts. Yet there’s no proof that I’m wrong (literally only Mackenzie Scott excepted).
So back to Blanche: An insane, moronic feral monster has appointed people to top level positions with the primary attributes being willing to stroke the monster’s ego and look good on TV. Behind those two are being willing to put in some effort to satisfy the madman’s whims.
And there is Blanche, in no way an outlier among his peers.
Trying to impute to him being better than that is a form of sanewashing: It’s just wrong IMO. They’re all insane and denying that does no one any good.
We freely re-empowered someone proven to be completely unfit for any office involving any responsibility to the public, POTUS obviously most of all, and need to come to terms with the awful thing we did. And trying to see Trump’s people as being in any way normal frustrates that necessary exercise. Reelecting was an act of historic stupidity. Trying to see those people as better than 5hey are frustrates the learning process.
Todd Blanche's father was was a strict, authoritarian Pentecostal preacher who preached from home for a while and was also imprisoned at one point. Check out Nina Burleigh's article on Blanche at her substack American Freakshow. His childhood contributed a lot to what he is today. Many of these MAGA nuts have daddy and/or mommy issues.
Thx!
Blanche seems to be a clumsier, more outspoken version of Bondi. But he’s following Barr’s precedent. Right now, the legacy media is serving as his stenographers. Soon the conventional wisdom will award him the job praising his no nonsense approach and accessibility. These things are no longer dispositive anymore, but still a substantial influence, despite the discrediting of both.
Morally obtuse?
He’s a fucking criminal.
Seems like the Epstein Files are slipping further and further away from the news! 😡
Terri Gross, "Fresh Air" on NPR, years ago interviewed now deceased author, Phillip Kerr, about his Bernie Gunther Berlin Noir. She asked why he wrote said noir and highlighted the Heydrich, Himmler et al figures. Answer: they were mostly lawyers or at top of their professions, and PK believed people needed to be reminded of this reality. [. BTW, very good noir series. ]
"Is Todd Blanche Simply Morally Obtuse and Ethically Tone Deaf?" Always the same question, Incompetent or Malevolent? And the answer with right-wingers is always yes.
on the Iranian women in detention: More and more our government policy is based on outright lies. Starting a war based on nonexistent weapons of Mass destruction was bad enough, but the lies are creeping into smaller but critical aspects of our democracy. The Fifth Circuit just OK'd the Texas posting of the ten commandments in all classrooms, relying on the Bremerton Coach case.
In that case Gorsuch flat out lied about the circumstances of the coach's ""short, private, personal prayer" and that Kennedy ""offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied" That is total BS: he held the prayers midfield with the whole team surrounding him. The only was they were "otherwise occupied" would have been if they were privately thinking "holy shit, I can't believe this" instead of praying.
And so decades of law about promoting religion in schools went down the tubes, apparently. Not, of course, that a non-Christian kid faced with teachings of a religion not his own, daily, can really be 'otherwise occupied,"
And now we have a woman dying for lack of medical attention because someone lied about her and that lies papers over the fact that nothing she did warranted what happened in any event, including revocation of the green card.
Occam’s razor.
Shorter pope: we DGAF about pedarasty in fact we’re proud of it. FFS