Aug
3
2026

Wake Up, Sheeple!

Jacob Sullum explains: Trump Re-Ups the Anti-Weaponization Fund, Reinforcing the Demand That Todd Blanche Kill It for Good.

Last month, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is "not moving forward with" the $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" described in President Donald Trump's May 18 "settlement agreement" with the IRS. "Period," Blanche added.

Sens. John Cornyn (R–Texas) and Thom Tillis (R–N.C.), whose objections to that agreement have delayed the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on Blanche's nomination as attorney general, want him to put his assurance in writing, which he so far has refused to do. On Friday, Trump himself reinforced the motivation for that condition by saying his supporters "should be given compensation for what has been done to them."

Jacob is tougher on Tillis and Cornyn than is Mr. Ramirez:

… it is puzzling that Cornyn and Tillis seem satisfied to haggle over the details of the huge favors Blanche approved for his boss, as opposed to asking how anyone fit to run the Justice Department could have signed off on such a brazenly corrupt product of self-dealing. That act alone is enough to disqualify Blanche from this job, since it shows he is so eager to please Trump that he is willing to abandon legal ethics, shirk his official duties, and make a joke of the civil justice system while pretending all of this is business as usual at the Justice Department.

As Murray Slaughter said about Ted Baxter's admirable, but brief, bit of solidarity in the last episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show: "When a donkey flies, you don't blame it for not staying up very long."

Also applicable to elephants.

Also of note:

  • Let's see your EBT card, Hunter. Jonathan Turley takes a look at the swelling poverty ranks in Trump's America. Specifically, the entire Biden family: From Influence Peddler to Starving Artist: Hunter Biden Claims Family is Broke in Defaulting on $17 Million Bill.

    Hunter Biden is no Van Gogh. In addition to having both ears, Hunter’s work has generally been panned beyond an enabling media following. However, he claims he is also a starving artist. The problem appears to be that, as predicted years ago, his sales dried up with the influence-peddling market once his father left office. Now, his lawyers want him to cough up $17 million that he owes them. Hunter says that not only is he broke, but so is his family.

    In a deposition in ongoing litigation with the law firm Winston Taylor, Hunter claimed an inability to pay the $17 million he owes his lawyers for representing him in criminal prosecutions, congressional investigations, and civil lawsuits.

    Hunter claimed under oath that “I don’t own anything of any value other than — and I don’t know the value of it — my paintings which I painted myself. So that’s it. And I don’t even have any other assets at all, stocks, bonds, anything like that, savings accounts.” He also added, “My family doesn’t have any money, and it’s not their debt anyway.”

    Maybe Hunter could write a tell-all book. I'm sure he could get a pretty big advance. Probably not $17 million, though.