Doomed to fail: DC insider explains why Trump’s pick has a short shelf life

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to the media as President Donald Trump listens in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

Amid the news that his latest pick for Attorney General would be moving forward, a top political analyst warned that most of President Donald Trump's nominees are "not long for this world" as he always eventually "pushes the envelope too far."

Trump has nominated Todd Blanche to take over the Justice Department as attorney general after the departure of Pam Bondi. Blanche currently serves as the acting Attorney General and previously worked as Trump's personal attorney. His nomination passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, after Republicans expressed concerns over his involvement in Trump's "slush fund" IRS settlement and the Epstein files.

During an MS NOW panel discussing the vote, Democratic strategist Lis Smith told host Stephanie Ruhle that Blanche being "extremely loyal" to Trump might not matter in the long run, citing past attorneys general, like Bill Barr and Bondi, who were also loyal and still got pushed out for not doing enough to satisfy the president's demands. She also cited the rumors swirling around D.C. District Attorney Jeanine Pirro after her failure to bring a criminal case related to Trump's reflecting pool debacle.

"There always, always comes a day when Donald Trump pushes the envelope too far, and they're out," Smith explained. "Like, the job prospects for an attorney general in a Trump administration are not long for this world. So I suspect we'll see a similar thing like we're seeing play out right now with Jeanine Pirro, where he will push the envelope too far, even for his personal lawyer, Todd Blanche."

Smith has extensive experience as a political consultant and staffer, having previously worked as the director of rapid response for Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and as a senior adviser on Pete Buttigieg's 2020 campaign.

Also during the Tuesday segment, she noted that the promises Blanche made to sway Republican holdouts, Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, are not likely to be held once he is confirmed and running the DOJ properly, citing similar promises from other Trump officials.

"You know, we see what they did as craven, but I think probably in their own heads, they thought that they were showing some political courage by trying to draw a line in the sand here and get some strongly worded letter from Todd Blanche," Smith said. "But we've seen how much these administrations and their nominees' promises mean nothing. What did RFK Jr promise to Bill Cassidy? He wouldn't get rid of the vaccine schedule. He wouldn't fire all those, you know, the people on the vaccine board. What did he do? Did those things [anyway]."

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