Panelists on MS Now's Katy Tur show
The Tuesday crew of MS NOW’s “The Moment with Katy Tur” have heard the song before, and all were convinced President Donald Trump’s GOP are going to confirm his controversial AG nomination despite the swarm of complications that come of hiring Trump’s personal lawyer and committed lacky.
“I think it's going to be somewhat difficult to get him confirmed, although … they fold on everything when it comes to Trump,” said MS Now contributor Jake Sherman. “… listen, they all fold, right? I mean, they all fold. [Rep.] John Cornyn [R-Texas] is somebody to keep an eye on. Tillis, Lisa Murkowski [R-Alaska], Susan Collins [R-Maine] — any number of these people could vote against Todd Blanche, and he has to get through the judiciary committee, which is treacherous and will be treacherous for him.”
MS NOW anchor Katy Tur could not easily swallow Sherman’s nihilism, however.
“I know you say it doesn't matter, but I think it does matter,” insisted Tur. “I mean, he can be deputy ag for forever, but it does matter politically and it does matter for our country, Alex. It matters whether Republicans are willing to hold the very people that they nominate to the standards that they have given for them, which Thom Tillis laid out pretty clearly during that initial confirmation hearing.”
But MS NOW senior political analyst and host of the “Runaway Country” podcast host Alex Wagner warned Tur not to get her hopes up, no matter how loudly a smattering of Republicans protested Blanche’s overt dedication to Trump, despite taxpayers footing his bill.
“Every time we ask ourselves whether republicans will do the right thing, it's like lucy with the football we keep, keep going after it, Katy. And yet the football keeps disappearing,” Wagner told her.
“But we have to ask it. We can't avoid it,” protested Tur. “We have to ask.”
“Katie, my best guess would be [that] I think that John Thune is going to allow some members to vote against Todd Blanche's confirmation, just like he did on key votes, basically, swing state vulnerable Republicans, whether it's Susan Collins or others, so that they can say they didn't vote to confirm him — which is the coward's way out, knowing full well that he'll get confirmation more broadly,” said Wagner.
“But secondly, … they are genuinely afraid of Trump's wrath,” Wagner added. “Even if they're leaving office, they don't want the headache of him targeting them and their families. They don't want to deal with the internet onslaught. They want to make sure that they have some kind of career after they leave the Senate. They want to make money, and to do that, they need to stay in the good graces of the GOP. And Trump, he is the king.”