The news that Donald Trump intends to nominate someone named Blanche as Attorney General of the United States has landed with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. For those of us who have spent too many hours pondering the decline of liberal institutions, this feels less like a surprise and more like a slow-motion train wreck now reaching its gruesome climax.
Let us not mince words: the Attorney General is not a mere cabinet member. He or she is the linchpin of legal independence, the guarantor that the law applies equally to the highest of powers. In Britain, we have our own struggles with politicisation, but we still maintain a pretence of impartiality. The American system, however, has long teetered on the brink of turning the Justice Department into a private law firm for the occupant of the Oval Office.
Blanche, whose legal credentials are not in dispute, has a history that raises every red flag in the book. He represented Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, a defence that required arguing that the former president had an absolute right to hoard classified materials. This is not the background of a man who will stand up to the boss. This is the background of a courtier, a legal acolyte who has already proven his willingness to twist the law to fit the whims of a single man.
UK legal experts, still clinging to the delusion that their own system is immune, have expressed concerns. They point to the erosion of norms, the blurring of lines between political loyalty and legal duty. They are right to worry. But let us be honest: the rot set in long before Blanche. Remember when Bill Clinton’s Attorney General Janet Reno authorised the siege at Waco? Or when Alberto Gonzales presided over the firing of US Attorneys for political reasons? The difference now is that the mask is off. Trump does not even pretend to want an independent Justice Department. He wants a sword.
The comparison to Vichy France is not hyperbole. During the Nazi occupation, French jurists found ways to justify collaboration under the guise of legal procedure. The same is happening in America. Blanche will not be the first to say, “I am just following orders.” He will be the latest in a long line of enablers. The irony is that Trump himself once complained about the “deep state” in the Justice Department. Now he wants to ensure there is no state at all, only his will.
For the British observer, this should be a cautionary tale. Our own Attorney General has become increasingly political, but we still have conventions. For now. If the American experiment fails, do not think we are immune. The intellectual decadence that has allowed the Trump phenomenon to flourish is not confined to the other side of the Atlantic. We have our own populists, our own legal theorists who argue that the law is merely a tool of power.
What can be done? In the short term, very little. The Senate will likely confirm Blanche unless a handful of Republicans find a backbone. That is unlikely. Longer term, the damage to the rule of law will be immense. Trust in the Justice Department will evaporate, and with it any remaining faith in the idea that justice is blind. The fallen Roman Republic still found men willing to serve as executioners for the Emperor. So too will America.
In the meantime, we watch. We cringe. We write columns that change nothing. But we must not pretend this is normal. It is not. It is the end of something, perhaps the beginning of something worse. Blanche may be the Attorney General, but he will never be the people’s lawyer. He will be Trump’s lawyer. And that is a distinction that speaks volumes about where we are headed.
