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CounterPunch Exclusives

Blanche’s Confirmation Vote Could Flip the Senate

Photograph Source: From X (Twitter) – Public Domain

The Epstein files are the Achilles’ heel for Republican Senators this November, and their vote to confirm Todd Blanche as U.S. Attorney General is the Democrats’ populist arrow that could topple them.

Populist-oriented voters are up for grabs.

Although polls have repeatedly shown that most voters believe there is a wealth gap between them and the top 1% (see Congress Can Reverse America’s Growing Wealth Disparity), that is only the tip of the iceberg of their dissatisfaction with our society. Many see America as ruled by an elite that disrespects them. As recently as 2024, an Ipsos Global Advisor survey found that 69% of Americans believe the political and economic elite don’t care about hard-working people.

Democrats don’t realize that a large swath of Republican and conservative independent voters care about the elite class getting away with escapades that would land any of them in jail. They have a populist attitude about exposing this elite class for being above common decency, more so than compensating the Capitol Hill insurrectionists or allowing Trump and his family an exemption from paying their taxes.

Populist discontent among Republicans and conservative independents is evident in polls about the release of all government files related to Epstein. A PBS/NPR/Marist poll found that about two-thirds of Republicans (67%) wanted all the Epstein files released, and a separate YouGov survey found 73–80% of Republicans wanted the same.

The Epstein files are different for the Republican supporter base like no other issue because they reflect a basic populist tenet that political and economic elites operate under different social norms than everyone else. It is not a partisan issue; it’s about not trusting government to treat elites the same as everyone else, and it is not so much about detailed policy issues.

Senate Republicans’ vote to confirm Blanche as the Attorney General opens the door for Democrats to address the concerns of 53% of Republican voters. According to the YouGov survey, these voters believe the government is covering up evidence about Epstein to protect the elites.

Democrats’ campaigns are not reaching out to disaffected populists. 

Although Senate Democrats note that Blanche refused to release all the Epstein Files, they are not treating it as a campaign issue to attract the populist base they critically need to win elections. The closest Democrats come to capturing the populist spirit that sustains the MAGA movement is to call for a fair tax on the rich. But Democrats have been banging that drum for years, and nothing has changed. Democrats running for Congress must open their eyes and minds to the fact that the Epstein Files are the soft underbelly of Republican candidates because Republicans are keeping them from the public.

Instead, Democrats have focused on objecting to Blanche over two main issues. First, his role in the IRS tax-audit settlement that grants special audit protections to Trump and retroactivity for his........

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