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Republicans just fell for Trump's slush fund sleight of hand

22 0
04.08.2026

A pair of Republican senators – John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina – just declared that they will allow themselves to be played for fools in the most predictable and pathetic way.

On Aug. 3, Cornyn and Tillis dropped their opposition on the Senate Judiciary Committee to President Donald Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general.

They had threatened to tank Blanche's bid because he cooked up a remarkably corrupt lawsuit "settlement" that gifted Trump permanent immunity from an Internal Revenue Service audit and a $1.8 billion slush fund to pay his supporters who trashed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Blanche's nomination Aug. 4.

And Blanche knew his nomination was going to fail. So at 11:09 p.m. on Aug. 2, he posted to social media what Cornyn and Tillis took to be the cancellation of the slush fund and restrictions on Trump's IRS immunity.

They bought it. In identical social media posts on Aug. 3, Cornyn and Tillis went so far as to "express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche for working with us" on their concerns.

Do we really think Trump's slush fund is going away?

They really should know better. Anyone familiar with Trump's time as a business owner or politician knows he can't be........

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