Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at a House subcommittee hearing on June 2.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
This week, the Trump administration did a seemingly uncommon thing – it reversed course under pressure.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House subcommittee this week that the Justice Department would not go forward with its plans to implement a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Fellow Republicans in Congress who saw it as funneling federal money to the president’s supporters – possibly including Jan. 6 rioters – held up other legislation in protest.
For a president who claims broad authority over nearly everything, what can we make of his administration backing down?
The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum, a historian of modern authoritarianism, weighs in.
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This episode was produced by Linah Mohammad, Alejandra Marquez Janse and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.