{"id":26772,"date":"2026-08-04T02:45:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26772"},"modified":"2026-08-04T02:45:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:45:50","slug":"trumps-anti-weaponization-fund-is-dead-his-push-for-a-slush-fund-isnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26772","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s anti-weaponization fund is dead. His push for a slush fund isn\u2019t."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\"><em>This story appeared in <\/em>Today, Explained,<em> a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/today-explained-newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Subscribe here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">We always like a bit of <em>good<\/em> democracy news \u2014 such news being in overall short supply \u2014 and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to deliver some last night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Blanche is currently jockeying for the permanent AG gig, which would put him in charge of the Justice Department. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-logoff-newsletter-trump\/497439\/todd-blanche-trump-attorney-general-senate-tillis-cornyn-irs\">his confirmation process stalled<\/a> over bipartisan objections to President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201canti-weaponization fund,\u201d a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-logoff-newsletter-trump\/488998\/trump-settlement-anti-weaponization-fund-justice-department\">$1.8 billion reparation program<\/a> for people who claimed the government had wronged them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">On Sunday, in acknowledgement of those objections, Blanche <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/08\/03\/g-s1-136864\/todd-blanche-rescinds-trump-anti-weaponization-fund\">confirmed in writing<\/a> that the Justice Department had rescinded the fund and had no plans to revive it. It\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/490638\/trump-weaponization-fund-suspended-republicans\">a rare reminder<\/a> that the Senate\u2019s confirmation power can still constrain the White House, even if many Republican lawmakers would rather not rock the boat. And the presidential boat <em>was<\/em> very much rocked by the dustup over Blanche\u2019s confirmation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">In a post on Saturday, Trump insisted that he\u2019d get some version of the fund even over senators\u2019 objections. And on Monday, he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kaitlancollins\/status\/2084341689200615747?s=20\">told reporters<\/a> that he didn\u2019t sign off on the rescission. Notably, the two Republicans who forced that surrender \u2014 North Carolina\u2019s Thom Tillis and Texas\u2019s John Cornyn \u2014 will both depart the Senate in early 2027.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">All the president\u2019s slush funds<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">The anti-weaponization fund is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/479821\/trumps-slush-fund-venezuela-oil-gaza-board-of-peace-tariffs\">just the latest of Trump\u2019s attempts to siphon federal money<\/a> into an account that he or his allies control. In fact, the quest to secure such a slush fund is a defining feature of his presidency \u2014 and several of his previous, less egregious attempts have been more successful. Those include:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">\u201cThe long-term risk is not just that Trump might be doing something illegal,\u201d Tad DeHaven, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/479821\/trumps-slush-fund-venezuela-oil-gaza-board-of-peace-tariffs\">wrote for Vox<\/a> earlier this year. \u201cThe long-term risk is that his presidency is normalizing treating the receipt and disbursement of money as instruments of personal power.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\"><strong>\u27a8 Happiness is overrated.<\/strong> In a new book, the author Ian Bogost argues <a href=\"https:\/\/pod.link\/voxconversations\/episode\/Y2NkZDMxNmUtZDUxYi0xMWYwLWE0NmEtMDdjMmQ2MThlYTYy\">we should instead pursue sensory gratification<\/a>: the simple and immediate pleasure found in physical experiences, whether changing gears in a stick-shift car or holding a warm mug in your hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. We always like a bit of good democracy news \u2014 such news being in overall short supply \u2014 and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to deliver some last night. Blanche&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/gettyimages-2286232106.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C11.041479366087%2C100%2C77.917041267827&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}