The recent beef between President Donald Trump and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has just been turned up another notch.
Trump has been all words to this point, but now he is ready to take action.
After Grassley repeatedly refused to do away with the “blue slip” tradition for judicial nominees, Trump is now threatening to sue to end the practice.
Grassley and Trump have been allies since the president launched his first campaign.
The senator, however, just found out that once you go against Trump, there is no wiggle room, and he unleashes.
With Trump’s judicial nominees still held up by Democrats in blue states, where both of the jurisdiction's senators have said no to presidential picks, Trump pleaded with Grassley to end the blue slip tradition, but the lawmaker refused. Trump then went off on Truth Social, hurling insults.
Grassley responded, “Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the blue slip. I was offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed it would result in personal insults.”
When Trump unleashed the first volley, I stated that I did not think Grassley would cave; I actually thought he would dig in, and he did just that.
Over the last few days, Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure, again going after Grassley to end the tradition of blue slips and their ability to derail judicial nominations.
Grassley fired back that he is trying to help Trump, stating, “A [U.S. Attorney] or district judge nominee without a blue slip does not [have] the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor, & they don’t [have] the votes to get out of [committee].”
GOP senators are also pushing back, with one stating, “It also doesn’t make sense in the face of other members who have said regardless of what the chair may do that I would uphold the blue slip policy for the remainder of this Congress. It makes no sense picking a fight that the president has no way of winning. Period. Full stop.”
The president has now stated that since Grassley will not end the tradition, he will sue to have it ended, but that does not solve the ultimate issue of a lack of proper support in committee.
Trump stated, "We’re also going to be filing a lawsuit on blue slipping. You know, blue slips make it impossible for me, as president, to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney because they have a gentleman’s agreement. Nothing memorialized.”
He continued, “It’s a gentleman’s agreement that’s about 100 years old, where if you have a president, like a Republican, and if you have a Democrat senator, that senator can stop you from appointing a judge or a U.S. attorney, in particular, those two."
This is a worthless lawsuit because it will not solve the root problem, which is that Trump will never have the support in the Senate to have contentious picks passed through Committee, let alone approved on the floor when they come to a full vote. Not only that, but he has now made an enemy of one of his strongest advocates, someone who is one of the most powerful, influential, and well-respected Republican senators in office.
