Evan McMorris-Santoro & Sen. Andy Kim

**Molly Jong-Fast** (0:00)
Hi, I'm Molly Jong-Fast, and this is Fast Politics, where we discuss the top political headlines with some of today's best minds. And President Trump is polling at 32% approval rating. We have such a great show for you today.
Notices Evan McMorris-Santoro stops by to talk about Trump's new low in his approval rating. Then we'll talk to New Jersey Senator Andy Kim about his MediKids proposal. But first, the news.

**Jesse Cannon** (0:30)
So, Molly, Donald Trump has one fixation that is not decorating. Every time I see the Oval Office, there's some new gold bullshit up. But when he's not thinking of that, he's thinking of the Save Act. Even though Republicans are saying, please, please stop, Trump has never been very into consent.

**Molly Jong-Fast** (0:49)
He's not going to pass the Save Act.
You have all of these senators who do not want to nuke the filibuster. You have the Yolo Caucus, Cornyn, Cassidy, and Tillis. You have the Utah senator who is already the new Utah senator, the man who has Mitt Romney seat, who has already said that he has concerns. I mean, that's a junior senator. There's no world in which Republicans break the filibuster to pass the Save Act by the August recess. And Carolyn Leavitt can say whatever she wants. It's not going to happen. First of all, even if they pass the Save Act, they wouldn't be able to get it going. Because first of all, federalizing elections would just go into court and it would be in court forever, you and I both know, because there's no world in which they could federalize elections in time between the primaries and the actual midterms. This is just like Donald Trump freaking out trying to figure out what he can do. And look, the other thing is the fact that Todd Blanch, Donald Trump has this Todd Blanch nomination. It is not going to a vote. It was supposed to go to a vote yesterday. They polled it because Cornyn is said no, is not going to vote for it until it's too. So you have Donald Trump tweeting about John Cornyn. You cannot be tweeting about John Cornyn and also asking John Cornyn to kill the filibuster.
It's just not how any of this works. So my guess is that none of this is going to happen. And they're about to go out to recess. And when they come back, it'll be September.

**Jesse Cannon** (2:31)
Can you clarify for me? So you're saying you think Todd Blanch is never going to get confirmed? Is that what you're saying?

**Molly Jong-Fast** (2:37)
I think Todd Blanch is going to be acting. And in fact, what's so stupid about this is Trump is like, well, we're just going to wait until after the midterms.
OK, so Cornyn is from Texas. So maybe Trump gets Paxton.
But maybe, I mean, if the polling is right today, he gets Telerico, who is not voting to confirm Todd Blanch. And then that other seat, the Tillis seat, the Democrat is way up in North Carolina. And, you know, he's been on this podcast, everybody's favorite governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper. And there's a world in which those two senators are replaced by Democrats who are not going to vote for the Todd Blanch revolt. I mean, here's the thing about the Todd Blanch confirmation fight.
These two Republicans want Todd Blanch to say that Donald Trump cannot have IRS immunity forever and ever. This is not some crazy ask here. They want him to put in writing what he said during his hearings where he is at least ostensibly under oath. I mean, this is not craziness and he won't do it. Now, why won't Todd Blanch do it? Probably because Donald Trump doesn't want him to. And this is where we are, right? Cornyn has refused to support Blanch's nomination over Trump's cushy settlement deal with the IRS. And the fact that he won't put in writing that the IRS thing is a no-go and that the $1.8 billion slush fund is a no-go is proof, I think, that Donald Trump still thinks he can get it from Todd Blanch. And I think also it's important to remember, like, Cornyn and Tillis are not operating in vacuum. They see that Donald Trump is polling at Bush numbers. They see he's polling at 32%.
They know that the IRS thing and the slush fund are both super unpopular. So, like, it's not gonna get more popular. This is not a moment to try and pass some legislation, which is like a very, very controversial legislation that almost no one wants. Like, if he wanted this, he should have tried to do it when he first got into office.