Pam Bondi is a politician. So, when she was asked during her Senate confirmation hearing whether the Department of Justice would pursue Donald Trump's political enemies, she offered a politician's answer: "No one will be prosecuted, investigated because they are a political opponent."

That turned out to be a lie, and many of us recognized it as one from the start. It was the type of lie we expect from Republican politicians. Bondi was concealing a shameful truth: that she would do whatever Trump asked, including going after Donald Trump's political opponents.

With Bondi fired, Trump has put in place — at least for now — Todd Blanche, his personal criminal defense lawyer. Blanche is not a politician. He is a criminal defense lawyer.

Unlike Bondi, who was willing to say anything, no matter how preposterous, Blanche has honed his skills in the courtroom to create reasonable doubt where little doubt exists. As a criminal defense lawyer, he learned that his credibility is increased by weaving unfavorable facts into an alternative reality rather than ignoring or rejecting them in their entirety.

When he was asked earlier this week about Trump ordering the DOJ to go after his political enemies, Blanche embraced the premise of the question rather than rejecting it: "We have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now, and it is true that some of them involve men, women and entities that the president in the past has had issues with and believes should be investigated."

Then Blanche added, "That is his right, and, indeed, it is his duty to do that — meaning to lead this country." When it comes to the weaponization of the DOJ, Blanche has shifted the administration's position from “it isn’t happening” to “it’s a good thing that it is.”

We are accustomed to those around Trump normalizing his authoritarianism by lying about what Trump is doing. Blanche is doing something even more dangerous — he is lying about what Trump should be doing.

The same is true regarding purging career prosecutors who had involvement in investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Rather than denying that targeted firings took place, Blanche painted it as a matter of legal ethics: "If you were a prosecutor and you were trying to prosecute your boss, you have ethical duties as a lawyer that I think prevent you from continuing to work in that environment."

There is no such ethical duty. Blanche simply made that up. As law professor and ethics expert Stephen Gillers told MSNBC, DOJ prosecutors who had previously worked on cases against Trump "are not ethically required to leave DOJ now," and firing them for that reason "is wrong."

To begin with, many of the people fired were not part of prosecuting Trump — they were simply assigned to investigative tasks. 

Second, and more fundamentally, they were conducting the investigation of Trump’s potential crimes during his post-presidency. 

Most importantly, even if the facts were as Trump suggests, there is no ethical duty for a prosecutor to resign and certainly no grounds for firing them. Recall that past presidents have also been investigated by federal prosecutors while in office.

Jimmy Carter was investigated twice by the Department of Justice while serving as president — once over his relationship with a bank and a second time related to his brother. In both instances, Carter cooperated and was cleared.

Ronald Reagan's involvement in the Iran-Contra affair was also fully investigated. Most notably, Bill Clinton was investigated by federal prosecutors for nearly the entire duration of his presidency.

None of these presidents ever fired the prosecutors who conducted these investigations. No one ever suggested that it would be unethical for the prosecutors to continue working at the DOJ. And no attorney general would have had the audacity to suggest that firing them was the right step to take.

Todd Blanche is a much more dangerous attorney general than Bondi because he is smarter, more ruthless and a much better liar. Bondi was on Team Trump out of mutual convenience. One could have just as easily imagined her serving in a DeSantis or even a Bush administration.

Blanche is different. Until recently, he supported Democratic candidates. He gave up a prestigious partnership at a prestigious New York law firm to represent Trump in his criminal cases.

At only 51 years of age, Blanche’s future is tied to Trump. There is nothing for him to go back to. He needs to stay in Trump's good graces, and he needs Trump to succeed.

We are only in the second year of this Trump presidency. Perhaps more importantly, we are only in the first weeks of Todd Blanche's ascendancy to fully control the levers of power at the DOJ.

We know how Trump will abuse power. We have become experts in spotting and combatting it.

Those of us in the pro-democracy movement have a new adversary, and we cannot underestimate him. Instead, we must quickly learn how to effectively take on Todd Blanche. 

Now, here's some joy from our pawtners in the opposition movement.