Trump says anti-weaponization fund in IRS settlement is 'dead' even as he defends it

Trump saying a $1.8 billion fund is both "dead" and worth defending in the same breath is the kind of thing that would get mocked mercilessly if any other politician said it. But that's genuinely where things stand right now, and it's causing real problems for him. Two Republican senators are holding up his own attorney general pick over this, which is not a small thing. That's not Democrats playing procedural games. That's his own party saying the administration hasn't sorted out what it actually wants to do about IRS weaponization.

Here's the part that matters: the underlying issue is legitimate. People on the right have spent years pointing to real cases where the IRS went after conservative groups, nonprofits, and individuals in ways that looked a lot like political targeting. A fund meant to address that isn't some fringe idea. But you can't fix a trust problem with an agency by negotiating it in public through contradictory statements. If the fund is dead, say it's dead and explain what replaces it. If it's alive, defend it with actual terms senators can vote on.

What's frustrating here isn't the goal, it's the execution. Holding up an AG nomination as leverage is a legitimate tool for senators who feel ignored, but it only works if there's something concrete to negotiate toward. Right now there isn't, and that's on the administration to fix, not on the senators for asking questions.