I Couldn't Make This Up

Susan Estrich on May 21, 2026

You wouldn't believe me if I did.

The Treasury Department takes $1.8 billion ($1.776 billion, to be exact) from the Judgment Fund, a fund that is used to pay settlement claims without congressional approval, and sets it aside for partisan payoffs. What's being called the "anti-weaponization fund" will pay claims of President Donald Trump partisans, like the January 6 rioters, and former members of Trump's staff, who claim the Biden administration discriminated against them.

A partisan political slush fund of nearly $2 billion in the hands of five people selected by none other than former Trump personal attorney and now acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. The five can all be fired at will by the president.

But it gets better -- or worse. Where does this $1.8 billion come from? From us, fellow fools. It's part of the settlement in Trump v. the IRS, the $10 billion lawsuit Trump brought against his own IRS for failing to prevent the leak of his tax returns during his first term.

Now you might ask yourself, how do you have a lawsuit with Donald Trump on both sides? The judge in Trump's case was asking himself the same question when the two sides, such as it were, decided to settle the case by creating a fund to use you and me to get even with Trump's enemies and reward his friends. And that's precisely what he's done.

The groups raising hell about Trump suing the IRS will almost surely be in court trying to take issue with this "settlement." What seems plainly fantastical is not necessarily unlawful, according to early reports, since Congress has been lax in setting limits on the use of the Justice Fund. Paul Figley, a former Justice Department official, told the New York Times, "It's not wrong legally. But the problem is he is creating a new federal program, and if he is doing so with money from the Judgment Fund, it's not the way Congress anticipated the Judgment Fund would be used," Mr. Figley said. "It's horrible policy."

Lest there be even a hint of non-partisanship, the new fund will exist until Dec. 15, 2028, at which point any remaining balance of the original $1.776 billion will revert to the federal government. Just in time for a new president.

This is as outrageous as it sounds. The General Counsel of the Treasury Department resigned within hours of the settlement, a resignation that news reports tie directly to the new fund. The General Counsel had only been confirmed seven months earlier. No other explanation has been put forward.

The Democrats are raising hell, as they should. But will it matter? It certainly doesn't stop the revenge tour. Todd Blanche makes no pretense of independence. Of course, the president will pick the people handing out the cash to his minions. And what about James Comey's legal bills? What should be good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Donald Trump has made clear that when it comes to vengeance, like so much else, there is never enough. He needs more -- more gold, more statues, more monuments to him, more punishment for those who have crossed him. A Christian nation foundering on a tabernacle of excess. Will his supporters ever lose their taste for it? Will it ever be too much? Or have we been so numbed to it -- to the thirst for revenge, to the greed, to the self-dealing -- that what in another administration might be a major scandal is just another Tuesday in this one.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.