As my colleague Ben Smith reported, lame duck Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) are holding up the full nomination vote for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to become the next United States Attorney General. Why? Because they're petty and because they can. Both hate President Donald Trump, and Cornyn was primaried due in no small part to Trump backing his Republican opponent, TX AG Ken Paxton, now the Republican nominee for the Texas United States Senate seat.
Tillis all but conceded that the sides agree on the substance and are fighting over the text.
"We're trying to work just to get the language. I really do believe it's just a drafting exercise. I don't believe that we're apart in terms of the objective."
That admission makes the delay worse. Tillis says he has no disagreement with Blanche or the Justice Department, believes everyone shares the same objective, and still helped deny Trump's nominee a committee vote over a "drafting exercise."
Cornyn's posture is a straight-up revenge play. Trump endorsed Paxton in the Texas Senate race, and Paxton easily defeated Cornyn in the Republican primary.
So, their supposed obstruction is just another way to stick a thumb in Trump's eye and slow down any forward movement of the Trump administration. Trump being Trump, called it what it is. In a Truth Social post, he names and shames.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 30, 2026
Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it! He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time. However, John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting. Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland, and others, too numerous to mention. I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Trump called their bluff. Tillis is blustering and claims that someone advising the president is really the one who is furthering his obstruction.
New — Thom Tillis reacts to Trump threatening to withdraw Todd Blanche and renominate him after Tillis and Cornyn are gone in January.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 30, 2026
“The president's getting bad advice. He should listen to Blanche and others who think if it's dead, it should be rendered completely dead," he… pic.twitter.com/101j2bjR34
New — Thom Tillis reacts to Trump threatening to withdraw Todd Blanche and renominate him after Tillis and Cornyn are gone in January.
“The president's getting bad advice. He should listen to Blanche and others who think if it's dead, it should be rendered completely dead," he told us.
Tillis added: “That same adviser wants to bring it back to life at some point."
While Cornyn is trying to drape himself in the "I'm not the only one" argument.
POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis https://t.co/fKgD1qwF7x
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 30, 2026
It looks as though President Trump just pulled the rug out from under these grandstanders who love to pretend they are "principled." Now that they've both landed on their butts, we'll see if that shook any sense into them, and whether they'll stop being adversarial and start being collegial.
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