I've often wondered what it must be like staffing Donald Trump. The man hardly ever sleeps and he spends a good portion of his weekends – you know, his "time off" – firing off very pointed Truth Social posts to get tongues wagging and agendas set for the coming week. His staffers have to play zone coverage just to keep up with him, and it must be exhausting.
No rest for the weary, however, and the president had a lot on his mind on Saturday, judging from the barrage of posts that showed up in rapid fire succession.
One of those in his line of fire was D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who had just dropped charges against one of the Reflecting Pool vandals. "What is she thinking?" pondered the president, who spent quite a bit of time and attention on the pool's restoration only to see it become the Left's newest weird obsession. He wasn't best pleased with Pirro.
He also had a message for GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. The two lame ducks – Tillis opted not to run for reelection and Cornyn lost the Senate primary (and Trump endorsement) to Ken Paxton – have decided that grinding axes is more important than helping their party's president succeed and are standing in the way of Todd Blanche becoming the next attorney general.
Again, the president wasn't best pleased.
SEE ALSO: Trump Goes Scorched Earth on John Cornyn's Petty Revenge Plot
Trump Puts Cornyn and Tillis on Notice Over Blanche — and the Anti-Weaponization Bill
As my colleague Rusty Weiss reported, Trump hopped on Truth Social to put Cornyn and Tillis on notice that if they didn't get Blanche's nomination approved real soon, he was going keep Blanche in the role as acting AG and keep the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund in place.
“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Besides Blanche's nomination, the football that's being thrown around between the two sides is the fate of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which was set up to provide monetary relief and formal apologies to Americans who could prove they were wrongfully targeted and harmed by the Biden administration
In theory, Cornyn and Tillis object to the fund because it gives discretion to the executive branch to distribute the monies without congressional oversight. Tillis, however, let the mask slip in his response to Trump, calling the fund "a payout pot for punks" and vowing to kill it off.
Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would… https://t.co/OSoFTAKUkE
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) August 1, 2026
Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against.
It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday.
Calling Americans who were steamrolled by Biden “punks” was certainly a choice by Tillis, and his contemptuous response to the president makes it obvious that this is something much more personal – and far less principled – than just normal politics.
Trump has now called their bluff. Cornyn and Tillis can work with the president to put safeguards around the fund and confirm a man they both admit is qualified, or they can join Democrats in blocking Blanche while sneering at the very people the Biden administration targeted – including Donald Trump!
The president may have found a way to have his cake and eat it, too: keep Blanche running the Justice Department as acting attorney general while keeping the Anti-Weaponization Fund up and running. Cornyn and Tillis thought they were holding all the cards here, but Trump just reminded them that he tends to get what he wants.
