President Donald Trump has betrayed a number of Senate Republicans by endorsing their primary rivals. His political victims include Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. In so doing, he aimed to replace those lawmakers with alternatives he views as more loyal. Yet as one political journalist pointed out, he has also liberated these same lawmakers to defy Trump with impunity now that they no longer face reelection.This, he added, is why the first two men on that list helped tank Trump’s nomination of acting attorney general Todd Blanche to permanently assume his post.“After Trump fired former AG Pam Bondi, Blanche—who had already been confirmed as deputy attorney general after serving as Trump’s personal defense attorney—stepped into the role in an acting capacity,” wrote Slate's Patrick Reis on Thursday. “He proceeded to even further facilitate Trump’s use of the Justice Department as a branch of the White House dedicated to punishing the president’s political opponents.”He added, “That fealty was enough for Trump to nominate Blanche to the position permanently. In days gone by, that would have been a done deal: Republicans control the upper chamber responsible for advice and consent on Trump’s nominees and are far from fond of saying no to the president.”Cornyn and Tillis reportedly objected to Blanche’s role in creating a $1.776 slush fund for his political supporters as well as a guaranteed protection from future IRS audits. When Blanche refused to swear in writing that the self-dealing agreement is no longer in effect, Cornyn and Tillis blanched on confirming him.“Trump ended both Cornyn’s and Tillis’ political careers earlier this year by refusing to back them in their primaries,” Reis wrote. “(Cornyn lost to the mega-MAGA challenger Ken Paxton, Tillis just said To hell with this and retired.) Now that they have no careers to lose, Cornyn and Tillis suddenly find themselves more willing to defy the president.”It is likely that Trump plans on simply renominating Blanche for the full-time job next year, when he hopes to retain control of the Senate and have Cornyn and Tillis replaced with more compliant substitutes.“That plan could backfire, however, if Republicans lose the Senate in the midterms, or even if they see their margin get slimmer,” Reis pointed out. He added that voters can interpret this as meaning that “our Justice Department, which is supposed to have some modicum of independence from the White House, will continue to be run by someone who sees his job as satisfying Trump’s every whim,” since Blanche will retain his position in its acting capacity.“And, as my colleague Jim Newell pointed out a few weeks ago, Trump’s ultimate leverage in getting Blanche confirmed is the threat to pick someone even worse,” Reis said. “Our Senate, on the other hand, is showing signs of becoming slightly less supine, though so far those are limited to Republicans with nothing left to lose.”