Blanche slate
By 
There’s a very real possibility that two senators that Trump made into lame ducks will torpedo his nomination of Todd Blanche:
Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general suffered a serious blow on Thursday when President Trump threatened to withdraw Mr. Blanche’s name rather than place limits on a tax immunity deal that would benefit himself and his family, as demanded by two Republican senators.
Mr. Trump’s threat, posted on social media, followed 24 hours of frenetic and fruitless negotiations among Mr. Blanche, the White House and the two senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who are not returning to Congress next year.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote, in a fight that has exposed the limits of his power over Congress.
That set off a late-day scramble to rescue Mr. Blanche’s nomination, and the semblance of intraparty, interbranch comity. Mr. Tillis and Mr. Cornyn met privately with Mr. Blanche Thursday afternoon in the offices of the National Republican Senatorial Committee near the Capitol. It was not immediately clear if they broke the impasse.
Trump seems to be ignoring the Senate polls in North Carolina ane Texas, and I can’t say that I blame him.
Of course, Trump has already gotten one of his crucial demands for lawlessness:
Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee defeated an effort Thursday by Democrats to block a plan by the Trump administration to shield the president from IRS audits.
Lawmakers voted along party lines, 14-13, to kill an amendment to a tax-administration bill before the panel that would have barred the administration from implementing the plan.
While Democrats denounced the immunity deal as an illegal abuse of power, Republicans said little aside from saying they are working with the administration to change the plan as part of negotiations to confirm acting attorney general Todd Blanche as attorney general.
Blanche is small potatoes.