President Donald Trump’s move to yank Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly‘s renomination may backfire on his push to limit content liability protections for Twitter Inc. and other social media companies.

There’s scant chance Trump will get a replacement confirmed during this congressional session, and he may have tarnished any goodwill he had with O’Rielly, agency watchers say. Trump needs the backing of the Federal Communication Commission’s three Republicans to advance his push, which is opposed by the two Democratic members. O’Rielly can still serve through the end of the year.

O’Rielly, who has been on the commission through Democratic and Republican administrations, had his renomination pulled after expressing skepticism about the FCC’s authority to rein in tech company legal protections embedded in a part of the law known as Section 230. Trump in May signed an executive order directing the Commerce Department to petition the FCC to reduce the protections.

O’Rielly’s nomination was withdrawn just two weeks after it was advanced by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee with some bipartisan support. But there was a good chance that O’Rielly would have at least still voted to seek comment on proposed rules the agency may produce in response to the Trump administration’s petition, said Gigi Sohn, a former FCC official.

“Despite what O’Rielly’s feelings were about the whole 230 exercise, I still think he would have voted for a notice for proposed rulemaking,” Sohn said. “So Trump shoots himself in the foot to the extent that O’Rielly may say, ‘Screw it.’”

More at Bloomberg Law.