Due solely to the incessant delays and obstruction tactics of Senate Democrats, there are still dozens of President Donald Trump's low- and mid-level nominees to various important posts throughout the administration that are still awaiting a confirmation vote, and his patience has worn thin.

On Wednesday, Trump once again accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) of "extortion" for refusing to confirm any nominees unless Trump first acquiesced to Schumer's highly partisan demands, according to Fox News.

Many Senate Republicans now share the president's frustrations and outrage over the historically slow rate of confirmation votes, and it appears increasingly likely that Schumer's purposeful gambit to deny Trump his chosen nominees will result in changes to the confirmation process rules and procedures.

Schumer and Democrats are "extortionists"

In a Wednesday morning Truth Social post, President Trump wrote, "Politically embattled Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, wants the Republicans to pay, as EXTORTION, TWO BILLION DOLLARS in order for the Radical Left Democrats to approve the hundreds of Trump Appointments who have been waiting for months, and are raring to go."

"This has never happened before. There has never, in U.S. history, been such a delay," he continued, and said of the Senate Democrats, " THEY ARE EXTORTIONISTS!"

"Republicans must create legislation in order to get out of the grasp of these Country-hating THUGS. Move quickly!!! MAGA," Trump added.

Failed negotiations for a confirmation deal

Fox News noted that, aside from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, every single other nominee put forward by President Trump has faced "unprecedented filibustering" and obstruction from Sen. Schumer and his fellow Senate Democrats, resulting in just 130 successful confirmations thus far, with more than 140 nominees -- many of whom passed their committee votes with bipartisan support -- still awaiting a vote on the Senate calendar.

Prior to the Senate adjourning last weekend for its August recess, from which they won't return until early September, there was a futile effort led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to negotiate a deal with Schumer to get the backlogged nominees confirmed, but Schumer's demands proved to be too much for an agreement to be reached.

Schumer and the Democrats had insisted upon the White House's release of roughly $2 billion in frozen funds for foreign aid programs and various federal agencies, among other lofty demands that directly undermine Trump's agenda, in exchange for a promise to confirm just some of the nominees eventually.

Senate GOP contemplating rule changes

Fox News reported separately that there is growing talk among Senate Republicans about invoking the so-called "nuclear option" to make alterations to the nominee confirmation process with a simple majority vote, rather than the typical supermajority of 67 votes required for rule changes.

Some of the contemplated rule changes include reducing debate time for nominees, eliminating procedural votes for low-level nominees, grouping similar civilian nominees together "en bloc" like military appointments, and removing some lower-level administration positions from the confirmation process altogether, among other proposals.

"I think they're desperately in need of change," Sen. Thune told reporters on Tuesday of the confirmation process rules. "I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations, is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that."

That view is shared by Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), who said, "We have been working through the list, but there is still a large backlog because of the unprecedented filibuster by the Democrats of every nominee," and added, "And if they don’t change their behavior, we’re going to have to change how things are done here, because a president needs to have his or her team in place."

"I think that way is going to happen anyways, because of what Schumer has done. He's forced this, and it's ridiculous that he's doing this," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) chimed in. "And so, whatever, we're at this point, and we'll do, you know what they say, every action requires an equal [reaction], and that's what we're at right now."

Of Sen. Schumer's warning against rule changes and admonition to continue negotiations, Mullin added, "We actually, we wanted a deal. And these people deserve to be put in position … they're going to say that we're trying to do a nuclear option. The fact is, they -- Schumer -- went nuclear a long time ago."