Sen. Thom Tillis (?-NC)
"YOLO" mentality may land Tillis with a new censure
Any doubt about how much outgoing Republican NC Sen. Thom Tillis dislikes President Trump and some of his cabinet members was removed in the last few days in a set of interviews.
One interview was with Jake Tapper on CNN, where he essentially called Trump and his cabinet members stupid. The interview was a nonstop string of insults and one-liner digs, all ultimately aimed at Trump, punctuated by some magical thinking. It was likely no coincidence Tillis did that interview on the network Trump hates the most.
The other was an interview with Politico, where he said, “people in the White House who couldn’t care less about what happens in November, and that goes to show you how stupid they are.”
One question in the Politico interview stands out:
Why do you think Republicans keep the Senate? Democrats believe they have a real chance.
I think they definitely have a chance. If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have found it impossible to believe that they would even have a chance, but I still put us being at 50 or with a majority in the 75th percentile.
Yeah, Democrats definitely have a chance — and Tillis’s response dodges his role in helping hand it to them when he announced he wasn’t seeking reelection following a fight with Trump.
In both interviews, Tillis rips various administration officials but really zeroes in on Sec. of War Pete Hegseth, blaming him for the war in Iran — as if the taking down of a nuclear Iran is a bad thing. Tillis made it clear that before he leaves the Senate, he wants Hegseth fired.
White House Adviser Stephen Miller has also been targeted by Tillis, making remarks about Miller like he is “sick of stupid,” and Miller is “out of his depth.” Tillis wants to see Miller fired too.
During one of the interviews, Tillis also mentions Trump recently called him a RINO. And that was correct, as well as “quitter” and “weak and ineffective.”
Maybe it hasn’t occurred to Tillis, but these two recent interviews only lend themselves to being more fuel for Trump’s RINO fire.
What’s next for Tillis? Maybe another censure.
When Trump was first elected, Tillis appeared to be on board and showed support for aspects of Trump’s agenda like securing the border, spurring the economy, and the appointment of judges.
However, when Trump was elected to a second term, Tillis became one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics in the Senate, especially after first promoting passage of the ”One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to then attempting to block its advancement over concerns about Medicaid cuts.
The “YOLO” mentality Tillis touts in the Politico interview may end up being an ‘UH OH.’
A longtime Republican from the central area of North Carolina recently told me the general feeling toward Tillis in GOP circles is that his fights with Trump are frowned upon. The steady stream of Tillis’ “obstructionism” over nominees in the past year, coupled with insults towards Trump officials, has “torched any goodwill he had left with Republicans in North Carolina.”
They also remarked that Tillis “thinks he is Fetterman, but in a suit,” referring to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who often wears sweatpants and hoodies instead of a suit, and who has broken with Democrats on key issues like public safety, immigration, supporting Israel and the war with Iran.
Prior to the Senate, Tillis served in the North Carolina House of Representatives after being elected 2006. He served as Speaker of the House from 2011–2014, where his main focus was on tax and regulatory reforms to spur job creation.
Tillis was first elected to the Senate in 2014 during the Obama administration, defeating Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan. She passed away in October 2019 at the age of 66 after a “prolonged illness.”
Tillis was re-elected in 2020 in a very tight race against Democrat Cal Cunningham, until Cunningham’s candidacy imploded over an extramarital affair coming to light. Additionally, Cunningham’s attempt at “BBQ” went viral for all the wrong reasons.
While in the Senate, Tillis has represented himself as “pragmatic,” and “bipartisan.” He’s delivered on veterans issues fairly regularly, disaster relief, and his backing of the Lumbee Indian Tribe was definitely key in the tribe securing federal recognition this year. His track record as a Republican in Congress has been mixed, with the conservative Heritage Action giving him just a 58% lifetime conservative score based on legislation he’s been involved in.
Tillis was censured for his “bipartisan” work by the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) in June 2023 at the NCGOP annual convention in Greensboro. The censure vote was well over the two thirds majority needed, with a vote of 799-361.
The censure resolution accused him of “blatant violations” of the party platform that included his support for the Respect for Marriage Act, a Democrat driven initiative which codifed same-sex and interracial marriage rights. That censure resolution was drawn from multiple county resolutions like Orange County’s which included former NC Sen. Richard Burr, and specifically said the two men had “abandoned the GOP platform on marriage.”
His involvement in certain gun violence prevention measures was also a censure factor, as were some of his immigration positions, which some Republicans viewed as weak and siding with Democrats.
Republicans, particularly gun owners, in North Carolina were upset with his lead role in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022. North Carolina’s largest gun rights advocacy group, Grassroots North Carolina, along with Gun Owners of America, led a protest of “Traitor Tillis“ outside his Raleigh office that June.
The Act was the first major federal so-called “gun safety” legislation in nearly 30 years, and was a direct reaction to the Uvalde school shooting. It included enhanced background checks for buyers under 21, funding for state red flag laws, school safety resources, mental health programs, and penalties for straw purchases.
Tillis defended the measure as a “targeted,” and “bipartisan” step that protected law-abiding gun owners while addressing mental health and safety. Critics, including many at the state GOP convention, accused him of compromising Second Amendment rights and violating the party platform.
Last June, another censure was being tossed around due to Tillis’ opposition to parts of President Trump’s agenda, but it never materialized. The increase in Tillis’ attacks on the Trump and his administration as he heads for the Senate door have some GOP members talking about reviving that censure at the upcoming NCGOP convention this coming June.