<![CDATA[PoliticsNC: The PoliticsNC Podcast]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/s/words-from-thomas-millshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1x0Y!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe8150688-e9d4-4b92-8171-2b97780bc368_600x600.pngPoliticsNC: The PoliticsNC Podcasthttps://www.politicsnc.com/s/words-from-thomas-millsSubstackThu, 10 Sep 2026 17:49:12 GMT<![CDATA[Restless Natives NC returns!]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-returnshttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-returnsSat, 01 Aug 2026 14:18:54 GMTSubscribe now

Join Anderson Clayton, Travis Fain, and Thomas Mills for all the skinny on North Carolina politics.

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, 2-12-2026]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-2-12-2026https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-2-12-2026Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:05:28 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, December 6, 2025]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-navtives-nc-december-6-2025https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-navtives-nc-december-6-2025Sat, 06 Dec 2025 17:09:27 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, 11-22]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-11-22https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-11-22Sat, 22 Nov 2025 16:12:39 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, Off-year Election edition]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-off-year-electionhttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-off-year-electionFri, 07 Nov 2025 13:03:05 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Hometown Heroes with Robert Reives]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/hometown-heroes-with-robert-reiveshttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/hometown-heroes-with-robert-reivesSat, 01 Nov 2025 12:58:23 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, 10-26-2026]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-10-26-2026https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-10-26-2026Sun, 26 Oct 2025 14:27:56 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, October 11]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-october-11https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-october-11Sat, 11 Oct 2025 13:10:25 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives NC, 9-6-25]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-9-6-25https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-9-6-25Sat, 06 Sep 2025 12:35:31 GMTSubscribe now

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]]><![CDATA[North Carolina Restless Natives, August 23]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/north-carolina-restless-natives-augusthttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/north-carolina-restless-natives-augustSat, 23 Aug 2025 13:07:34 GMT

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives: US Senate edition]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-us-senate-editionhttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-us-senate-editionSat, 26 Jul 2025 13:32:35 GMT

]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives, episode 5]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-episode-5https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-episode-5Sat, 07 Jun 2025 15:28:40 GMT

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Anderson Clayton, Travis Fain, and Thomas Mills take on the latest developments in North Carolina politics. This week, we discuss Phil Berger’s primary and his family’s legacy. We look at Governor Josh Stein’s take on marijuana. And Anderson talks about her tours through rural NC.

]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives, Episode 4]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-episode-4https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-episode-4Sat, 24 May 2025 16:23:06 GMTBoth the US House and the North Carolina House passed budgets this week.

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]]><![CDATA[Restless natives NC, episode 3]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-episode-3https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-nc-episode-3Sat, 10 May 2025 14:04:08 GMT

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North Carolina has had a lot of news in the past two weeks. We bread it down on Restless Natives NC.

]]><![CDATA[Hometown heroes, episode one]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/hometown-heroes-episode-onehttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/hometown-heroes-episode-oneTue, 29 Apr 2025 12:37:32 GMTCanton has faced two major floods, including Helene, in the past four years. It also lost the paper mill that gave the town its identity. Mayor Zeb Smathers has guided the town through those challenges.

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]]><![CDATA[Restless Natives, episode 2]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-episode-2https://www.politicsnc.com/p/restless-natives-episode-2Sat, 26 Apr 2025 14:52:20 GMT

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The second episode of Restless Natives looks at town hall meetings, the ongoing Riggs-Griffin race, and the impact of the economy on elections. It’s a fun episode.

]]><![CDATA[Rank incompetence]]>https://www.politicsnc.com/p/rank-incompetencehttps://www.politicsnc.com/p/rank-incompetenceTue, 22 Apr 2025 22:39:17 GMT

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Transcript:

I’m Thomas Mills for PoliticsNC. Today is Tuesday, Apr 25, 2025 and the knives are out at the Department of Defense.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth continues the steady stream of bad press that goes with rank incompetence.

This week, he fired or replaced his entire upper management, including his chief of staff.

Hegseth and his cronies said they were leaking, but they were some of his closest aides.

Before long, Signalgate 2.0 dropped.

It turns out, Hegseth didn’t just give confidential information to an unsecure chat group of Cabinet Secretaries.

He gave a blow-by-blow of a strike on Yemen to another chat group with friends and family.

By the end of the weekend, Hegseth’s former spokesman at the Defense Department wrote a scathing article in Politico calling on Trump to fire the Secretary.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Trump, for his part, is standing by his man.

He says Hegseth is doing a great job and the White House shot down rumors that he’s about to get canned.

But he will eventually, because can’t help himself.

He reminds me of Mark Robinson.

Like Robinson, Hegseth’s bad habits are ingrained.

They’re part of who he is.

He’s been lying and making bad decisions his whole life.

He's a braggart who needs to let everybody know how important he is.

Discipline won’t cure what ails him.

Nope, like Robinson, the hits will keep on coming.

Trump keeps him because he’s totally in the bag.

He’ll do whatever he’s told, no matter how egregious.

When you’re trying to install an authoritarian regime, a guy like Hegseth is good to have around.

He’s a guy who would order troops to fire on Americans or invade a sovereign nation unprovoked.

He doesn’t need to be too savvy. He just needs to follow orders.

The question is whether he can make it long enough to be useful.

At some point, Hegseth’s going to do something that reflects badly on Trump–more than rank incompetence does.

When that happens, Trump will fire him.

The question is whether it happens before or after he’s been useful.

I’m Thomas Mills, signing off for PoliticsNC.

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