It's time for Tillis to atone for his sins

The North Carolina Senator's vote gave us Pete Hegseth and he needs to make it right.

When six U.S. Senators who served in the military or CIA released a video telling soldiers that they should not obey illegal orders, the Trump administration, conservative activists, and even Republican Members of Congress accused them of sedition. Less than a week later, the Washington Post dropped a bombshell story that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the Seal Team responsible for blowing up boats in the Caribbean to leave no survivors. Consequently, the team killed two survivors of an attack. The Senators’ video became more relevant.

When Hegseth was vetted by the Senate, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis was the deciding vote. He had information that left disturbing questions about the Fox News reporter’s character. He initially told the administration and other Senators that he was a “No” on the nomination, but under pressure from the Trump administration, Tillis folded.

Back then, Tillis was still running for re-election. He was more concerned about keeping the Trump administration off his back than doing what was best for the country. Since then, Tillis has expressed regret for his vote.

Now, the Senator from North Carolina needs to show some backbone and demand that his Republican colleagues act. Hegseth’s incompetence has long been on display. If the Washington Post article is accurate, he’s also a war criminal or murderer. Tillis needs to make amends for subjecting the country to this outrage. It was all so preventable.

Judging from Hegseth’s social media posts, he’s a sociopath. The self-proclaimed Secretary of War thinks killing people makes him look tough. He doesn’t really care who they are. The people he’s labeled “narco-terrorists” who are getting blown out of the water by the U.S. military are drug runners, not drug lords.

According to news reports, many are former fishermen looking for a bigger payday. They’re all people who know the waterways and the ocean who are paid tens of thousands of dollars to deliver the cargo. They aren’t making millions. And they’re smuggling cocaine, not the fentanyl that’s killing so many Americans today.

They remind me of the drug smugglers along the North Carolina coast back in the 1970s and 1980s. They were mostly fisherman who lived in communities like Varnamtown and Beaufort. They knew the winding waterways and coves along the coast and they were bringing marijuana and cocaine into the state for distribution across country, but they weren’t the drug lords or criminal masterminds. They were drug runners, important but low-level operatives in huge operations just like the ones Hegseth is killing today.

While Hegseth is crowing about killing smugglers who will be easily replaced, Trump is freeing the kingpins. He gave a pardon to the former Honduran president who was convicted of turning his country into a narco-state. The administration kills replaceable low-level criminals for show while encouraging drug lords to continue their operations. Who’s he going to pardon next? El Chapo?

It’s time for Tillis to show some outrage because what is happening is outrageous. He’s got little to lose since he’s not running again and a lot to gain. Gallup shows Trump’s approval rating is 24 points underwater with only 25% of independents approving of the president’s job performance. That’s bad enough to cause a huge blue wave in 2026. Tillis could start to break the spell of MAGA, leading his party to reach those swing voters who will determine the election instead of following Tump over an electoral cliff.

Besides, Tillis needs to atone for his sins. He voted to approve a cabinet of grifters and charlatans to stay in the good graces of Trump and his fellow Republicans. Now, they’re selling out the country to Putin, committing war crimes if we’re at war and murder if we’re not, pardoning criminals, bringing back deadly childhood diseases, denying food to starving children, and destroying relationships with our closest allies. Tillis knows all this is wrong. It’s time for him to do what’s right.