Jerome Powell's "Have you no decency" moment

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis stands with the Fed Chair against administration threats.

Yesterday, the New York Times broke the story that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for misleading Congress about renovations of the Federal Reserve Building. Powell quickly responded with a straight-forward video that refuted the accusations and accused the Trump administration of using the Justice Department to intimidate him because he hasn’t lowered interest rates more. Powell’s video had a “Have you no decency?” quality to it, exposing the corruption and abuse of power of the Trump administration without hyperbole or hysteria, but in plain, unemotional language.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis quickly came to Powell’s defense. He tweeted, “If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none. It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question. I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed—including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy—until this legal matter is fully resolved.”

Thank you, Senator Tillis. It’s good to see a Republican in Congress willing to take his job seriously and stand up to an out-of-control executive branch. He’ll need more of his colleagues to step up to check the Trump administration.

Since he decided not to run for re-election, Tillis has been impressive. He’s held to his conservative values while standing up for the institutions that protect our democracy and republic. I don’t agree with him on much policy, but I appreciate his willingness to call out the administration and promote a world-order where democracies stand united against authoritarians.

Tillis has been consistent in his opposition to Russia and his support for NATO. He’s been a leader in urging more weapons and money for Ukraine. Last week, he ridiculed Trump’s threats to steal Greenland from the Denmark, saying, “I’m sick of stupid.”

And remember, Tillis called for the release of the Epstein files. While other Republicans were pretending that Trump didn’t promise to release them, Tillis demanded, “Release the damn files.”

I’m glad Tillis is stepping up, but I wish he had found his spine earlier. He could have stopped some of these abuses before they happened. In particular, he could have prevented the nomination of Pete Hegseth and might have stopped Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., from being approved. He was still running for re-election at the time, though, and put his political career ahead of the good of the country.

Tillis is a bit of a sad figure. He still considers himself a Republican, but most GOP voters no longer consider him one. He’s going to go down fighting for what is right, but he could have stood up for decency and institutions before he was on his way out.

His electoral career in the Senate has been controlled by forces beyond his control, both to his benefit and detriment. In 2014, he was on the verge of losing to incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan when the national political environment took a sharp shift to the right due to the emergence of ISIS in Iraq and an outbreak of Ebola in Africa. Tillis rode a wave to a narrow victory.

His re-election in 2020 put him on the ticket with Donald Trump. Threats of a primary challenge led Tillis to pander embarrassingly to Trump. He famously contradicted himself and flip-flopped on several issues trying to curry favor with the president. While he got the endorsement he craved, his groveling left him looking weak and malleable. He had few strong supporters and won re-election only after his opponent got caught in a sex scandal.

He began 2025 running for re-election. He pandered to Trump throughout the 2024 campaign and surrendered his independence. He knew voting for the miscreants Trump nominated for his cabinet was wrong and even said so in the wake of the election, but he lost his resolve and voted for all of them. With a tough re-election looming, staying in Trump’s good graces was more important than doing what was best for the country.

But Tillis couldn’t overcome his years of flip-flopping and groveling. He lost the respect of both Democrats and Republicans, making bold statements and then folding when asked to back them up. Nobody believed he had the courage of his convictions. His approval ratings were stuck deep underwater, leaving him vulnerable to a primary challenge and making a general election win against a popular Roy Cooper look highly unlikely.

Tillis never figured out how to operate in the age of Trump. No matter how much he pandered, he was never going to gain the support of the rising populists on the right, because he never really believed in them. He should have stuck with his principles.

Instead, he tried to be all things to all people. He was the bipartisan deal-maker who bragged about working across the aisle to pass legislation. He was the Trump toady who lavished insincere compliments on the would-be dictator when he was appealing to MAGA. He wanted to be the statesman who stood on principle, but he defined himself by folding on those principles when the president expressed his disapproval.

Today, Tillis is free. He doesn’t have to keep Trump or the MAGA base happy. He can act with integrity and become the statesman he always wanted to be. He can fight for the institutions that make up our government, demanding the Senate be a check on the presidency.

He could have been more. He could have led the conservative wing of the Republican Party, standing up to MAGA and showing fellow Senators a way to preserve self-respect by putting country over party. Now, that party has left Thom Tillis behind. He can leave Washington with his head held high, but the party that sent him there is long gone.