No permanent friends or enemies in politics

Right now, Tillis is taking on Trump when the rest of his party won't.

I got a lot of feedback about my last post about Thom Tillis. Both in replies and in personal emails, people took me to task. But I am going to stand by what I wrote.

Most of the criticism implies that I’ve been taken in by Tillis. Many warned, “See how he votes.” I don’t expect Tillis to vote the way I want him to on most issues. He is not becoming more liberal and I’m not becoming more conservative.

Over the years, I’ve been as critical of Tillis as anybody writing about North Carolina politics. I think he embarrassed himself for years, saying one thing and doing another. I criticized him for knowing what’s right and doing what’s wrong. I’m going to disagree with him on most policy debates.

Where I’m finding common ground is the current political situation. Policies are what we want the government to do to achieve outcomes. Politics are the way we get policies enacted or carried out. Don’t confuse the two.

Tillis probably agrees broadly with Trump’s immigration policies, but he disagrees strongly on how the administration is carrying those policies out. Tillis says Noem should be out of a job—that is politics, not policy. Tillis is leading that charge. He’s put himself out there despite a vindictive White House and he’s making clear that other Republicans are with him, even if they are too cowardly to speak up. His politics are right on this issue.

Right now, we need Republicans who will stand up to the administration’s authoritarian actions and Tillis has been more vocal than any Republican in Washington. When Trump announced his pick for Fed Chair this morning, Tillis tweeted that he “will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee... until the DOJ’s inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved.” Tillis is playing hardball politics with the administration when almost nobody else in the GOP will. It’s not about policy.

Since this year began, Tillis has come out against pardoning the January 6 seditionists and against many of Trump’s most egregious pardons. He defended Powell against Trump’s attacks. He demanded Trump “release the damn files” regarding Jeffrey Epstein when other Republicans were scared to speak up. He called the Secretary of Homeland Security a joke and Stephen Miller incompetent.

His comments carry far more weight on those matters than those of any Democrat in the country including protesters. Trump and company expect, even relish, criticism from the left. When it comes from inside the tent, they know there’s dissension in the ranks. That’s political pressure.

Tillis has even taken a couple of policy stands that I like. He stood up for Ukraine when Trump seemed to be capitulating to Putin. He voted against the Big, Beautiful Bill because it would strip health insurance from so many North Carolinians. He’s ridiculed the threat to take over Greenland, declaring, “I’m sick of stupid.” But those policies are exceptions. I will disagree with him on policy the vast majority of the time.

If he’s willing to stand up to the administration, I’ll take it and hope that he doesn’t backtrack. Right now, he’s an exception in a party full of cowards, grifters, and sycophants. His harsh condemnation of Noem and Miller led to several Senators taking more nuanced criticism of the administration. That’s a start.

There’s an old saying in politics that there are no permanent friends or enemies; only permanent interests. The interest right now is reeling in a dangerously incompetent and out-of-control executive branch. If Tillis takes a stand against Trump, I’ll applaud him. I don’t expect much more.