Thom Tillis knows better

Tillis is about to endorse Trump.

Donald Trump’s humiliation of Republican leaders knows no bounds. He embarrasses them, insults their spouses, makes them hypocrites, and yet they still keep bending the knee, or more aptly, bending over. North Carolin Senator Thom Tillis is preparing to drop his drawers.

Tillis is setting the stage to follow retiring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s humiliation. Trump insulted McConnell’s wife, former Trump Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, with racist slurs calling her “Coco Chow.” Chao is of Taiwanese descent. No Republican senators had the decency or moral fortitude to defend her and slam Trump in public.

Instead, McConnell gave Trump his endorsement. Just a few hours later, Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban announced that Trump had pledged not to spend any money to support Ukraine. Funding Ukraine’s war against Russian invaders has been a McConnell priority. Trump just rubbed his face in it. McConnell took it like a punk.

Tillis has been sending out tweets preparing for his own capitulation. On March 8, he listed several reasons we are not better off under Joe Biden that read like a polling summary of GOP messages. He blasted the president for inflation, immigration, Afghanistan, and crime. He’s never been that committed to any of these issues and is highlighting them because they animate the GOP base and offer cover for his pending his endorsement of Trump.

In a tweet on March 10, Tillis defended Katie Britt’s lie while pandering to the base by referring to undocumented immigrants as “illegals.” The next day he tweeted a complete fabrication, claiming Biden’s energy policies have “weakened America’s energy independence and are benefiting enemies like Russia, China, and Iran.” In reality, the country has achieved energy independence for the first time in 40 years and is producing far more oil and gas than it did under Trump.

This week, Tillis shifted his attention back to demonizing immigrants. He bemoaned “7 million illegal crossings” with “no plan to fix the crisis.” In fact, Tillis voted against the plan, a bipartisan bill written by his Republican colleague, James Lankford, to address the problem. Tillis even supported the bill before voting against it. Now, he’s introducing bills targeting “sanctuary cities” and exploiting the murder of Laken Riley.

Thom Tillis is trying to make himself out to be as ignorant as the people he needs to vote for him. He knows that we are energy independent. He knows that the immigrants coming into this country aren’t stealing jobs but are, in fact, helping our economy by providing low wage workers. Most of all, he knows that exploiting the tragic death of one person to demonize an entire population of people is racist. And knowing better makes him devious and callous, as opposed to those driven by ignorance and fear.

Tillis is preparing us for his inevitable capitulation to Donald Trump. He’s going to focus on all of his overblown complaints to justify supporting a man who demeaned him back in 2019, forcing Tillis to vote against his own op-ed. Of course, he can’t just support Trump because he disagrees with Biden. He has to take what Trump brings to the table.

If Thom Tillis supports Donald Trump, then he’s supporting, or least allowing, the end of aid to Ukraine. He’s taking the risk of splintering NATO and definitely supporting our diminished respect in the world, because Tillis knows our standing fell in the eyes of our allies under Trump. He’s allowing Trump to pardon people who assaulted police officers who were protecting Tillis and his colleagues when the Capitol was under siege. He’s tolerating and giving credence to Trump’s Big Lie of election fraud that undermines our democracy. He’s supporting isolationist trade policies which will hurt our economy and tax consumers.

Tillis is willing to support a man that he knows has no respect for the Constitution or the rule of law. He knows that Trump sets a terrible example for our children. He knows the man lies for personal gain. He knows he paid off a porn star to obscure an affair while his wife was home with his newborn son. He knows that he sexually assaulted at least one woman and almost certainly more since Trump bragged about his boorish behavior on talk radio for 20 years.

Thom Tillis knows. He knows that Donald Trump is an immoral man who doesn’t respect the office of the presidency or the rule of law. He knows that Trump is a conman who sees the presidency as an opportunity for personal gain and to avoid personal responsibility. He knows Trump lacks a moral code.

Thom Tillis has sold his soul for the prospect of power. He will join the likes of Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz who put politics ahead of their loyalty to family or country, bowing to a man who openly holds them in contempt and brazenly insults their loved ones. It’s hard to imagine sinking so low and having so little self-respect.

I want to have pity on a man who so easily deceives himself, but all I can feel is disgust. Because Thom Tillis knows better. I hope it hurts when Trump sticks it to him and I hope somewhere, deep down inside, Thom Tillis is embarrassed. I hope Thom Tillis really wants to do the right thing even if he’s too weak to actually do it.