Vintage Thom Tillis

Tillis voted against a measure to end tariffs after saying he opposed them.

When Donald Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer appeared before the Senate Finance Committee to defend tariffs, Thom Tillis asked, “Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?”

It was vintage Tillis. He made sure everyone knows he’s not happy about the tariffs. He got headlines and cheers from people glad to hear him speak up. Tillis knows the tariffs are damaging.

Last week, though, Tillis voted against a bipartisan measure that would have halted the tariffs. The bill tied 49-49 and Vice-President JD Vance had to break it. Tillis could have cast the deciding vote. He didn’t.

That was also vintage Tillis. He said one thing and did another.

Tillis argued that the bill would never pass the House. He called it a messaging bill. He says he doesn’t do messaging bills, but he sure does a lot of messaging, signaling to Donald Trump that he will not oppose him.

In reality, Tillis doesn’t know what will happen in the House once the impact of the tariffs hit. Sometime in the coming weeks we’re probably going to be in a world of hurt. Logistics specialist Ryan Petersen described what’s happening as an '“extinction-level, asteroid-wiping-out-the-dinosaurs kind of event. Only these aren’t dinosaurs. These are dynamic, healthy businesses.”

If that happens, and Petersen makes a pretty good case that it will, then elected officials will quickly change their views. They will be looking to distance themselves from the pain. Since tariffs are the cause, voting against them may become very popular.

Regardless, Tillis should have supported the bill on principle. Unfortunately, he’s sorely lacking in that department. He’s a guy scared of offending Donald Trump and more concerned about his political career than doing what’s right.

Let’s recap some of Tillis highlights. Tillis told his Senate colleagues that he would vote against Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as Defense Secretary because he had too many unsettling questions about Hegseth’s character. He even encouraged Hegseth’s ex-sister-in-law to testify that he was an abusive husband, telling her that her testimony would end his nomination. Then Tillis voted to approve Hegseth, throwing the poor woman under the bus. We’ve all seen how that worked out.

Last year, Thom Tillis praised his colleague, Republican Senator James Lankford, for putting together a comprehensive immigration reform bill. As I wrote last year, “He called it ‘important’ and said, ‘We cannot miss this opportunity.’ He very publicly pledged to vote for it, but yesterday, voted against it for the second time.” Again, he was for it before he was against it.

In probably his most famous humiliation, Tillis wrote an op-ed, get this, opposing Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to complete the wall with Mexico. He carefully explained why he opposed Trump on principle and just a few short days later voted against himself, supporting the emergency he had opposed. Today, Donald Trump is signing emergency orders left and right and Tillis is awfully quiet.

Earlier this year, when Trump made clear he was siding more with Putin than Ukraine, Tillis made a dramatic presentation on the Senate floor, calling Putin “a liar, a murderer, and responsible for the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians.” But when Zelensky needed an ally after Trump and JD Vance attacked him in the Oval Office, Tillis was AWOL. He’s a fair-weather friend, unreliable and undependable.

Thom Tillis has made clear that he thinks tariffs are a bad idea. He’s also made clear that he’s not going to do anything that draws the wrath of Donald Trump. He claimed that he opposed the bipartisan bill to stop the tariffs because it had no chance to pass the House, but at least he could have shown the courage of his convictions. Instead, he does what he always does. He got headlines for making a big gesture about opposing tariffs and then did nothing about stopping them. Vintage Thom Tillis.

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