This should act as a warning to Donald Trump. It would act as such to somebody with a lick of sense, which does leave Trump out. But somebody might explain it to him. Thom Tillis is fed up with Trump and fed up with politics. Trump has been threatening Tillis with being primaried and Tillis said, “Okay fine,” and announced that he was not going to seek reelection in 2026.That accomplishes two things very handily: 1. It allows Tillis reign to act as a free agent. He doesn’t have to worry about Trump or being reelected, so he can now vote his conscience. What a breath of fresh air that will be. 2. Democrats may well be able to flip the seat — especially if Trump, true to form, finds a Herschel Walker or a Kari Lake to support. Wait, I got a great idea….Trump pardons George Santos and nominates him for the seat. Do you love it? Or what about Mark Robinson? He’s looking for work.
How to tell Donald to go eff himself without telling him to go eff himself.
North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton responded to the Tillis announcement:
Thom Tillis spent years putting DC Republicans and corporate donors ahead of the people of North Carolina, and voters noticed. Today, Thom Tillis finally faced reality: this made him wildly unpopular. No matter who the NCGOP chooses as a rubber stamp to green light their extreme cuts to funding for public schools, slashes to Social Security and Medicare, and attacks against reproductive freedom, we’ll be ready to fight back.
Let’s be clear: today’s decision shows just how much influence the most fringe right-wing voices have in their primary. Our state is not a pawn in Donald Trump’s political games. We deserve leaders who will fight for affordable health care, strong public schools, and an economy that works for everyone. Over the next 18 months, we’re excited to lay out the choices voters have in this election and ensure North Carolinians see the Republican nominee for the far-right crony they will be.
We look forward to next November when North Carolinians will finally elect a senator that will actually fight for North Carolina.
The odds are high that North Carolina Republicans won’t nominate a moderate, but will be looking for an extreme Trump loyalist to please the president. This likelihood means that Democrats will have a huge opportunity to flip the Senate seat from red to blue next year.
Tillis’s decision not to run again is not the biggest surprise. There have been a lot of whispers and debate about whether or not he wanted to do another campaign. His opposition to the BBB was the final tipping point in the process.
The Republican Party is steaming toward what is likely to be a nightmare midterm election for them.
The economy is close to plunging off the cliff. Trump is the most unpopular president in the history of polling. The party is fighting among itself.
All that is true. It’s also true that in calling Trump’s bluff, Tillis has made Trump look like the bully that he is. Tillis will go out a hero. He’s set up for a book deal now, possibly even a movie deal and the talk show circuit is his for the asking. That may inspire other Republicans.
Lisa Murkowski has already spoken about becoming an Independent and caucusing with Democrats. That may be how the GOP remakes itself. At the very least, it is an intra party fracture that bears watching. What’s Trump going to do, threaten everybody with being primaried? The entire GOP? It may soon become a badge of honor.
I read recently that the fear of being primaried wasn’t the big deal with lawmakers. It’s the fear of the homicidal maniacs that might track them and their families down. I don’t know how valid that is, but there is a lot of that kind of violence going on.
Look what happened in my state, Minnesotaa, and the political violence is very real!
Time for another Cubs win the World Series level fantasy. Tillis (who’s offices I regularly call to chastise) takes the next step. He works out a deal with Murkowski for the both of them to NOW shift to Independent and like Bernie Sanders and Angus King caucus with Democrats. Democrats should accept that sometimes they will vote with the GOP but on important things if they commit and follow through (judges and Justices in particular) they will be welcomed.
As you say, Tillis’ name is increasingly mud and if Cal Cunningham had been able to keep his dick in his pants last time Tillis would have lost his seat THEN. Against a good nominee, especially if Roy Cooper runs he’d be toast. He’s clearly had it. Maybe looking at his kids and grandkids and having to answer for his support of GOP policies and so often caving to Trump got to him. Voting his conscience now won’t always put him on our side but will often enough to do some actual good and leave him a legacy he and his heirs won’t be ashamed of. Same for Murkowski who has already made noises about going Independent.
If the two of them decide to join forces, AND go to Collins who is getting up there in age herself and might finally have to pay the piper in the 2026 midterms she too might be convinced it’s time to retire which would free HER up. No more jokes about furrowed brows and deep concern – she could vote the way she damn well knows she should have so many times in the past. IF in the next week or two something like this happens and the GOP loses three Senators it’s a whole new ball game.
Back to a power sharing agreement. And who knows? I don’t see one out there at first glance but perhaps another GOPer will say to hell with it. (Hawley seems to be running scared these days and he’s a young guy with a future to think about. And losing support in his state) It’s a grand fantasy to be sure, but just imagine before the end of July the Senate all of a sudden being under DEMOCRATIC control!
Mitch McConnell is someone to watch. I’m sure he was looking forward to being feted at the end of his term (or earlier if he leaves so a replacement can be named if he’s going to stick to his guns) but he’s taken a lot of shit from Trump. As has his wife. Wouldn’t it be delicious is HE were to go Independent and if not caucus with Democrats toss them his vote so they can take over? Sort of an ultimate ‘Fuck You” to Trump.
If the GOP “old guard” had told the Teabaggers “Fine. Go ahead and start your own party” rather than cave in to that bunch of extremists, they wouldn’t be in the sorry state they now find themselves in (not that I really give a crap about the GOP). But, they allowed themselves to be held hostage by a bunch of extremists in 2010 and that faction was only emboldened as decent conservatives kept being forced to play the “I’m the MOST right-wing candidate” to keep their seats over the next decade. And midway through that decade, those moderates once again caved when Drumpf “threatened” to start his own MAGAt party if the GOP didn’t accept him.
The “old guard” once again was more concerned with being in charge than what was best for the country. In 2010 and 2012, they ended up finding themselves trying to proverbially herd a bunch of cats to stay in charge over the new extremist Teabagger faction. And in 2016, their fear of losing the election once again led them to accept a new batch of extremists with a vague idea that they’d be able to stay “in charge” and keep the extremists under control. And, once again, they found they were herding cats. And now, they’ve allowed the cats to be in charge.
(I do apologize for the cat analogy. I love cats but we’ve seen the GOP of late behave about as incapable of acting with a common purpose as you find with a clowder of 100 cats. Of course, the GOP do seem to fall under a different term for a group of cats: A nuisance. Incidentally, a couple of other terms for a group of cats are “cluster,” “glaring” and “pounce.” Or possibly the best cat descriptor for the GOP–though I’d *never* apply it to our furry little friends–is a “destruction.”)