When Donald Trump wants legislation passed, he has one strategy.
That is to bully those not supporting the legislation, rather than trying to work with them.
The latest to fall is Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who announced that he would not be running for re-election after voting against advancing the big, beautiful bill.
I have never hidden my contempt for this tactic by Trump, as I simply do not believe we can afford to disenfranchise conservatives since we are so outnumbered by liberals in this country.
Even so, after Tillis came out against the bill, Trump went for the throat.
After the first Senate vote on the legislation, Trump posted, “Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis."
Trump added, “I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America.”
Tillis decided that facing Trump’s wrath in a primary race was not worth it, so he decided to step away from the Senate altogether.
In announcing his retirement, Tillis stated, “In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species."
Tillis added, “As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term.”
He concluded, “That is true since the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It’s not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.”
Tillis now has nothing to lose, and that is not a good thing for Trump, as the lawmaker will no longer hold his tongue on his concerns about the legislation, and he came out firing on Sunday.
While giving a speech on the Senate floor on Sunday, in part, Tillis stated, "It is inescapable that this bill in its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made in the Oval Office or in the Cabinet room when I was there with finance. He said, ‘We can go after waste, fraud and abuse’ on any programs.”
He continued, "Now, those amateurs that are advising him, not Dr. Oz, I'm talking about White House healthcare experts, refuse to tell him that those instructions that were to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, all of a sudden eliminates a government program that's called the provider tax. We have morphed a legal construct that admittedly has been abused and should be eliminated into waste, fraud and abuse, money laundering. Read the code. Look how long it's been there."
Tillis went on to say there are some great aspects of the bill, but it is not perfect, and in this particular scenario -- and I agree -- the bill needs to be perfect. The GOP will likely lose the House in 2026 (history tells us that is far more likely to happen than not), so this is the last big piece of meaningful legislation Trump could see. It is not only Trump’s legacy, but also the legacy of every Republican who supports it at stake. And if the deficit goes up, in 2026, the GOP will go down. Simply put, Trump needs to listen to concerns, not pressure people into leaving office for fear of him primarying them. If this bill passes, as is, I remain on the record saying it will be to the detriment of the Republican Party in 2026 and 2028.