Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is practically out the door. He is not running for re-election, after serving in the upper chamber since 2015 and, before that, in the Tar Heel State’s House of Representatives since 2007. He will not be missed by many on the right who have long grown tired of the Republican Party establishment. But Tillis, not exactly a Trump loyalist to put it mildly, appears intent upon playing the disrupter for his remaining months in office. Most recently, the senator has vowed that his confirmation vote on anyone President Donald Trump nominates to replace Pam Bondi as attorney general will be subject to one very contentious condition.
If there’s one thing the president’s opponents and critics are still desperately trying to hold over his head, it is the events that took place on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. Thom Tillis is no exception.
Speaking on CNN – because, why not? – Tillis asserted, “For me, the threshold for somebody following Pam Bondi ends the moment I hear they said one thing that excused the event of January the 6th.” What events he thinks were inexcusable, he did not elaborate on. Perhaps the stores in Washington, DC, that were looted and burned or the police cars set ablaze. But that can’t be the case because none of those things happened.
Why Is It Always Jan. 6?
Perhaps, for Thom Tillis, as it likely is for many career politicians, it was the sheer audacity of Trump supporters who had the nerve to disrupt congressional business to voice their anger over the result of an election many of them to this day believe was stolen. The peasants should know their place has, unfortunately, become a prevalent attitude in the nation’s capital, it would seem. This became evident when the outrage over Jan. 6 completely overshadowed any disapproval expressed about the far more deadly and destructive George Floyd riots of 2020.
The difference, really, has less to do with political ideologies and more to do with location. Lawmakers merely shrugged and shook their heads in disapproval when Minneapolis and other US cities descended into chaos. March on Capitol Hill, though – and disturb the sacred seat of government, where no ordinary American has a right to be – that was apparently just too much even for many Republicans.
Does that accurately describe how Thom Tillis feels? The odds are good that it does, but one cannot reach into the man’s mind and know for sure, so it’s only speculative. But the senator certainly seems very affronted by the idea that anyone would portray Jan. 6 as anything less than one of America’s worst national tragedies.
“So I hope whoever they have in mind to follow General Bondi,” Tillis continued during the interview, “was very clear-eyed on my position on January the 6th.” He went on to reiterate that he would not support any nominee “who thought that any element of January 6th was excused [sic].”
That’s a brutally strong statement, if one considers it. Any element of Jan. 6? So, the mere fact that there was a rally at all was inexcusable? The exercise of First Amendment rights, intolerable?
Thom Tillis Didn’t Get the Memo
One might have thought the gentleman from North Carolina would have learned from the fates of former Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. The two of them weren’t always totally against everything Trump did, but the Jan. 6 protest was a breaking point.
Kinzinger and Cheney both sat on the Democrats’ “select committee” that investigated the protest – Republicans were refused the privilege of selecting their own committee members. The pair became two of the most enthusiastic and vocal members of the committee, making no attempt to bring even a veneer of fairness or bipartisanship to the investigation.
As a result, both were finished in Congress. Cheney was primaried and lost when she next ran for re-election, and Kinzinger declined to seek another term. Tillis did not learn, though, and he is retiring from Congress because he knows he doesn’t have the support. Whether Republicans like it or not, any of their officeholders who run afoul of the Make America Great Again movement are not going to last.
Considering the GOP’s precarious Senate majority, Tillis is now a real problem for Trump. Obviously, at the nomination hearing for whoever the president picks to succeed Bondi, Tillis is going to harangue the lucky nominee about that day in the capital – now more than five years ago. And what Trump pick is going to nod along with the outgoing senator’s bluster and say, yes, senator, you are right, that was a terrible, dark day – worse than 9/11?
Who would get Trump’s nod if they felt that way – and who, believing that Jan. 6 was so far beyond the pale, would want to serve in Trump’s Cabinet? So, it appears Tillis has set an impossible standard, and he surely knows it. Whoever Trump taps for the AG position is not getting Tillis’ vote, barring a miracle. From the MAGA perspective, he can’t be gone soon enough. Because, at the end of the day, the position of Attorney General of the United States is about so many issues that are vastly more important than Jan. 6. Holding up the effort to fill that position because he’s still mad about unrest during a demonstration five years ago is not a responsible action, to put it in the mildest of terms.
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