{"id":8941,"date":"2026-03-18T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/hes-free-of-all-the-politics-how-thom-tillis-became-what-passes-for-a-gop-rebel-in-dc\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T07:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:00:14","slug":"hes-free-of-all-the-politics-how-thom-tillis-became-what-passes-for-a-gop-rebel-in-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/hes-free-of-all-the-politics-how-thom-tillis-became-what-passes-for-a-gop-rebel-in-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s free of all the politics\u2019: How Thom Tillis became what passes for a GOP rebel in DC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"U.S.
\n

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in an elevator at the U.S. Capitol on June 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C., at a time when Republican leaders were pushing to get President Donald Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” Act through Congress and to his desk before the July Fourth holiday (Alex Wong\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Sure, Sen. Thom Tillis has become the most visible, outspoken Republican insider critic of the second Trump administration. But don\u2019t mistake Tillis for a maverick.<\/p>\n

The North Carolina senator is being who he\u2019s long been, the sort of GOP stalwart known as an establishment Republican. A Republican who\u2019s conservative on fiscal issues, usually pragmatic on other stuff. A Chamber of Commerce Republican. A Bush-Romney Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cThom Tillis was, and is, best understood not as a moderate, but as a pragmatist,\u201d said Christopher Cooper, author of\u00a0\u201cAnatomy of a Purple State,\u201d<\/a> which analyzes North Carolina politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he speaks, when he acts, and when he stays quiet is all calculated to achieve the goals he has in mind,\u201d said Cooper, professor of political science at Western Carolina University. \u201cWith no chance for reelection, it\u2019s simply that his speech now is less costly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis is stepping down after two Senate terms. Over the last nine months, he has shown a more blunt public side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only rational explanation I\u2019ve seen\u201d for his recent outspokenness, said veteran North Carolina Republican strategist\u00a0Carter Wrenn,<\/a> \u201cis that he\u2019s free of all the politics right now.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Tillis would not consent to an interview for this story.<\/p>\n

Tillis vs. Noem<\/h4>\n

The latest, most public Tillis blowup came March 3, when\u00a0he torched<\/a> soon-to-be-former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a\u00a0Senate Judiciary Committee hearing<\/a>. Tillis had voted last year, along with 51 other Republicans and seven Democrats,\u00a0to confirm Noem<\/a> as secretary.<\/p>\n

This time, he talked about the \u201cdisaster that President Biden left behind,\u201d and a \u201cfailed DHS.\u201d But, he said, he was critical of Noem because of how she\u2019s run the agency.<\/p>\n

Tillis maintained an angry tone throughout his confrontation with the secretary. \u201cWhat we see is a disaster under your leadership, Ms. Noem,\u201d he protested. \u201cTime after time I\u2019ve been disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He threatened to hold up unrelated U.S. Senate business unless he got satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"U.S.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem at a roundtable discussion on Jan. 7, 2026 in Brownsville, Texas. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He cited a letter from her department\u2019s Office of Inspector General, which noted several times she had made it tough for the agency to proceed with investigations of her department.<\/p>\n

He recalled how Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency agents shot and killed two Minnesota protesters in January, both U.S. citizens. \u201cWhy can\u2019t we just say we made a mistake?\u201d Tillis asked. Noem would not apologize during the hearing for the shootings.<\/p>\n

Tillis brought up Noem\u2019s dog, which she shot because it could not be trained, an incident that became famous after\u00a0she wrote about<\/a> it in a 2024 book while South Dakota governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training. And then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it\u2019s a leadership lesson about tough choices?\u201d Tillis asked incredulously.<\/p>\n

The willingness to distance himself from party orthodoxy was vintage Tillis. The unrelenting exasperation was new.<\/p>\n

The establishment Republican<\/h4>\n

Michael Bitzer,<\/a> professor of politics and history at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, described state Republicans this way: Two-thirds are firm Trump loyalists. The other one-third make up the traditional GOP.<\/p>\n

That means their roots are often in \u201cChamber of Commerce, mainstream, party-oriented Republicanism rather than the personality of Trump,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

These Republicans still tend to run the U.S. Senate Republican Conference, led by senators such as Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and former GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Senate<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., talks to reporters on March 3, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt\/States Newsroom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They have a long history of conservatism that tends toward a practical approach that gets the job done.<\/p>\n

They teamed with Democrats<\/a> in 2001 and 2002 to get President George W. Bush\u2019s No Child Left Behind education reform passed. They wooed enough Democratic support in 2002\u00a0to authorize Bush to invade\u00a0<\/a>Iraq. They helped the party nominate Arizona Sen. John McCain for president in 2008 and former Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah four years later.<\/p>\n

When Tillis first ran for Senate in 2014, he got the backing of Romney,<\/a> who appeared in a television ad for the candidate. Former\u00a0New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush<\/a> campaigned for Tillis. They were not Trump fans.<\/p>\n

Tillis and Trump<\/h4>\n

When the \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d tape surfaced in 2016, a few weeks before the presidential election, showing GOP nominee Donald Trump making crude remarks about women, Tillis was critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a proud husband and father of a daughter, I find Donald Trump\u2019s comments indefensible,\u201d\u00a0Tillis tweeted at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tillis, though, had a history of keeping the Republican faithful happy.<\/p>\n

He stirred controversy in 2011<\/a>, when while North Carolina House speaker, he said in a video, \u201cWhat we have to do is find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

His examples: \u201cWe have to show respect for that woman who has cerebral palsy and had no choice, in her condition, that needs help and that we should help.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, Tillis added, \u201cWe need to get those folks to look down at these people who choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government and say at some point, \u2018You\u2019re on your own. We may end up taking care of those babies, but we\u2019re not going to take care of you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014,\u00a0he told NBC News\u00a0<\/a>he regretted using the words \u201cdivide and conquer.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a U.S. senator, Tillis has voted with Republicans much of the time. He ranked 35th out of 100 senators in the nonpartisan GovTrack\u2019s \u201cideology score,\u201d<\/a> which starts with the most conservative senators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twelve Republicans had lower scores (just below Tillis was Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., nominated by Trump to replace Noem).<\/p>\n

Breaking with Trump<\/h4>\n

The most public, most noticed breaks have come in the last year or so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tillis was sharply critical<\/a> of Ed Martin, Trump\u2019s nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin was controversial because of his ties to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump wound up pulling the nomination.<\/p>\n

The loudest schism came in June, when Tillis voiced concern with Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d signed into law on July 4. He went on to\u00a0vote against<\/a> the final version.<\/p>\n

This was and still is the signature domestic achievement of the president\u2019s second term. It extends the 2017 tax cuts and adds new ones. But it also cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program that helps pay costs incurred by lower-income people.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Official<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Official portrait of President Donald Trump. (Courtesy Library of Congress)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tillis\u00a0called Trump\u2019s health care advisers<\/a> \u201camateurs,\u201d and described how he did extensive research to assess the impact on his state. He found it potentially devastating.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding is not there anymore, guys?\u201d he asked his colleagues.<\/p>\n

Trump was furious.<\/a> \u201cTillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! \u201c he posted on his Truth Social website.<\/p>\n

The day after Tillis made his speech, he said he\u00a0would not seek reelection.<\/a><\/p>\n

He was free. His decision made political sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like he was free of constraints,\u201d said Wrenn.<\/p>\n

Next up: Federal Reserve<\/h4>\n

Tillis will soon be in the spotlight again, as\u00a0he\u2019s vowed to hold up<\/a> Trump\u2019s nomination of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chairman.<\/p>\n

While he sees Warsh as qualified, Tillis added that the Justice Department \u201ccontinues to pursue a criminal investigation into Chairman Jerome Powell based on committee testimony that no reasonable person could construe as possessing criminal intent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigation<\/a> is connected to Powell\u2019s comments about spending on the renovation of the Fed buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy position has not changed: I will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee, including for the position of chairman, until the DOJ\u2019s inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved,\u201d Tillis said.<\/p>\n

A federal judge last week\u00a0blocked the Justice subpoenas to Powell,<\/a> saying \u201cthe government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Federal<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference at the Federal Reserve on Dec. 10, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tillis is still not relenting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling confirms just how weak and frivolous the criminal investigation of Chairman Powell is and it is nothing more than a failed attack on Fed independence,\u201d\u00a0the senator said<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know how this is going to end and the D.C. U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office should save itself further embarrassment and move on. Appealing the ruling will only delay the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed Chair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump badly wants to replace Powell, thinking that Powell has been too unwilling to take steps to lower interest rates.<\/p>\n

Classic Tillis<\/h4>\n

The Warsh drama is the latest vintage Tillis move, said congressional experts.<\/p>\n

Tillis \u201cis a creature of the legislature. He came with a very long legislative resume, knew how to play the game and was adroit at moving around and changing positions when it came to his advantage,\u201d said Ross Baker, professor of political science at Rutgers University in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

He also wanted people to remember he was pragmatic, willing to be independent. Warsh provides one fresh opportunity. The Noem hearing offered another.<\/p>\n

The day after the Noem hearing, Trump fired her, the first person in his second-term Cabinet to be dismissed.<\/p>\n

Tillis, Baker said, \u201cwanted to leave a memorial to himself, which may be something like the end of Kristi Noem\u2019s career as secretary of Homeland Security.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, he said, \u201cTillis is a good government guy.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in an elevator at the U.S. Capitol on June 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C., at a time when Republican leaders were pushing to get President Donald Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” Act through Congress and to his desk before the July Fourth holiday (Alex Wong\/Getty Images). WASHINGTON \u2014 Sure, Sen….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018He\u2019s free of all the politics\u2019: How Thom Tillis became what passes for a GOP rebel in DC - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/hes-free-of-all-the-politics-how-thom-tillis-became-what-passes-for-a-gop-rebel-in-dc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018He\u2019s free of all the politics\u2019: How Thom Tillis became what passes for a GOP rebel in DC - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.S. Sen. 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Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in an elevator at the U.S. Capitol on June 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C., at a time when Republican leaders were pushing to get President Donald Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” Act through Congress and to his desk before the July Fourth holiday (Alex Wong\/Getty Images). 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