What’s going on with Senator Tillis saying he probably won’t back Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for D.C.?
Tillis, Republican senator from North Carolina who is on the Judiciary Committee, is saying that he will oppose Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee for the powerful position of U.S. Attorney for D.C.. Here’s his “reasoning”:
I met with Mr. Martin. He seems like a good man. Most of my concerns related to January 6 and he built a compelling case on some of the 1,512 prosecutions that were probably key to the moment, bad decisions. But where we probably have a difference is I think anybody that reached the perimeter should have been in prison for some period of time, whether it’s 30 days or three years is debatable. But I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January the 6th, and that’s probably where most of the friction was. …
I have to say that Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining how there were people that probably got caught up in it, but they made the stupid decision to come through a building that had been breached and that the police officers and others were saying, stay away. So the difference wasn’t that they should be charged. In my estimation, it’s by how much? That’s an argument I’m willing to have, but we have to be very clear that what happened on January the 6th was wrong. …
… [I]f Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. Attorney for any district except the district where January 6 happened, the protest happened, I’d probably support them, but not in this district.
I think you can see why I put the word reasoning in scare quotes. Does Tillis know how our legal system works, or is supposed to work? Does he agree that in an adversarial system, even the most vicious criminals need a defense and that lawyers argue certain things as part of a defense that they don’t always even agree with? Does he understand that many many J6 defendants were not being told by police officers to “stay away” – au contraire?
Does he know anything about that day?
His vote is especially important, by the way, because there’s a deadline on the nomination which is coming soon, and if the position isn’t filled by that time then The Great and Powerful Boasberg gets to appoint someone to fill the position.
So, what’s going on with Tillis? Some possibilities:
(1) He craves attention and this is getting him quite a bit.
(2) He actually is extremely ignorant of how the legal system works and/or how J6 went down.
(3) He is virtue-signaling.
(4) He is going to capitulate at some point, but he wants something in exchange for his vote.
I see the following from Tillis’ Wiki page:
Tillis initially opposed President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to divert funding to a border wall but voted for it after pressure from his party.
That’s interesting.
Other interesting tidbits – which may or may not be relevant – are these two:
By the time he was 17, his family had moved 20 times, living in New Orleans and Nashville, among other places; Tillis never attended the same school in consecutive years. …
Tillis, his father, and his two brothers are all named Thomas Tillis.
A bit confusing, perhaps?
Tillis doesn’t have a law degree; he’s got a BA from the University of Maryland in technology management. Not sure why he’s on the Judiciary Committee.
There’s also this:
After the release of the Access Hollywood tape during the 2016 United States presidential election, Tillis called Trump’s comments “indefensible”. According to Politico, he “began the Trump era by negotiating with Democrats on immigration and co-authoring legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller” but has increasingly aligned himself with the president due to pressure from his party. While occasionally criticizing Trump’s tone, Tillis said in 2017 that he had “not deviated once from any nomination or any vote that the president happens to be supportive of” and has voted with Trump’s stated positions 90% of the time as of January 2021.
He also was against the Hegseth confirmation before he was for it.
And I assume he’s currently undergoing a bit more of that familiar “pressure from his party” – at least, I hope so.
All 10 reasons you posted.
Another reason why the Republican Party is called the Stupid Party.
Will the other DemRep Collins and Murkowski vote for him?
Not sure how the WOW got there, I am really SHIREHOME.
He’s up for election in 2026. He won by less than 2% in 2020.
And too, per Sean Davis:
https://x.com/seanmdav/status/1919838580182065495
Mike Benz with a salient point:
https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1919831446950179284
I’ll go with a variation on 3) and what Nonapod said.
My take is that he is perhaps pragmatic, but scared. He is publicly virtue signaling, because a) he knows he not going to magically make his constituents believe the truths about J6, and b) he’s worried about re-election. It’s not that he doesn’t know the facts about J6, but rather that his electorate doesn’t.
Tillis has been in the Senate for a sufficiently long period of time (10 years) to have come to believe that the way things were (“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”) is the way things still are. He wants to get scratched, and in the right places. He’ll come around, I predict, once his itch is duly assuaged with the proper amount of green salve. By the way, I prefer Mel Tills.
Tillis is there to represent North Carolina business interests. Everything he does is in reference to that. Which is part of why he’s a big open borders, pro-amnesty voice, by choice. Circumstances, plus the cold fact of voter hostility, have forced him to work with Trump, but given his choice he’d pass an immigration amnesty.
Right now, Tillis and some other GOP Senators are testing the water, seeing how much maneuvering room he has to oppose Trump, and how much ‘cover’ the establishment can give him.
Hopefully he’ll discover the answer is ‘not much’, to both questions
North Carolina resident here. Tillis has been a disappointment since he became a Senator. He talks like a conservative when running for election and then becomes a moderate squish as soon as the election is over. In addition to this Martin stance, he’s threatening to hold up the reconciliation bill unless the “green” giveaways in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act are retained.
He will get not one dime from me for his re-election campaign, and probably not my vote, unless the Democrat opponent is so awful I have to vote for Tillis — which is what has happened the last two times.
Kate,
Isn’t NC turning purple? Hence Tillis talking out of both sides. Any chance of a primary challenge?
Utterly unconstitutional to have article III judges appointing executive branch subordinates. They all serve at Trump’s pleasure so fire anyone appointed unconditionally.
As the famous meme goes, why not both – stupid and selfish? His career is somewhat astonishing in light of his upbringing and an associate degree (the bachelor’s is from what is functionally the night school of UM).
It’s up to Republican officialdom in North Carolina to tell him that if he sabotages a key appointment, there will be a primary.
“Not sure how the WOW got there, I am really SHIREHOME.”
It’s an AI assessment of your wisdom. You pegged their meter. 😉
There’s already one declared primary candidate against Tillis, but I don’t think he’s got the kind of name recognition needed. Tillis took out a primary opponent quite ruthlessly a few years ago with a successful smear campaign. Tillis has already been reprimanded by the NC State Republican Convention. The problem with the idea that he’s “triangulating” to get Dem votes is that Dems are going to vote for anyone with a “D” behind his name. Tillis is playing with fire by failing to represent the Rs who put him in the Senate.
And, physicsguy, I wouldn’t say we’re turning purple. Rather, Republicans have failed to run good candidates for statewide office (governor, attorney general). I was sure Mark Robinson would get creamed in the general election and I voted for another man in the primary. Sadly, Robinson won and I was right — he got creamed.
Kate. That’s good to hear. Several of my lefty acquaintances are in the RDU area which from their indications is a pretty blue, and maybe a bit even further left.
The RDU area is very left-wing. We have three major universities.
I have read (but only in one place) that Elon Musk has him and several others in his crosshairs come next election. If only Elon had some money to back that statement up …..
Ted Budd ran as a conservative Republican in 2022 and won handily. I’ve seen online speculation about a run by Lara Trump. She’s from Wilmington but doesn’t live here, so I doubt that would fly.
I …. … also …. …. prefer …. …. …. Mel …. …. Tillis!
“And, physicsguy, I wouldn’t say we’re turning purple. Rather, Republicans have failed to run good candidates for statewide office (governor, attorney general). I was sure Mark Robinson would get creamed in the general election and I voted for another man in the primary. Sadly, Robinson won and I was right — he got creamed.” — Kate
This is not unique to North Carolina. There are several States where the GOP could potentially be competitive, but usually isn’t, because the State party apparat is either inept or unwilling to do what is necessary to win.
Even uber-blue Illinois has shades of this. The Illinois State GOP is inept, they tend to run futile candidates. Even if they had good ones, Illinois would be an uphill battle, but not an impossible one. With competent candidates, they could at least force the Dems to spend resources there.
When they do manage to catch an opportunity, it’s usually wasted. A few years ago, the Illinois Dems messed up badly enough that a guy named Rauner became Governor. He was nominally a Republican business winger, economic conservative/social liberal again. But he promised not to do abortion or sanctuary State stuff.
In practice, he did exactly what he promised not to do, alienated his own voters so badly that he faced a major primary challenge that might have unseated him if she had had a few more days to campaign, and handed the State back to one of the worst Dems in the country: Pritzker.
The GOP business wing is worse than useless for the most part.
data republican explains Tillis’s behavior here:
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1919955108575748320
@SenJohnCurtis
is headed down the same path.
Interesting, lee. I’ll watch DataRepublican to see what she says.
Pressure is mounting on Sen. Tillis. He can expect a well-funded primary opponent if he doesn’t change his mind on the DC US attorney.
The fellow who posts under the name ‘former legislator’ had some insights drawn from his experience as a GOP state legislator. I’d be pleased if he would re-iterate them and offer his insights.
==
Sean Davis offered some weeks back that it seemed that for Republicans in Congress, their object was being in Congress. They’re not actually interested in accomplishing anything. You have to wonder about the character type who goes into Republican politics. The Republican Senate caucus kept Glitch McConnell in charge for 18 years.
The question IMO is why and how he came to be a member of such an important committee, and why (if that appointment predated Trump 47) was he left there?
https://thefederalist.com/2025/05/06/today-in-republicans-being-useless-thom-tillis-plans-to-sink-ed-martin-nomination/
The post contains a huge example of a Democrat serving as a nominal Republican.
Did his voters know that he would, or did he lie before his election?
@Aesop Fan:The question IMO is why and how he came to be a member of such an important committee
Because the GOP Senate leadership wants him there.
why (if that appointment predated Trump 47)
He’s been there since 2015, but what has Trump to do with it? Trump doesn’t pick Senate committees, the Senate does.
@Art Deco:Sean Davis offered some weeks back that it seemed that for Republicans in Congress, their object was being in Congress. They’re not actually interested in accomplishing anything.
They are very much interested in appropriating. I would say that lack of attention to appropriations is the biggest blindspot of the right-leaning blogosphere: we’re too easily distracted by the Red Team / Blue Team drama which largely concerns policy and legislation. But appropriation is of much more consequence and flies under our radar. The GOPe has had no qualms about shoveling money into the pockets of people we think of as their enemies, provided they get to shovel some to their cronies.
And if NC and TX and some other states are still potentially going to go purple, this article from The Federalist suggests even FL is not immune from that possibility.
https://thefederalist.com/2025/05/07/statehouse-republicans-work-with-democrats-to-make-florida-purple-again/
Short sighted politicians or those who speak one way and act another? Our founders knew about such human foibles but could not ensure they were not going to make their appearance now and again. Only try to restrain the worst impulses that might otherwise come forth from such scallywags. Part of our discomfort results from the fact that we no longer live in a 3 to 6pmh world for travel, transport, or communications. We know change can happen much more quickly than we can stop it – witness so many successful disinformation campaigns.
@R2L:Short sighted politicians
Not a bit: they know their real interests much better than we do. We have a narrative, derived from legacy media, about Team Red / Team Blue and the different directions they try to take our country. But what politicians actually spend most of their time doing is taking money from our pockets and putting it in the pockets of their connections. Policy and legislation are sideshows to them.
Here’s Data Republican’s drops on X from yesterday on Tillis:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1920318945732837672.html
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1920328683421872230.html