Compromising principles

Thom Tillis is an example of what Washington does to politicians. He’s a man who once had strongly held beliefs about good government and now tweets dumbed-down pablum that contradicts the person he once was. For Tillis, power is more important than public policy.

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brought up the bipartisan border control act for a vote. The measure was crafted by conservative Republican Senator Jim Lankford and was the strongest immigration bill in decades, but the GOP rejected it because Donald Trump didn’t want to give Joe Biden a win. Tillis tweeted:

“This vote is purely a political maneuver that the American people see right through. If Democrats were genuinely interested in addressing the border crisis, President Biden would have kept the executive orders issued by President Trump in place instead of allowing nearly 10 million crossings since taking office.”

His response highlights exactly how unserious Thom Tillis has become. Before Trump weighed in on the bill, Tillis supported it. Senate Democrats brought receipts. They posted a clip of Tillis advocating for the bill on the Senate floor, predicting it would get bipartisan support. He called it “important” and said, “We cannot miss this opportunity.” He very publicly pledged to vote for it, but yesterday, voted against it for the second time. What a hypocrite.

It’s not just the bill itself, though. It’s Tillis’ whole reason for rejecting it that’s hypocritical. He’s urging Joe Biden to govern by executive order, but came to Washington blasting Obama for using executive orders to circumvent Congress. He even tried to hold onto that position after Trump took office, but instead exposed his unwillingness to fight for what he believes—or at least what he says he believes.

In 2019, Trump announced he was going to declare a national emergency to fund the border wall. Tillis boldly wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post explaining why he opposed the measure and maintained that he would vote against the declaration. Within a few days, he folded like a cheap suit under pressure from Trump.

As the News & Observer wrote at the time, “For a few shining days the Republican senator from North Carolina had a backbone. Then, in one crumbling moment Thursday afternoon, it went away.” The episode should have been humiliating, but for Tillis it was a learning experience and he learned the wrong lesson. We saw that again yesterday.

Good leaders compromise positions, but try to hold onto their principles. Tillis regularly compromises his principles, indicating that he really has none and he’s not much of a leader. He has internalized the belief that words have little meaning. He regularly tells us what he believes and then does the opposite.

Thom Tillis is a sad person. He’s affable, likable, and smart, but he’s also empty. He knows what is right and he articulates it frequently. But when the pressure is on, he gives up with barely a fight. Thom Tillis lacks the courage of his convictions. What a hollow man. If he can’t stand up for himself, he’ll never stand up for the people he’s supposed to represent.

Thomas Mills is an erstwhile political consultant. Blogger. Occasional carpenter. Native North Carolinian. Thomas Huxley said, "Try to know something about everything and everything about something." I know North Carolina politics.