Thom Tillis isn't the courageous Republican people want to think he is

 Yeah, because he voted to impeach last time and has gotten the wrath of MAGA since.

Who knew you could pile shit as high as Chuck Grassley?

 OK, we all did.

The account he thinks is not disqualifying is Bove telling attorneys they would have to tell the courts "fuck you" and ignore any orders that went against Trump.

There are now three whistleblowers offering this evidence.

And, Thom Tillis, the one GOP senator people still had hope for, is going to vote to put Bove in a lifetime position on a federal court.  Shame on him.

UPDATE 07/30/2025:

UPDATE 08/01/2025:

Giving up

 

Not a hard choice after Trump threatened to primary him because he voted no on the BBB.

And Bacon said that Biden hadn't done anything to be impeached for.

UPDATE 06/30/2025:

If you thought there was a bottom to GOP freedoming, think again

In a question-and-answer session Monday at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, argued that restaurants should be allowed to “opt out” of certain regulations - such as employees washing their hands. Such a rule, he says, is an example of how America is “one of the most regulated nations in the history of the planet.”

[...]

“I said that I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says, ‘We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom.’ The market will take care of that,” Tillis said.

“If you let a business or industry opt out as long as they indicate through proper disclosure, through advertising, through employee literature, there’s this level of regulations that maybe they’re on the books,” Tillis said. “But maybe you can make a market based decision as to whether or not they should apply to you.”

The Republican senator from North Carolina went on to say that a move like that by a restaurant would probably result in it going out of business.

  ABC

Depends on its location.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And the hits keep coming

So far, it's Republicans. Anyone surprised?

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the third senator to announce in the past two days that they had contracted the virus.

Johnson’s office said in a statement on Saturday that he was exposed to an individual on Sept. 29 who has since tested positive for the virus.

  The Hill

September 29. Was that individual at the Ohio superspreader event, aka the presidential debate?

“Senator Johnson feels healthy and is not experiencing symptoms. He will remain isolated until given the all-clear by his doctor."

[...]

In addition to Johnson, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) both said on Friday that they had tested positive for COVID-19.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is delaying the chamber’s return to Washington from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19.

  Politico

And counting.

source

More Republican positives

And neither fool is wearing a mask or practicing distancing.

That's Lee with the mask in his hand.  Don't know who that is giving/getting the hug, but I bet he's getting tested today.  All those other fools without masks probably are, too.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  And another member of the Judiciary Committee tests positive:  Thom Tillis.

UPDATE:

The actual article is updated to say 7 infected.
UPDATE:  And they have no shame.

Also, did Melania design out the roses in the Rose Garden?

Racist politicization of a pandemic

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Tuesday in a telephone town hall with constituents said he was concerned that Hispanics make up a high percentage of COVID-19 cases in his state, and then attributed this to Hispanics not wearing masks and not socially distancing as much as the rest of the population.

"Just wear the mask out of respect. And I will tell you, I'm not a scientist and I'm not a statistician, but one of the concerns that we've had more recently is that the Hispanic population now constitutes about 44 percent of the positive cases," said Tillis, according to a recording of the town hall.

"And we do have some concerns that in the Hispanic population we've seen less consistent adherence to social distancing and wearing a mask," added Tillis, who faces a competitive reelection race this fall that will help determine the next Senate majority.

[...]

But Hispanics, Blacks and Asian Americans have collectively been more likely than whites to wear masks and consider it important that members of their communities wear masks, according to research by the Pew Research Center.

In a June survey, Pew found that 89 percent of Asian Americans reported wearing a mask in stores some of the time, as did 87 percent of Hispanics, 86 percent of Black respondents, and 78 percent of whites.

A separate Pew survey later in June showed 63 percent of Hispanics think people should wear masks whenever in public or near others, compared to 61 percent of Black respondents and 41 percent of white respondents.

That's despite the fact that Black, Asian and Hispanic respondents were more likely than white respondents to say they were wary of wearing masks for fear of seeming suspicious to others.

[...]

Nationwide, Hispanics have been disproportionately affected by the virus, in large part because Hispanics are more likely to work in industries such as construction, health care and food supply.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

They still haven't figured it out

A group of Republican senators attempted to stop President Trump from ousting U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland this week, though the president removed the now-former diplomat from his post anyway, sources told The New York Times.

[...]

Sondland [and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman] were both key witnesses in House Democrats' impeachment hearings, but the Times says that the group of lawmakers only registered concern about Sondland's ouster, not Vindman's.

  The Hill

Do they really think they have any influence? It's laughable. They kiss his ass and then try to tell him what to do? Anyway, Sondland paid his million dollars for favor and then made the mistake of testifying against Trump. That should tell anybody what they need to know.

And why are they not trying to keep him from firing Lt. Col. Vindman and his brother? That's a much better argument.

According to the paper's sources, the group of GOP senators – Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Martha McSally (Ariz.) and Ron Johnson (Wisc.) – thought the ousting of Sondland would look bad, especially since he was already in talks senior officials about leaving his post after the conclusion of the Senate impeachment trial.

Oh, that's rich. Susan Collins. Trump knows exactly where all those people are. On their knees before (or maybe behind) him. And, again, Vindman had already indicated his intention to leave in short order. Why are they begging for Sondland's favor? Because he has money he might give them?

However, on Friday, State Department officials informed Sondland that he needed to resign by the end of the day.

Sondland pushed back, reportedly saying that if they wanted him gone on Friday, they would have to remove him. The president then recalled him from his post, effective immediately the newspaper reported.

So Sondland had at least a little moxie. Which is more than can be said for those four GOP clowns. They didn't even ask to talk to Trump directly.

The group conveyed its concerns to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and legislative affairs director Eric Ueland.

Who probably never even told Trump. Why bother?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Aha...

Thom Tillis is a Senator

And a Trump fellator.  I wonder how many other asses signed this.

Both ridiculous and disgusting.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

It's all about him

And he thinks that he's the charm and the glue that holds things together.

In numerous calls with Republican senators in recent days, the president spoke of the battle [to declare a national emergency] almost exclusively in personal terms — telling them they would be voting against him while brushing aside constitutional concerns over his attempt to reroute billions of federal dollars for a border wall.

[...]

Trump tweeted the day before [the vote] that Republican senators were “overthinking” it, stressing that it was only about supporting border security. And White House aides made it clear to undecided Republicans that Trump was noticing those who chose to oppose him — particularly if they were up for reelection in 2020.

  WaPo

The threat. His favorite approach.

But it wasn’t enough, as a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in dealing Trump a humiliating blow by voting Thursday to nullify the national emergency.

[...]

Trump’s personal pleas and pressure were among a number of missed opportunities and missteps by the White House that contributed to a defeat notably worse than the administration had hoped for in trying to limit defections, according to officials and lawmakers familiar with the efforts, many of whom requested anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The administration, for example, failed to give opposing GOP senators legal opinions, project details and other information that they had requested about the national emergency, according to lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides.

What more did they need to know than that he wanted them to vote his way?

Vice President Pence was also unable or unwilling to make commitments on behalf of the president even while serving as Trump’s main emissary to negotiate with Republicans, people familiar with the debate said.

I have a feeling Pence won't be on the 2020 ticket. Who do we think will replace him?

During a private GOP lunch in late February that Pence attended, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) asked to see any memorandum produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that would lay out the administration’s rationale for why the emergency declaration was lawful, according to an official with knowledge of the closed-door discussion.

[...]

The White House never provided that memo, according to an official familiar with the discussions.

[...]

A similar scenario unfolded a week later, when Republican senators pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for a list of military construction projects that could lose funding this year as a result of Trump’s emergency declaration. Nielsen told them the issue was largely the purview of the Pentagon — while Defense Department officials at the same time were deferring to Nielsen’s agency for information they needed to make a list of targeted projects.

Senators never got that list of projects either, and some Republicans doubted whether one exists.

[...]

Trump called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) almost daily to press him on who was opposing his declaration.

[...]

Trump kept saying in private to White House officials and senators that he would be willing to entertain any proposal that would unite most Republicans and keep the vote count on the disapproval resolution at just 50 in the Senate, which would have defeated the measure.

To that end, the administration and a handful of influential GOP senators began quietly discussing whether they could reach a compromise.

[...]

“None of the proposals got anywhere close,” a senior administration official said. “We were all wasting our time.”

[...]

[T]he administration averted an even bigger defeat by working with some Republicans in private. Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan had privately assured Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) — a pledge he made public during a hearing Thursday morning — that four military projects in Arizona would not be touched by the president’s emergency declaration.

Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Steven A. Engel sat down one-on-one with various Senate Republicans to detail the legal arguments to them directly, according to a GOP senator familiar with the meetings. And the administration assured [Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)] that it would not start drawing from $3.6 billion slated for military construction projects for at least six months.

A six month hiding period. Is the honesty in government of no concern to anyway?

“I think [the president] respects people with principle,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who told Trump during a private Oval Office meeting last week on China policy that he would be voting to reject his declaration.

Oh, sweetie. Trump respects only authoritarians. And that's really more jealousy than respect.

The administration’s efforts with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) turned out to be the most fruitful.

Shortly after The Washington Post published a defiant opinion piece by Tillis, announcing his opposition to Trump’s emergency order [before flipping at the last minute and supporting it].

[...]

Three Republicans — Cruz and Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) — showed up with little notice at the White House late Wednesday and interrupted a private dinner with Trump and first lady Melania Trump, trying to sell the president on a final pitch that would give senators an off-ramp from Thursday’s vote.

[...]

Growing frustrated, Trump told Cruz he was not rescinding the national emergency and that the senator could vote however he wanted to vote. Trump berated the group for showing up at the White House late at night and told them they were wasting his time.

“Hell, if I’d been him,” Graham remarked Thursday morning, “I’d have told us to go to hell.”

Then why were you there, you idiot?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Crack in the bloc

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Tillis' cry for help

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said on Tuesday that he wants the Judiciary Committee to vote on his bill limiting President Trump's ability to fire Bob Mueller, but downplayed the idea that his push is a reaction to Trump's latest attack on the special counsel.

"I think it's a good bill that has enduring value beyond this presidency," Tillis told reporters.

"I do think it's a bill that's worthy of a markup in Judiciary and sending it to the floor."

  The Hill

He surely hopes to save his own ass if not the entire GOP.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Self-serving and delusional

In an interview with CNN, [Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck] Grassley said he did not believe Trump would actually fire Mueller, despite reports Thursday night that the President took steps last June to dismiss the special counsel and later backed off after White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to quit.

Grassley said the reports show Trump listens to his staff.

"I just don't think the President -- as unpredictable as he is -- would fire Mueller, and I take the view, and I said so maybe not directly to the President, but indirectly to the President: Just let this work its course," Grassley said.

Asked if he would be OK if Trump fired Mueller, Grassley said: "Heavens no."

  CNN

Would he do anything about it or would he spend his considerable influence and energy trying to sidestep it? I think the answer to that is obvious from the Judiciary hearings Grassley has been conducting.

Democrats are trying to renew efforts to push bipartisan legislation in the Senate to give Mueller and future special counsels protection from political pressure from the White House. There are two competing bills at the moment.

"I'm surely open to considering those bills," Grassley said, adding that the two approaches should be reconciled and then he would focus on whether they raise any constitutional concerns about the separation of powers between the branches of government.

He'll consider them. And then he'll figure out why he won't back them.

Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin said some members have raised constitutionality concerns about the bills, and they currently do not have the support needed to move them through Congress. Keylin said Friday that the talk about removing Mueller since last August when the measures were introduced have "completely come to a halt" as the President's team has shown signs of cooperation with the special counsel.

But they haven't. They've paid cooperation lip service.

The Tillis and Coons bill would give a special counsel the chance to challenge the firing in court before a panel of three federal judges. It also would only allow an attorney general who has been confirmed by the Senate — or senior non-recused, Senate-confirmed DOJ official— to fire the special counsel.

A bill from Booker and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham instead would require the attorney general to first get approval from a three-judge panel before the special counsel could be fired. In their measure, a special counsel would only be fired "after the court has issued an order finding misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause."

Although the latter is a better bill, I'm not at all certain either would really do anything but make a bigger circus out of the situation than already exists. It should simply be non-contested that Trump firing Mueller at this point is an impeachable offense. Better yet, upon being fired from the special prosecution, Mueller should be immediately installed as prosecutor to try the case against Trump in federal court.

And of course, this old bastard stands squarely in the way:

McConnell was asked about the Mueller protection bills in the fall, and he said that the Senate was working on other priorities through the end of the year, adding that the chamber should be focused on its own Russia meddling investigation.

"We're going to concentrate on what we're doing here in the Senate," McConnell said.

Him and Paul Ryan in the House.  There are too many corrupt, self-dealing Republicans in Congress who are determined to hold onto their power, and there are too many corrupt, self-dealing but ineffectual Democrats there who'll help them.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 9:40 pm

You would think that we would see the wheels turning now. You would think that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell would find some slivers of patriotism between the cushions of their sofas and step up to fulfill the constitutional obligations of their respective offices. There is a genuine crisis on their doorsteps right now, and, next week, the president* is supposed to give his State of the Union address, and god alone knows what he’s going to say. They have not moved. They have given no indication that they will move. History will brand them as cowards and as traitors to the country’s best ideals. History’s not going to be kind to a lot of people who are living through these insane times.

  Charles P Pierce

Yet Another Attempt By Trump to Obstruct Justice

Firing Comey and asking heads of intel agencies to publicly denounce attempts to tie Trump to Russia weren't enough for him. Even knowing he is under investigation in part for attempts to obstruct justice, he did it again.

Apparently he doesn't think he's got anything to lose by doing so. Running scared.

President Donald Trump privately vented his frustration over Russia-related matters with at least two other Republican senators this month.

Trump expressed frustration over a bipartisan bill sanctioning Russia and tried to convince Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that it wasn't good policy, according to three people familiar with the call. Trump argued that the legislation was unconstitutional and said it would damage his presidency.

[...]

The bill cleared Congress overwhelmingly last month and Trump grudgingly signed it on Aug. 2.

[...]

Trump dialed up Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Aug. 7 [...] Tillis is working with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on a bill designed to protect Robert Mueller, the independent counsel investigating the president's Russia connections, from any attempt by Trump to fire him.

[...]

Trump was unhappy with the legislation and didn't want it to pass.

[...]

Trump's chewing out of GOP senators, according to people briefed on the calls, reflected the president's frustration that fellow Republicans would make moves that could damage him, particularly on an investigation that he detests. Trump also complained about the Russian sanctions measure in a call with McConnell earlier this month that devolved into shouting.

[...]

"It seems he is just always focused on Russia," one senior GOP aide said.

  Politico

Because he knows Mueller's investigation goes much further than just Russia - straight into the heart of Trump racketeering and money laundering.

Trump has been known to see a senator on TV or think about an issue and immediately ask White House assistant Madeleine Westerhout to dial the senator.

But [ chief of staff John] Kelly has asked that senior White House aides, such as legislative affairs head Marc Short, be present for the calls‚ and for Trump to be briefed in advance on the topic.

Good luck with that.

Trump's insistence on funding his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall promises to further strain relations with Senate Republicans, who must secure at least eight Democratic votes to keep the government funded past Sept. 30. But the president appears unconcerned with helping McConnell navigate that challenge.

Because he doesn't care about the country - something he went out of his way to accuse Congress of to his Phoenix followers more than once. He only cares about perceiving himself as a winner. And after his loss on Obamacare, a second one will drive him "up the wall".

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.