Saturday, August 05, 2023

Tillis Tagged for Aiding and Abetting "Bidenomics"

In the hard-right precincts of the NCGOP, Sen. Thom Tillis continues to cement his new role of "moderate deal-maker" and hence his punching-bag status among Trumpists for his non-MAGA sins of omission and commission, most recently the accusation that Tillis was an enabler of "Bidenomics":

Had your fill of high inflation, high gas prices, high mortgage rates and other parts of Bidenomics? You can thank establishment liberal US Senator Thom Tillis (RINO-NC). (Beaufort Observer)

Tillis was one of 19 Republican senators who voted for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in August 2021, President Biden's plan to roughly double the funds spent over a decade on roads, bridges, the electric grid, and broadband. Tillis was also one of 17 Republican senators who helped advance the CHIPS Act in July 2022, which provides tax and other incentives to expand U.S. semiconductor production. Those two laws form a core of the economic boom now accelerating, a “middle-out” and “bottom-up” approach to the economy that has produced historic employment. Ole Joe is only too pleased to hear it called "Bidenomics."

And Tillis actually defended his votes to a Washington Examiner reporter, even if those votes inadvertently helped build the "Bidenomics reelection strategy." “I think people need to understand how a bill becomes a law,” Tillis said. “The only reason those bills became law is because Republicans supported them.”

Precisely! yell the hard-right. It remains to be seen whether Tillis's tightrope waltz leads to his downfall.

But Tillis doesn't seem to care, or at least he's lost his terror, because he's understood the statistics: It's now the Unaffiliateds -- independents -- who determine elections in North Carolina, or at least can determine elections if it's motivated.


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