Thomas Mills Dismantles Senator Thom Tillis

 

From the title -- "Some Hot Tillis-on-Robinson Action" -- to the last paragraph, which is bitter, the bitter end, this piece of writing makes a master class in Swiftian sarcasm, that form of irony that tears flesh, or seeks to. Political commentator and long-time Democratic operative Thomas Mills takes down Sen. Thom Tillis as a hypocrite in epaulets, a self-described "SERIOUS PERSON" who theatrically sez he upholds Truth and the American Way, but who turns out substantial as cardboard. That "SERIOUS PERSON" mainly shows up, says Mills, "when Republicans are about to do something bad or stupid. He puffs up, issues muscular declarations, and promptly folds like a cheap tent." 

Mills has the receipts on those "folds," times when the senator announced a policy principal he would not breach and then breached it. Like when he wrote an editorial opposing Trump's declaration of emergency at the border -- the better to divert Federal funds to his wall -- and then promptly repented, after a dose of fury from MAGA loyalists who'll crucify anybody who offends Trump. Tillis had to swallow a lot more than his tongue to take it all back. He's abandoned his stated principles on immigration compromise more than once. It's the Tillis straddle: feint to the left with condemnation of a clown like Mark Robinson and then to the right with continued obeisance to El Hefe: 

Tillis doubles down on his support for Donald Trump who is now focused on fleecing his supporters by selling commemorative coins and $100,000 Trump watches. That’s what you call Republican coalition building. The grifter wing of the party is taking advantage of the rube wing and everybody is happy. That is some serious, principled shit.

 Sen. Tillis, according to Mills, is pure show but with muddled intentions: 

While other [Republican] candidates are trying to avoid talking about Nude Africa, Tillis is delivering vague ultimatums that sound tough, just like his op-ed and principled support of the immigration bill he voted against. Just follow his lead. Let reporters and others know about your grave concerns and hint at skepticism about Robinson’s denials.

With "SERIOUS PERSON" (always ALL CAPS) Mills puts a verbal duncecap on Sen. Tillis, mocking his occasional and sudden eruptions of principle even while sticking with a party "full of tinfoil hats, snake oil salesmen, and rubes." 

Sen. Tillis seeks reporters' ears to sound-bite strategically like a maverick in a party that despises mavericks. He suffered a censure by the NCGOP, yet he's become something of a bridge-builder behind the scenes in the Senate. Somehow, he persists, even after his privates hit the top rail of the fence he's been straddling, maybe largely because Trump hasn't sicced his dogs on him. (Remember what Trump did to independent John McCain and to Liz Cheney and to several others.)

Did I say the end of Mills's piece is bitter? He makes a point of speaking directly to Mark Robinson about Sen. Tillis's very recent ultimatum that Robinson either disproves "the CNN lies" or steps down: 

Hang in there, Mark. Don’t let the haters and the RINOs get you down .... Just grit it out, because even if you lose, you can run against Thom Tillis in 2026.

You know what I think? I think Thom Tillis would love to be a Democrat and actually hates being a Republican, especially right now when the Party-under-Trump appears to be sitting in an airless booth pleasuring itself with peculiar fantasies.