Trump Celebrates Civil War Win by Threatening Entire GOP
The president celebrated on Sunday night shortly after GOP Senator Thom Tillis announced he would not seek re-election next year. A day earlier, the North Carolina Republican had voted against advancing Trump's signature spending package—the so-called 'big, beautiful bill'—incurring the president's wrath. Trump quickly slammed Tillis in Truth Social posts and threatened to back a primary challenger.
'Great News! 'Senator' Thom Tillis will not be seeking reelection," Trump wrote on Truth Social after Tillis bowed out.
In a follow-up post, Trump suggested that Republicans who oppose his legislative priorities could pay a political price.
'For all cost cutting Republicans, of which I am one, REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected,' he wrote.
Tillis, 64, responded on X with some politely delivered snark.
'Thanks for the retirement wishes, Mr. President, looking forward to working with you for a successful 2026,' he wrote.
'Word to the wise, let's avoid minisoldr,' he added, sharing a September 2024 article about Trump's support for then-North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson.
Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor, lost the race after a scandal involving comments he allegedly posted on a porn forum under the screen name 'minisoldr.'
In Tillis' earlier announcement, he said it had become 'increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species.'
He said he was not eager to spend another six years 'navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington,' and would prefer to spend more time with family.
He intends to continue serving North Carolina for the next 18 months 'without the distraction of raising money or campaigning,' and with the 'pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit,' he said.
Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, is among the names being floated as a contender to replace him, a source close to the Trump family told NBC News.
Tillis is not the first GOP lawmaker Trump has threatened to primary in recent weeks. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is being targeted by a new pro-Trump super PAC that seeks to unseat him next year, after he voted against the bill in the House and criticized Trump's strikes on Iran.
The version of the spending bill that the Senate moved forward with on Saturday would add nearly $3.3 trillion to the national debt over a decade, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That's nearly $1 trillion more than the earlier iteration passed by the House.
The package includes sweeping tax cuts, increased spending on defense and anti-immigration initiatives, and rollbacks to social programs like Medicaid.
The CBO analysis also found that close to 12 million Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill was passed.
Tillis had said the Senate version of the bill 'contains significant changes to Medicaid that would be devastating to North Carolina, and I cannot support it.'
He was one of two Senate Republicans to join Democrats in opposing the bill in a 51–49 procedural vote to advance it. The bill now proceeds to full Senate debate, with Republicans aiming to send it to Trump's desk by July 4 following final House approval.
In a Sunday evening post, Trump encouraged Senate Republicans to overrule the chamber's parliamentarian—a nonpartisan official who interprets Senate rules—in order to pass key components of his bill.
Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, slammed the legislation as debate began on Sunday.
'Republicans are about to pass the single most expensive bill in U.S. history, to give tax breaks to billionaires while taking away Medicaid, SNAP benefits and good paying jobs for millions of people,' Schumer said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
19 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Justice Kagan Won 70% of the Time
Here's a figure that might surprise: Justice Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court's leading liberal, was in the majority of 70% of this term's non-unanimous outcomes. To compare, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, stout conservatives, were each at 62%, tied with Justice Sonia Sotomayor. They were a tick above Justice Neil Gorsuch's 61%. That's according to the end-of-term statistics compiled by the website SCOTUSblog. Also notable: 42% of rulings this year were unanimous, which is down slightly from the past two years, but it isn't far from the average of the past two decades. Another 24% of cases produced lopsided decisions, 8-1 and 7-2 (or else 7-1 with a recusal).
Wall Street Journal
20 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Floats a Mass Deportation ‘Temporary Pass'
If you're confused about the Trump Administration's mass deportation policy, join the club. First it was the full Stephen Miller, deporting every illegal in the land. Then there was going to be a reprieve for the agriculture and hospitality industries, then it was back to the full Miller. On Sunday the President said he now wants a 'temporary pass' for some businesses. 'I don't back away,' Mr. Trump said on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures. 'What I do have, I cherish our farmers. And when we go into a farm and we take away people that have been working there for 15 and 20 years, who were good, who possibly came in incorrectly. And what we're going to do is we're going to do something for farmers where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge. The farmer knows he's not going to hire a murderer.' He's right about that. Employers need good workers, and it's crazy policy for the U.S. government to raid businesses in order to drag away someone who arrived here illegally but has been a reliable employee for years. 'But you know, when you go into a farm and you set somebody working with them for nine years doing this kind of work, which is hard work to do and a lot of people aren't going to do it, and you end up destroying a farmer because you took all the people away—it's a problem,' Mr. Trump added. 'You know, I'm on both sides of the thing. I'm the strongest immigration guy that there's ever been, but I'm also the strongest farmer guy that there's ever been, and that includes also hotels and, you know, places where people work, a certain group of people work.'
Wall Street Journal
20 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Tries to Issue a Pardon—in Israel
President Trump has taken up a new cause: the Benjamin Netanyahu innocence project. 'It is a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure,' he wrote on Truth Social on Saturday, one of three posts against the Israeli Prime Minister's trial, which has dragged on since 2020. 'LET BIBI GO, HE'S GOT A BIG JOB TO DO!' The President isn't the first to wonder, 'How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING'? At issue are vague breach-of-trust charges over his alleged receipt, from 2007 to 2016, of gifts of cigars and champagne valued at some $200,000 in total, plus a novel legal theory that construes positive news coverage as an illegal bribe. But the workings of Israel's overactive legal system and domestic politics aren't within a U.S. President's purview. We doubt Mr. Trump is familiar with the details of the Netanyahu case, nor should he be. It isn't America's place to say, as Mr. Trump has, that 'Bibi Netanyahu's trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY,' or to threaten, 'We are not going to stand for this' after mentioning U.S. military aid. That aid furthers a strategic purpose, as all the world saw this June in Iran, not a political one. We criticized Joe Biden in 2023 for intervening in Israel's judicial debate. That looked like an effort to topple Mr. Netanyahu, whereas Mr. Trump's is to prop him up. Neither is appropriate for an ally, and neither is in the long-term interest of the U.S.-Israel alliance.
