Thom Tillis’s Confirmation Votes are Weakening American Security for his own Political Gain

Imagine a foreign adversary who wants to bring America down. Having a senator in their pocket would be a powerful asset. If this unnamed adversary directed their puppet senator to use their vote to harm America, you’d get a voting record that looks like Thom Tillis’s.

Senator Tillis likes to have it both ways - appeasing Donald Trump while posturing as a political moderate willing to buck his party like the late John McCain. But John McCain he ain't. 

If he were, he would've voted against Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Not only is Hegseth woefully underqualified to lead the world's most advanced and lethal fighting force, he lacks the moral character needed to serve.

Pete Hegseth is an abuser, an aggressive alcoholic, and a sex pest – and Tillis knows this. Per the Wall Street Journal, after receiving a tip from a supporter and North Carolinian constituent about Hegseth’s behavior, Tillis secretly conducted a secret investigation into Hegseth’s past for nearly a month. Not only that, but he personally promised this constituent that he’d have her back. 

Even just 24 hours before the final vote to confirm Hegseth, Tillis had told Senate Majority Leader John Thune that he had concerns. But, a day later, after an intense pressure campaign from Trump and with the threat of a primary challenge next year, Tillis caved and cast the 50th vote to confirm Pete Hegseth.

At a time when the world is more dangerous and America's adversaries are working around the clock to undermine its leadership, our country needed a defense chief with impeccable moral clarity. Instead, thanks to Thom Tillis’s cowardice, the strongest military in the world is now being led by a man who may not be able to tell the difference between a bottle and the nuclear football.

Tillis let down the nearly 90,000 active duty troops and 615,000 veterans who call North Carolina home – and he broke the promise he made to the constituent who first reached out to him.  

But Tillis’s cowardice and betrayal of America and North Carolina’s safety, security, and prosperity hasn’t stopped with the confirmation of Hegseth. Not content with putting an unqualified man into the office of Secretary of Defense, Senator Tillis voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.

As unqualified and unfit as Pete Hegseth is, Gabbard is equally dangerous. 

Tulsi Gabbard is a friend of dictators who have a direct interest in weakening America. She parrots talking points from Russia’s state propaganda networks. She personally met with Bashar al-Assad, a well-known ally of Russia and Iran and a perpetrator of chemical attacks against his own people. She then spent the next eight years refusing to call Assad what he is – a war criminal. 

If any prior American president had even mentioned the prospect of nominating someone with a tenth of Gabbard’s record to lead America’s intelligence community, impeachment proceedings would have begun the next day. Yet after voting to confirm Gabbard, Tillis went on social media to proclaim that he was proud to have voted for her. 

Why does he think having Gabbard is qualified to oversee our national security apparatus? She has repeatedly aligned herself with authoritarian regimes. She has refused to answer whether she will follow the law. And now, thanks to Tillis’s vote, she holds one of the most sensitive positions in our government. 

At least there is plenty of room for more stars on the Memorial Wall at Langley.

Voting to confirm any of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominations shows poor judgment. Voting to confirm multiple begs the question: is Thom Tillis an active threat to the security and prosperity of our country?

Does he still believe in his oath, taken before God and Country, to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”? Is Thom Tillis demanding that the president nominate only the best, most capable people? Or will he keep voting in a way that delights America’s enemies? 

Unfortunately, based on his past actions, Thom Tillis looks to continue his streak of abandoning North Carolina and weakening America, all for his own political gain. God help us all. 

Matt Hughes is a member of the Center for New Liberalism Steering Committee and a resident of Hillsborough. 

Morgan Rinehart is a resident of Charlotte and the chapter lead for the Charlotte New Liberals. 

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