Et Tu, Thommy? : Tillis sneaking around, back-stabbing Trump & Senate (R) colleagues

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THAT is what today’s Wall Street Journal appears to be telling us:

A key witness in the contentious Senate confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was assured by Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) that her sworn statement would carry weight in last week’s vote and could convince Republican senators to oppose the nominee, according to people familiar with the events

Tillis personally assured Danielle Hegseth in a call on Jan. 19, witnessed by two other people, that if she signed the statement testifying that she believed her former brother-in-law Pete Hegseth has an alcohol abuse problem and was abusive to his second wife, it would carry weight, and potentially move three votes—his own, along with the votes of Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), those people said.

On Friday, Tillis became the 50th senator to vote “yes” on Hegseth, clinching his confirmation to lead the Pentagon.

In a statement, Tillis didn’t dispute The Wall Street Journal’s reporting about the call. He said Danielle Hegseth’s statement “did carry weight, which is why I communicated my concerns to the White House and spent days doing my due diligence and seeing if there were any firsthand corroborating accounts of the sworn statement.” He continued that he was “not able to speak with anyone who provided firsthand corroboration.”

[…] On Thursday, Collins and Murkowski both publicly announced they would vote no. Collins’s reasoning didn’t cite the sworn statement as a reason for her vote. […] Murkowski pointed to concerns about his character, and allegations of financial mismanagement of veterans organizations he led, as well as his statements on women in combat. She said Hegseth wasn’t “prepared for such immense responsibility.”

The next night, all members of the Democratic caucus voted no. Collins and Murkowski both voted no, as did Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). Tillis then voted “yes” on Hegseth.

Vice President JD Vance, in his role as president of the Senate, broke the 50-50 tie, confirming Hegseth by 51-50.

After voting, Tillis sat on a wooden desk on the Republican side of the chamber, and spoke intently with Collins and Murkowski, who were seated together in front of him, for several minutes. Collins sat with her arms crossed, listening. Murkowski spoke to Tillis, gesturing emphatically with her hands. When Vance, from the dais, formally announced the results of the vote, most Republican senators applauded. But Collins, Murkowski and Tillis didn’t. […]

Just for giggles, here is a copy of the two-page letter Pete Hegseth sent to Tillis just before the vote:

From reading this letter, one might conclude that The White House saw Tillis as leaning toward a NO vote.  Considering all the garbage nominees from Obama and Biden this dirtbag Tillis and his pal Burr enthusiastically blessed, is it too much to give your party’s president the team he wants and needs to lead the country?

It’s pretty clear Thom Tillis was trying to orchestrate – on the sly – a political back-stabbing the likes not seen since The Ides of March.  He’s usually with McConnell, Murkowski and Collins.  Something made him do a U-Turn at the last minute.

This guy Tillis is treacherous and duplicitous, among other things.  He’s been waging war on conservatives since he got to Raleigh.  He’s yet to see 50 percent of the vote.  Tillis barely survived the 2020 general election — thanks to an undeserved endorsement from Donald Trump.

 His Raleigh cronies tell us Thom is better than a Democrat?  (Is he, now? There’s data showing that he’s been voting left of avowed socialist Bernie Sanders.)

Tillis screwed over Trump, his fellow Republicans, and his own voters in Trump’s first term with the border wall, guns, and gay rights.  It appears he’s picking up right where he left off in 2020.

How much longer are we going to keep smiling and tolerating him and his antics?