Thom Tillis Cannibalizes Trump’s MAGA Bid in Texas

Outgoing North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis launched a furious rebuke of President Donald Trump and his operation—from a proposed Iran deescalation deal to a large DOJ settlement pot—while saving his sharpest attack for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom he

When Thom Tillis walked through the weekend’s “State of the Union” remarks, he didn’t sound like a senator easing into retirement. He sounded like a man trying to burn a path straight through the political center of his party.

The outgoing North Carolina Republican, who announced last year he would retire when his term wraps at the start of 2027, went all-in against President Donald Trump and his administration in a scorched-earth appearance while speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Tillis took aim first at a potential peace deal with Iran that. in his telling. doesn’t hold up—and he delivered the critique with timing that left little doubt he was reacting to the administration’s momentum. He said what he knew of the tentative terms “doesn’t make sense.” He also questioned a posture that could allow “nuclear material remaining in Iran. ” drawing a line from a proposed deescalation path to what he described as a deal that could fall short of the Obama-era agreement Trump scrapped in 2018.

He also broadened the attack to Trump’s stated priorities at home. Tillis railed at the president’s freshly allocated “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and turned to a Department of Justice settlement pool described by the administration as a resource for “victims of lawfare.” That pool totals $1.776 billion. and Tillis called it a “bogus … payout pot,” saying he found it “stupid on stilts.”.

“You’re talking about people who assaulted Capitol police officers on January the 6th, were then convicted,” he said. “Many of them pled guilty, or they were convicted by a jury of their peers. They could be eligible for this.”

At one point. he went further—directly tying the settlement pool to what he called money that should be going elsewhere. “There’s no way we’re gonna be in a position to fund $1.5 billion for an anti-fraud division when we’ve got this bogus payout pot for punks. Whoever did it should be fired,” Tillis said.

The criticism extended beyond the White House and into the Pentagon. Tillis pilloried Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. saying that missteps in Iran and the war between Ukraine and Russia have made scandal-plagued former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “look like a five-star recruit” by comparison.

But the sharpest break came when Tillis turned to Texas and to the political fight Trump is trying to shape there.

Tillis reserved his most scathing rebuke for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. who secured Trump’s endorsement last week and is seeking to win a hotly contested GOP runoff for a U.S. Senate seat. In a denouncement that paired outrage with insult, Tillis invoked the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

“To call Paxton ‘ethically challenged’ is to call Jeffrey Dahmer ‘suffering from an eating disorder,’” Tillis said.

He followed with a harder political warning. “This guy is an empty suit and will do us no service by being in the U.S. Congress,” Tillis said, putting his full weight behind incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Tillis’ outburst came against a backdrop of rising personal friction with Trump. The president had already signaled displeasure after Tillis’ unsparing interview with Politico was published Friday. On Truth Social. Trump wrote. “The media said how brave he was to take me on. but he wasn’t brave. he was just the opposite — HE WAS A QUITTER!” Trump added. “Now he can have all the fun he wants for a few months. with some of his RINO friends. screwing the Republican Party. In the end it will only get bigger, and better, and stronger, than ever before!!!”.

Tillis responded to that posture in the same Tapper conversation. He argued that if the Republican Party “stands for standing with insurrectionists who assaulted police officers. turning a blind eye towards” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions. and negotiating an Iran deal that may be “subpar” to the Obama-era agreement Trump scrapped in 2018. “then don’t call me a Republican. Just call me a conservative.”.

The weekend appearance didn’t just lay out policy disagreements. It read like a warning aimed at the party’s direction—one that linked congressional priorities. foreign policy choices. and the Texas Senate fight into a single campaign message: there may be an election on the calendar. but Tillis framed it as a test of what the party is willing to tolerate.

Thom Tillis Donald Trump State of the Union Iran deal DOJ settlement pool anti-weaponization fund Ken Paxton John Cornyn Texas GOP runoff Jake Tapper Jeffrey Dahmer January 6th Capitol police officers Pete Hegseth Kristi Noem Vladimir Putin Truth Social