Outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) isn’t going quietly. In fact, he’s a bull in a china shop, and that insufferable layer clings to him like a barnacle. After he quit, he went on the warpath against the Trump White House, becoming a thorn in the side in major battles, like Todd Blanche, and nuking Ed Martin’s D.C. Attorney nomination. He’s burned all bridges with the GOP base, so what’s the endgame? No one wants a former senator on their corporate boards who’s universally hated and has no access, so what’s going on? I say this because Tillis released some intense texts he sent to President Trump. It’s a nice way to gin up interest in his upcoming book (via HuffPost):
Tillis is set to unveil a new book, “How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents,” next week. Politico’s Playbook newsletter on Thursday published screenshots of a pair of expletive-laden texts included in the book, which Tillis says he sent to Trump earlier this year that offer a rough timeline of their falling-out.
“I still want to help but I don’t take this bullshit from anyone, including you Mr. President,” he wrote in a May 22 text. “Save that shit for the cowards who don’t care if you fail. I care if you fail and right now we are failing.”
Tillis’ message appeared to be a response to Trump’s screed describing him as “weak and ineffective” and a “Nitpicker,” which the president posted on Truth Social that same day.
In a second message, dated June 6, Tillis seemingly responds to Trump having deemed him a “loser” and “just an angry man” in an interview with reporters aboard Air Force One that same week.
“As I have said before, you NEVER threatened me with a primary challenge,” Tillis wrote. “I get that you may have me confused with so many Republicans that you have threatened in the past, but NEVER me.”
He went on to note: “If you had ever threatened me directly with a primary, I would have immediately told you to fuck yourself, and I would have announced my retirement immediately. Save those threats and head games for cowards and fools.”
The Trump White House doesn’t have time for this, which explains their blunt and epic response to these texts (via Politico):
The White House is firing back at Thom Tillis over the expletive-ladened private texts the retiring senator sent to Donald Trump earlier this year, which are included in the North Carolina Republican’s upcoming book, “How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents,” and were obtained by Playbook. The texts from Tillis show that he told Trump he refused to take his “bullshit” and that he would’ve “immediately told you to fuck yourself” if the president had directly threatened him with a primary challenge.
“Looks like a pussy move to send a text instead of actually saying it to someone’s face. Shows what kind of character he is,” a senior White House official told Playbook’s Megan Messerly.
I mean, they’re not wrong.
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