The BBB Claims Its First GOP Scalp

It won't be the last one.

Jun 30, 2025

“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,.” — Senator Thom Tillis (R- North Carolina)

No kidding…

We’ll get to the dramatic self-defenestration of Thom Tillis and the GOP’s brobdingnagian reconciliation bill in a moment But first… attention really ought to be paid to these stories.

This weekend, the Minnesota lawmaker and her husband who were assassinated by a MAGA-zealot were laid to rest. Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris flew in to attend. Neither Donald Trump nor JD Vance showed up. Trump has said little about the shooting except that he won’t call Governor Tim Walz
As Trump continues to insist that his bombing “obliterated” Iran nuclear facilities and threatens anyone who suggests otherwise, the Wapo reports that the US “obtained intercepted communication between senior Iranian officials discussing this month’s U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and remarking that the attack was less devastating than they had expected.”
This also seems like a BFD, don’t you think? TMP notes that “Trump Says He Gave Iran Permission to Bomb U.S. Base in Qatar and…Well, Mostly Crickets?” “The right-wing Washington Times reported that at a press conference at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Trump revealed that he had given Iran permission to bomb the U.S.’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for the American bombing of their nuclear sites.”
“They said, ‘We’re going to shoot them. Is one o’clock OK?’ I said it’s fine,” Trump said. “And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn’t get hurt, except for the gunners.”
Given the lack of coverage, it falls to us to ask the obvious question: WTAF? If true, as TPM reports, it ““the most shocking dereliction of duty one could imagine for the commander-in-chief,” and he wondered how Republicans would have reacted if a Democratic president had said he had let “a foreign adversary fire on an American military installation.”
Meanwhile, the president of the University Virginia resigned under pressure from the Trump Administration. Via Inside Higher Education: “Ousting James Ryan is a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s war against higher ed and sends a chilling message to other university leaders, experts say.”

Happy Monday.

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But, now these days are gone I'm not so self-assured
Now I find I've changed my mind
And opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?
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The First Fruits of BBB

As Republican members gag down the mother-of-all legislative crap sandwiches, MAGA has forced out one of the last few normies left in Congress.

I’m tempted to speculate that Senator Tillis’s vote to confirm the absurd Pete Hegseth as SecDef may have been the final straw. But what broke the NC senator this weekend was his refusal to vote for Trump’s massive, ungainly, and deeply regressive BBB. Trump raged and threatened to primary him, and Tillis said fuq it, I’m out.

But Tillis is not really alone in his angst. The massive bill is packed with MAGA wet dreams and goodies (no tax on tips or overtime) but also crammed with a farrago of horribles and politically toxic cuts; $3-4 trillion in debt; cuts in food assistance and health care that will force millions out of health insurance programs.

Via Puck: Tillis understood that slashing Medicaid would be devastating to his constituents who had been ~~lied to~~ assured that the program would not be cut. He’s not wrong: “A $1 Trillion Medicaid Cut Is THIS Close to Happening. Here’s What It’d Look Like: In North Carolina, people are preparing for chaos and calamity.”

Other Republicans know this as well, but will fall into line because they (1) fear Trump, (2) fear failure, (3) and fear Trump. As Tillis should have learned long ago, there is no room for dissent, or any reluctance to follow the other lemmings off the political cliff.

This weekend, it became crystal clear that he was not going to get the freedom from Trump to make the decisions and take the votes he thought were best for his constituents. Tillis also realized that he wasn’t going to get support from Senate Republican leadership to craft legislation that would help him ahead of a tough reelection campaign.

It was a moment of clarity for Tillis…

If only he had been warned.

As the Wall Street Journal editorial notes, Tillis’s sudden retirement now puts his seat (and perhaps control of the senate itself) in play.

A common feature of Donald Trump’s two terms as President is that he can’t stand political prosperity. When events are going in his direction, he has an uncanny habit of handing his opponents a sword.
The latest example came Sunday after GOP leaders dragged several holdouts across the line to vote aye and start debate over the Senate version of the budget reconciliation bill. The vote was 51-49, but Mr. Trump couldn’t leave victory alone….
The GOP has a 53-47 majority now, but Susan Collins always has a tough race in Maine if she decides to run again. Democrats are targeting Joni Ernst in Iowa. In the suicide-isn’t-painless department, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging GOP incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Mr. Paxton may be the only Republican who could lose in Texas given his record harassing business with lawsuits, impeachment, and other embarrassments.
The GOP pickup opportunities are few, so with Mr. Tillis’s departure the Senate is in play for 2026. Oh, and on Saturday GOP Rep. Don Bacon said he won’t run for re-election in his swing Omaha seat. That’s a likely gain for Democrats in the House.

On cue, TrumpWorld responded with its wonted graciousness and class. Here’s Trump campaign advisor and human stain, Jason Miller, responding:

Exit take: In other words Trump expects every senator to be his personal fluffer, Lindsey Graham.

BONUS: Here’s what Tillis sounds like, unchained:

This won’t be a problem, will it?

Yeah, there’s no pivot.

Via Politico: Zohran Mamdani declines to condemn ‘globalize the intifada’
Mamdani stands by refusal to condemn 'globalize the intifada' – The Forward
Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, repeatedly refused to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada,” despite calls from some Democratic colleagues and Jewish organizations to condemn it as inciting violence against Jews.
“I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech,” Mamdani said in a Sunday interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, following his resounding victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Jeffries: Mamdani is ‘going to have to clarify his position’ on intifada slogan
“‘Globalizing the intifada,’ by way of example, is not an acceptable phrase, and he’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward,” [House democratic Leader Hakeem] Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.” “With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise of antisemitism in the city of New York.”
Jeffries made clear that he was not yet endorsing Mamdani.

Exit take: Don’t even get me started on the “defund the police” stuff… or the number of Democrats now flocking to Bluesky to explain how the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, BDS, government-run grocery stores, and nationalizing key industries are AKSHULLY good ideas and… political winners. Go ahead. Cancel me.