Meadows: Tillis Invited Challenger With Mueller Investigation, Border Declaration Stances

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As long a list as conservative voters in North Carolina might have for reasons Thom Tillis should not be re-elected the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, the proud RINO’s two most recent self-inflicted wounds could be the ones that make the difference come primary time. At least, Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC), leader of the House Freedom Caucus, thinks Tillis’ public defense of the sham Mueller investigation, and massive flip-flop on the emergency border declaration, were what created the opening for a “credible primary challenger.”

From Politico:

“[…] Most immediate, [for Tillis], is surviving perhaps the toughest primary battle facing any Republican senator this cycle.

“He probably has more of a challenge in a primary than he does in a general,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a close ally of the president who has not endorsed Tillis.

Meadows added that Tillis’ support for the special counsel bill and his shifting stance on the national emergency declaration “created an opening in a race that would generally not have seen a credible primary challenger.” […]”

In all likelihood, if this weren’t election time, Tillis would be still be joining a chorus of Democrats in calls to check presidential abuse of power, and fueling impeachment. As it stands now, though, the Trump-endorsed candidate i wrapping himself in MAGA and hoping the electorate has a short memory.

For the what is expected to be a close ‘swing state’ kind of race in any case, a fellow sitting Republican congressman asserting that Tillis’ toughest challenge is the primary is a bad harbinger for the former N.C. Speaker. While the rest of the political world sounds alarms for Tillis, the senator himself dismisses Garland Tucker entirely, saying it’s not even close. The author of the Politico piece describes Tillis as “borderline cocky.” One of those words isn’t quite accurate.

“[…] Tillis acknowledges his style isn’t necessarily built to appeal to his party’s hard-liners. At a North Carolina Federation of Republican Women event, he lamented that sometimes he gets “criticized because I don’t speak too fiery or talk too angry.”

“Some people, I think, perceive my style as being something that’s soft,” he said during a 25-minute interview at the state party headquarters. “But I’ve got a good conservative track record to run on. And we believe if people know it, they know where I stand on immigration, they know where I stand to the level where the president will endorse me. We’ll win.” […]”

It’s not Tillis’ delivery style that causes the problem — though the smugness certainly doesn’t help his cause — it’s what he actually does that doesn’t appeal to the Republican base he pejoratively refers to as the ‘Far Right’ or ‘hardliners.’ Besides, we remember him being quite fiery when he was taking the dais to admonish fellow Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) — who was gracious enough to campaign for Tillis in 2014 — for having the temerity to fight for federal spending cuts

Tillis is correct in that those ‘Far Right’ people do know where he stands on immigration; they do know where he stands with the president when it’s not election time; and they’re all but sure that his real record of sticking it to the base is not as advertised in 2014. Voters may rightly recoil from the false advertising in 2020, even with the obligatory endorsement of President Donald Trump.

Read more on Tillis’ rocky road ahead, and his cocky approach to it all, here.