Tempering Tillis: Senate Leadership Shuts Down Mueller Protection Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Thom Tillis (RINO-NC) seems to enjoy talking down to conservatives right-wingers as he argues for passing bills that accomplish Democrats’ goals, but now it seems his and his cohorts’ antics have gone so far as to perturb the Swamp Thing himself, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday thwarted a bipartisan effort to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s job, saying he will not hold a floor vote on the legislation even if it is approved next week in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

McConnell said the bill is unnecessary because President Donald Trump will not fire Mueller.

“We’ll not be having this on the floor of the Senate,” McConnell said on Fox News.

His comments came amid widespread opposition to the bill among members of his caucus, with several GOP senators saying the bill is unconstitutional. Others said it’s simply not good politics to try and tell Trump what to do, likening the legislation to “poking the bear.””

Tillis wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he acknowledged that Trump wasn’t likely to fire Mueller, but he still wanted to pass a unconstitutional bill to protect the special counsel anyway.

“Within a day of Trump’s criticism, Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina combined two bills they introduced last summer to protect special counsels. They introduced the new bill along with Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican, announced that his committee would vote on the bill.

The legislation would give any special counsel a 10-day window to seek expedited judicial review of a firing, and would put into law existing Justice Department regulations that require a firing to be for “good cause.”

Democrats immediately jumped on the legislation, but many Republicans have been cool to it.”

That last line tells you what you need to know about the bill, and about those GOP senators pushing it. Democrats love it because it hurts Trump, and Tillis and company just love carrying water for Democrats.

So, of course Republicans are “cool to it,” to put it kindly. Others are more blunt:

““It’s about as popular as cholera with the leader in the Senate and it’s about as popular as malaria in the House,” said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary panel. “I think most people think we’re picking an unnecessary fight with the president.””

Apparently Mitch thought so too. Honestly, though, a leadership move to squash possibly unconstitutional protection legislation for a certified witch hunt is a positive surprise. Usually Tillis and the Establishment are all about sticking it to conservatives, but this time Tillis’ sanctimonious stunt is being dismissed for the political opportunism that it is.

“Tillis acknowledged last week that he had taken some “heat” from conservatives for the bill, but told the Judiciary panel, “this is really an opportunity to take an ethical stand, and not do it when the situation benefits you.”

Ah, yes, the paragon of ethical virtues Thom Tillis. Give us a break.

The only ‘oppurtunity’ Tillis is interested in is scoring political points in what he regards as a purple, trending blue state. He thinks that by throwing stones at Trump it will earn him favor with squishy Republicans and Democrats back home. He is cutting against the grain because he think it benefits him.

It’s nice of him to reveal so much of his motivations through projection.

With this bill all but dead now, it’s only a matter of time before he picks up another Democrat cause to run with.

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