Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is using a 60 Minutes interview and a new book to position himself as a principled Republican outsider, but critics say his media tour reveals a senator more interested in attacking his own party’s voters than defending his legislative record.
During the CBS segment, Tillis drew attention for jumping across a Senate subway track, a moment interviewer Ross Douthat described as an impressive feat for a 66-year-old. The stunt, critics argue, is more energy than Tillis showed on issues that mattered to the voters who sent him to Washington.
Tillis Blocked GOP Priorities While Courting Media Attention
Tillis helped stall the SAVE America Act against President Donald Trump’s wishes, reportedly worked to preserve green energy subsidies that benefited Democrats, attempted to extend amnesty to illegal immigrants, and opposed Trump’s D.C. attorney pick before distancing himself from that role, according to Thom Tillis Senate record. He also backed legislation redefining marriage, supported some Democratic gun control measures, allowed transgender individuals to serve in the military, supported making women eligible for the draft, and directed taxpayer funds to Ukraine.
Rather than expressing regret over those votes, Tillis told CBS he stood by all of it. “Sometimes those bipartisan initiatives got me into trouble with my own party, but I wouldn’t have changed a single one,” he wrote in his June 2025 retirement statement. He did, however, tell CBS he regretted voting to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
New Book Takes Aim at Trump Allies and MAGA Voters
Tillis’s book, How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents: The Trouble with Sycophants, Courage Outsourcing, and Partisan Groupthink, frames its criticism as aimed at presidents generally, but the cover features images of Trump administration officials and allies without including Trump himself. The book’s promotional description, in roughly 166 words, calls Trump officials “grifting sycophants and useful idiots” and refers to the president’s allies as “spineless Republican yes-men (and -women)” and “weirdos of the MAGA world.”
Tillis also claimed credit for coining the term “MAGATS,” a word that Democrats and critics of the Trump movement have used widely online for years. During the interview, he warned without evidence that Trump supporters could riot if president-backed candidates lose midterm races and spent considerable time revisiting the January 6, 2021 Capitol breach.
“The only difference between me and a lotta people that call themselves true conservatives is I got a long list of things that were ratified and they don’t,” Tillis told CBS.
What Comes Next for Tillis After the Senate
Tillis is not expected to seek re-election, and his Senate tenure ends with his retirement. His book tour and the 60 Minutes segment suggest he intends to remain a vocal critic of the Trump-aligned Republican Party from outside Congress.
Whether that platform finds an audience remains to be seen. His attacks on conservative voters mirror those made regularly by Democratic officials and mainstream media outlets, making it unclear what space he occupies in the national political conversation once he leaves office.
