'He’s got staff giving him bad advice': GOP lawmaker warns Trump against attacking veteran senator
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) walks to a policy luncheon meeting on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was among GOP lawmakers shocked by President Donald Trump’s abuse of veteran Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), on social media, reports the Hill.
On Tuesday, Trump posted a message on his Truth Social platform urging Grassley to show “courage” in eliminating the so-called “blue‑slip scam,” arguing it allowed Democratic senators to keep excellent Republican judges and U.S. attorneys from being confirmed.
“He should do this, immediately, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective,” Trump wrote.
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The Hill reports Tillis warned Trump that he appears to be getting bad information from his people.
“I think it was a bad — No. 1, Chuck is beloved in our conference. No. 2, the blue-slip policy helps the president. He’s got staff giving him bad advice,” Tillis said.
Aside from publicly castigating a 91-year-old senator, Tillis said getting rid of the blue slip process would make it harder to work with Democrats when it comes time to pass legislation requiring 60 votes to survive the Senate.
“I think the president’s staff have a bad habit of advising him that was a good idea,” Tillis added. “… The staff should have intervened and said, ‘This is not a good idea.’”
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) took a similar tone against the public shaming.
“I talked to Sen. Grassley — I think Sen. Grassley has long, long, long been a great team player, and I think he was just a little bit offended at the tone, and that’s not right,” said Murkowski, who supports the blue slip process.
One anonymous Republican lawmaker told the Hill that Trump’s abuse of Grassley “was really the talk of the floor last night.”
Grassley himself said he “was offended” by Trump’s statements at a Judiciary Committee hearing, and “disappointed” that it had degenerated to “personal insults.”
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See the full Hill report at this link.
