Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Monday that many Republicans in Congress oppose President Donald Trump's policies and might under normal circumstances stand up to him — but that they are simply too scared of losing their political careers to do so.
"In the book, you talk about Republicans against Trump," Tapper told Tillis, referring to the outgoing senator's new book "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents." "We all follow, our viewers follow this closely. We only hear about a couple in the Senate, you being one of them, and we can get into that."
Tapper then quoted Tillis writing, "at least 30 by my count expressed reservations to put it mildly." Pretty much, that's the majority of your caucus. So you're saying they're all, like, to this level or more, and they're too scared to say it."
Tillis described the situation as "transactional."
"I think it's all transactional," Tillis told Tapper. "What I didn't mean is there's a group of 30 people that, they spoke out. It's like my position on [Federal Reserve Chair Kevin] Warsh, for example and so it's not like there's a coalition that agrees on that every disagreement that I've had with the president, they agreed with, but there are enough people that for a variety of reasons are not stepping up."
When Tapper pushed him on why they are remaining quiet, Tillis replied "they work maybe more quietly than I do. But at the end of the day, if you don't use the devices in power — you know, the thing I love most about this job is some of my greatest accomplishments using leverage, you all will never know about it. I know, but I don't want to, because I want to prove the point that when senators take the leverage they have that come from a Senate that has a filibuster, they can be enormously powerful and they can help their president. This is all about helping the president of the United States, who happens to be a Republican."
He continued, "Why would anybody think, as elected Republican, I would knowingly do something that would hurt our party? He's the head of the party. I support the president because he's the head of the party, not because he's Donald J. Trump, but because he is the face of our party and I want my party to be in the best position for elections."
Despite reportedly cursing at Trump in June when asked how he would have reacted to the president directly threatening him with a primary challenge, Tillis has been much more supportive of him in his publicity tour for his book. Speaking to Joe Scarborough earlier on Monday, for example, Tillis refused to describe some of Trump's personally profiting from his office as corrupt.
"Where the president's family has taken at least $2 to $3 [billion], where sons of the president are getting, what, $600, $700 million loans on new companies that are starting up from the Pentagon. Is there any moral equivalency because you said, well, every administration has problems," Scarborough said. "You would agree this administration's problems are far more extreme on the issue of corruption than any that we've seen in our lifetime. Right?"
Tillis discounted Scarborough's characterization.
"There's a lot of bad looks, but you've got to prove corruption," Tillis said. "And I have no problem with going through the due diligence and to provide counsel and to let people go through a process of discovery."
Scarborough was unconvinced, arguing "do you not think these meme coins, where the Trumps made billions of dollars and 98 percent of their supporters lost their money? Is that not corrupt?"
Tillis refused to admit directly that this would indeed be corrupt.
"I think it's worth looking at," Tillis said. "Again, there's a difference between breaking a law and a bad look. I'll give you a good example. And it's this nonsense of an oligarch helping pay for a wedding for Don Jr.'s wedding. My God. Who that's working with Trump, or Don Jr. would have thought that was a good idea? Should that be elected, too? Sure, I think so."
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