Tillis Goes Way Beyond Hegseth

Thom Tillis has made clear he thinks Pete Hegseth is a disaster.

But now Tillis is attacking the Trump administration on at least four separate fronts simultaneously — ranging from taxpayer money to Senate candidates to foreign policy.

This is a senator who has decided he's done playing nice.

'$1.8 Billion to Pay Cop-Beaters' — His Words, Basically

The sharpest new attack came on the DOJ's freshly announced "anti-weaponization" fund. According to Spectrum News, the Justice Department created the nearly $1.8 billion fund this week, tied to a $10 billion lawsuit President Trump filed over an IRS contractor leaking his tax returns.

The stated purpose: compensate people who believe they were politically targeted.

Tillis's concern: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a Senate hearing on Tuesday, refused to rule out payments to people who assaulted police officers on January 6, were convicted, and then pardoned by Trump.

Blanche's actual words: people can apply if "they believe they were a victim of weaponization."

Tillis called that "stupid on stilts."

His full quote to Spectrum News: "It will invariably put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned and now we are going to pay them for that. That's absurd."

He didn't stop there. "When you take money from me to give to a purpose that I vehemently disagree with, that's tyranny."

Then he went after his own party directly: "What we're doing as Republicans now, the Democrats have been for years, yelling defund the police and disrupting the police. Now we're looking no different than them."

Tillis, a Republican senator, comparing his own party to the Defund the Police movement.

Ken Paxton: 'An Anchor on the GOP Senate'

Tillis didn't stop at spending. According to The Hill, he weighed in hard on the Texas Senate race, where President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican runoff.

Tillis called Paxton a "failure" and said he would be an "anchor" dragging down the GOP Senate majority.

Cornyn is part of Senate Republican leadership. Trump's endorsement of Paxton — a man who faced impeachment from a Republican-controlled Texas House in 2023 — is a direct challenge to the Senate's own institutional interests.

Tillis is essentially telling Republican voters: Trump's pick here is bad for your team, not just bad policy.

Iran Deal: He's a No

Tillis also said he will NOT support the emerging Iran deal based on what he currently understands it to include.

This adds Tillis to a growing list of Republican senators skeptical of the administration's Iran negotiations. But Tillis's opposition carries extra weight given how loudly he's been willing to speak publicly on other issues.

And Then There's Still Hegseth

Tillis also told The Hill that Hegseth makes former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — who departed DHS earlier this year — look like a "five-star recruit" by comparison.

Noem was widely mocked for her performance at DHS. Saying Hegseth makes her look good is a specific calibration of how poorly Tillis views the defense secretary.

The Bottom Line

Tillis is up for reelection this year in 2026. He has room to operate. And he's using it.

The $1.8 billion DOJ fund is the story that should have every fiscal conservative paying attention — regardless of their views on January 6.

The federal government potentially cutting checks to convicted criminals who attacked law enforcement officers, funded by taxpayers, with a sitting deputy attorney general refusing to rule it out under oath — that's significant.

Tillis is one of the few Republicans saying it publicly. Whether other GOP lawmakers follow remains to be seen.