Trump should 'take stock' and 'own' election outcome, Sen. Tillis says

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina is publicly criticizing his own party's approach to President Donald Trump, arguing that GOP lawmakers have failed to act as a check on the White House. In a PBS NewsHour interview with Geoff Bennett about his new book, Tillis said Congress lacked a real back-and-forth with the administration, a problem he says he flagged to fellow Senate Republicans in April 2025. He believes voters were handed more change than they could absorb, and that this is now driving turnout against Republicans.

Tillis estimates at least 30 GOP senators share his private doubts about Trump but rarely push back, and he says he warned the president that moving too fast on the so-called Big Beautiful Bill could bring him two miserable years. He considers that legislation his clearest example of a missed chance, saying a simple extension of the 2017 tax cuts would have been a win, while its health care provisions became a liability. He also faults Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for how the war with Iran was carried out, saying Congress and the president failed to explain it, leaving voters focused on higher gas prices.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour →