Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) didn’t hold back in private texts to President Donald Trump earlier this year, telling him flatly that he wouldn’t tolerate the president’s “bulls—” and that a direct primary threat would have gotten Trump told to “f— yourself,” according to messages obtained by Politico Playbook that will appear in Tillis’s upcoming book.
Screenshots provided to Playbook show Tillis writing to Trump on May 22: “I still want to help but I don’t take this bulls— from anyone, including you Mr. President. Save that s— for cowards who don’t care if you fail. I care if you fail and right now we are failing.”
Tillis, who announced his retirement from the Senate earlier this year, went further in a June 6 text, insisting Trump had never actually threatened him with a primary challenge — and warning what would’ve happened if he had. “As I have said before, you NEVER threatened me with a primary challenge,” Tillis wrote. “I get that you may have me confused with so many Republicans that you have threatened in the past, but NEVER me.”
He continued: “If you had ever threatened me directly with a primary, I would have immediately told you to f— yourself, and I would have announced my retirement immediately.” Tillis closed the message with a parting shot: “Save those threats and head games for cowards and fools.”
The exchanges will appear in Tillis’s forthcoming memoir, “How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents: The Trouble with Sycophants, Courage Outsourcing, and Partisan Groupthink,” out next week.
Politico did not publish Trump’s replies or the messages that prompted Tillis’s outbursts. The texts add fresh detail to a public feud that has simmered between the two men for months, with Tillis repeatedly breaking from Trump on the Senate floor even as his party has tried to paper over the rift.
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