{"id":650,"date":"2026-06-24T16:13:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=650"},"modified":"2026-06-24T16:13:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:13:02","slug":"thom-tillis-regrets-his-vote-to-confirm-pete-hegseth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=650","title":{"rendered":"Thom Tillis Regrets His Vote to Confirm Pete Hegseth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Senator Thom Tillis expressed regret over his deciding vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pointing to a \u201csophomoric sort of execution\u201d at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Is Punting on the Housing Bill Congress Spent Months Trying to Pass<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just had so many misstarts,\u201d Tillis said on the On NOTUS podcast<\/span>. \u201cWhat he\u2019s done with the press corps, his sort of bravado when he goes into NATO meetings, his wanting to change the name to the Department of War.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just doesn\u2019t have the experience,\u201d the North Carolina Republican added.<\/p>\n

Hegseth was confirmed in a 51-50 Senate vote after a contentious hearing<\/u><\/span> in January 2025 that included allegations of alcohol abuse and mismanagement<\/u><\/span> at veterans groups, which Tillis said he should have considered before his vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I deferred when I could not find any second eyewitness corroborated testimony for some of these allegations that came out,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cIf I had, I would never have supported him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis also expressed concern over the 60-day timeline in the framework President Donald Trump signed<\/u><\/span> with Iran, which he believes is too little time to negotiate a lasting deal that would justify the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need something that can last for a generation here, and they need to do the work and stop coming up to arbitrary deadlines that seem to be more than market signaling to take some of the edge off the headwinds that we have economically,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cIf all we did was go home today and \u2026 we see a depleted Iran, but we have no long-term commitments, it was an absolute waste of life, time and treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis said that he supported President Trump\u2019s launch of the campaign against Iran, but is concerned the president may have been misinformed about its risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever told the president that you were going to obliterate the military, obliterate the nuclear program, and obliterate any chance that they would ever have nuclear materials should be fired,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cIf somebody told the president that was within the realm of possible, I hope to hell they don\u2019t have a job any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Senate Republicans Will Try to Tell Trump to Focus on the Midterms<\/a><\/p>\n

A day before Trump\u2019s lunch with the Senate Republican Conference, Tillis said the White House needs to accept that the SAVE America Act, the conservative voting bill pushed by the president, does not have the votes to pass, and urged a united political front to help Republicans in tough campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not going to be a SAVE [America] Act in this Congress. Period. Why are we spending another minute about it talking publicly? Because it\u2019s not going to get there,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cThe best thing we can do between now and November is focus on all the good things that we\u2019ve gotten done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis blamed Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has publicly clashed with Senate Majority Leader John Thune over the feasibility of passing the president\u2019s agenda in the Senate and for stoking internal divisions instead of helping the party move its agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cName the biggest and most significant piece of legislation that Mike Lee himself has singularly viewed as leading the charge, because there isn\u2019t any,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cMike Lee needs to stop worrying about the follows at his social media page and take legislating seriously for once in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis also reiterated his opposition to President Trump\u2019s anti-weaponization fund ahead of his Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche\u2019s confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate the 1776 fund. It\u2019s a political loser. It\u2019s bad policy, drop it,\u201d Tillis said. s\u201cIf we can\u2019t get rid of it, I guess the people who are reputed to be prosecuted for 10 years for messing with the lining of the reflecting pool may have a restitution fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Tries a New Tactic to Change Election Rules<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The retiring North Carolina Republican senator said Hegseth \u201cjust doesn\u2019t have the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senate"],"yoast_head":"\nThom Tillis Regrets His Vote to Confirm Pete Hegseth - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=650\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thom Tillis Regrets His Vote to Confirm Pete Hegseth - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The retiring North Carolina Republican senator said Hegseth \u201cjust doesn\u2019t have the experience.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=650\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-24T16:13:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Thom Tillis Regrets His Vote to Confirm Pete Hegseth\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-24T16:13:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650\"},\"wordCount\":673,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5ec9070ab47d0b326e36c7217a0aabd5-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Senate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650\",\"name\":\"Thom Tillis Regrets His Vote to Confirm Pete Hegseth - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5ec9070ab47d0b326e36c7217a0aabd5-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-24T16:13:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=650#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5ec9070ab47d0b326e36c7217a0aabd5-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5ec9070ab47d0b326e36c7217a0aabd5-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Sen. 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