As Trump Threatened a Primary, a G.O.P. Holdout on Hegseth Flipped
The New York Times
Before Senator Thom Tillis voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, he worked with accusers to make the case against him in a bid to get G.O.P. leaders to scrap the vote altogether.
Four days after President Trump was sworn in for his second term, his nominee for defense secretary was teetering on the brink of defeat on the Senate floor, and the president was on Air Force One talking about political retribution.
Mr. Trump had gotten word that Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, planned to oppose Pete Hegseth, the former “Fox & Friends” weekend host who was his choice for Pentagon chief, and who faced accusations of excessive drinking and abusing women. If Mr. Tillis could not be brought to heel by that night, there would be enough Republican “no” votes to sink Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation, a humiliating defeat at the dawn of Mr. Trump’s second term.
Turning to a group of North Carolina lawmakers who were flying with him to survey storm damage in their state, Mr. Trump noted Mr. Tillis’s impending defection and posed a question: Which of them wanted his endorsement for a primary challenge to the senator next year?
The implication was clear: Mr. Tillis’s refusal to back Mr. Hegseth could cost him his seat. By that night, Mr. Tillis, who had been toiling behind the scenes for days to kill Mr. Hegseth’s nomination so he could avoid having to publicly cross Mr. Trump, would vote to confirm Mr. Hegseth to control the most powerful military force in the world.
The story of Mr. Tillis’s secret effort to persuade fellow Republicans to join him in opposing Mr. Hegseth — and his sudden turnabout when it became clear he would be the deciding vote to defeat the nominee — is a tale of political calculation and capitulation by a single G.O.P. senator.
But it also helps explain a broader dynamic at play with Mr. Trump back in the White House, as Republicans in Congress, fearful of reprisal by the president and his supporters, have put aside grave reservations and surrendered to his demands.
