Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is retiring from Washington — but apparently not before predicting disaster for the party that put him there.
In a new interview, the North Carolina senator said he expects Republicans to take a “whoop-ass” in the November midterms.
He even told the interviewer that he has Election Day labeled that way on his personal countdown clock.
That is quite a send-off from a two-term Republican who will not have his own name on the ballot.
The most important evidence is not somebody else’s summary. It is Tillis speaking for himself in the interview featured on Apple Podcasts.
Tillis argued that bad ideas become a bigger problem when they turn into actual policy. He then pointed directly to November and predicted a punishing result for his own party.
The episode was built around Tillis’s new book, his decision to leave the Senate and his view of the Republican Party after more than a decade in office.
During the diner conversation in Charlotte, he discussed his votes for Trump nominees, the people surrounding the president and what he thinks future Republican leaders must do differently after an election he believes will punish the party.
That broader context matters because the “whoop-ass” line was part of a sustained argument about GOP leadership, policy and the consequences Tillis expects voters to impose.
The prediction was deliberate, recorded and tied to his theory of why Republicans are losing ground.
Watch the retiring senator deliver the warning in his own words:
The full interview description published by RealClearPolitics makes clear that Tillis was not offering a single offhand line.
He used the conversation to criticize President Trump’s advisers, complain about Cabinet choices and demand more independence from the president inside the Republican Party.
In other words, this was a broad indictment from an outgoing senator who now feels free to attack the direction of the GOP on his way out the door.
Tillis also argued that changing the people around Trump could change the decisions coming out of the White House. He rejected impeachment, acknowledged that Trump will remain who he is and portrayed the president’s advisers as the practical pressure point for preventing policies he believes are politically damaging.
The interview therefore mixed an election prediction with a demand for a personnel overhaul and a warning that Republicans need more distance from Trump when they disagree with him.
It was a political argument aimed squarely at the party Tillis is leaving behind in January.
There is nothing wrong with warning your party when it is in danger.
But there is a difference between sounding the alarm and sounding almost delighted by the prospect of watching your own side get crushed.
Tillis has been building toward this moment for days.
WRAL reported that he warned of a Republican “bloodbath” at an energy conference in Cary, North Carolina, and accused Republicans in Congress of repeatedly surrendering their institutional power to the executive branch.
He also said it was almost statistically impossible for Republicans to keep the House, while holding out somewhat more hope for the Senate.
The remarks came before Tuesday’s “whoop-ass” clip and show that Tillis had already settled on the same bleak message.
WRAL said the senator expected to spend the days after the election reaching out to Republicans he considers sane in order to discuss how the party could recover. That is a remarkable posture for a Republican senator in the final stretch of a national campaign: he is planning the autopsy before voters have cast the final ballots.
That warning matters because Tillis’s own open North Carolina seat is one of the contests that could decide control of the chamber.
His retirement removed the advantage of a Republican incumbent and left the GOP defending a competitive seat at the same time it is fighting close races across the country.
The battlefield is undeniably tight.
A same-day election model offered Republicans one small piece of encouragement in Ohio, keeping GOP Sen. Jon Husted narrowly favored over Democrat Sherrod Brown despite the race moving toward toss-up territory:
BREAKING: Incumbent Jon Husted is still favored to win against Sherrod Brown in Ohio’s special Senate election.
Ohio – 2026 Senate (odds)
Jon Husted* 53.8%
Sherrod Brown 46.2%
Projected Margin:R+0.7
Husted is occupying current Vice President JD Vance’s former seat after he resigned in January 2025.
— Election Time (@ElectionTime_) October 20, 2026
Yet a fresh Marist survey pointed in the opposite direction, putting Brown ahead among likely Ohio voters while still calling the contest close enough for a Republican victory.
That is the real picture Republicans face: winnable races, but almost no margin for unforced errors.
The Associated Press recently reported that Tillis used his new memoir to call his deciding vote for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the biggest regret of his career.
The book also revisits Tillis’s votes for other Trump nominees and his battles with the administration, turning his final months in office into a public accounting of decisions he now regrets.
Tillis announced in June 2025 that he would not seek another term, one day after opposing a procedural vote on Trump’s major tax-and-spending package. Trump celebrated the retirement announcement and called it good news, closing the door on what had already become a hostile political relationship.
The memoir and the interviews now let Tillis make his case without worrying about another Republican primary or another six-year term.
That history gives voters useful context for the media tour.
Tillis is doing more than handicapping an election. He is settling scores, defending his legacy and explaining why he believes the Republican Party is headed for trouble.
Some Republicans will agree with parts of his diagnosis.
What they will not appreciate is a retiring senator putting “whoop-ass” on the calendar as if a GOP defeat were a party worth celebrating.
If Tillis truly wants Republicans to recover, the useful move would be to help candidates win close races and give voters a compelling reason to turn out.
Predicting the wreck from the passenger seat is easy.
Fighting to prevent it is the job.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Worthless RINO Senator Predicts “Whoop-Ass” Midterm Loss For GOP appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
Continue reading...
[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
