North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis confirmed that a profane text message he sent President Donald Trump on June 6, 2026, is authentic, telling the president that if he had ever directly threatened a primary challenge against him, Tillis would have told him to f--- himself. The exchange is one of several previously private clashes detailed in Tillis's new memoir, which hits shelves Tuesday.
The Independent reported on the text messages, citing Politico Playbook's earlier reporting that Tillis had also messaged Trump on May 22, 2026, warning simply that we are failing. According to The News & Observer, Tillis denied that Trump had ever directly threatened him with a primary challenge, and said that if Trump had done so, he would have announced his retirement immediately rather than wait. Per Politico's original reporting on the exchange, Tillis sent the June 6 message directly to Trump.
The feud traces back to Tillis's decision in December 2024 to seek a third Senate term, a plan he abandoned in June 2025. The News & Observer reports that Tillis has said he dropped out of the race so he could vote his conscience without reelection politics weighing on him, a decision that followed his vote against procedural advancement of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
A Retirement Triggered by Medicaid and a Truth Social Threat
Tillis announced he would not seek re-election on June 29, 2025, one day after that procedural vote, and after Trump threatened on Truth Social to back a primary candidate against him, as detailed by The Guardian. Tillis was one of only two Republican senators to oppose the bill in that procedural vote. The News & Observer notes that the legislation would affect North Carolina Medicaid recipients beginning in 2028, and according to Big Country News, Tillis grounded his opposition in projections of roughly $32 billion in long-term Medicaid costs falling on North Carolina's state budget, with researchers warning the rollback could hit rural hospitals hard.
Trump did not let the breakup go quietly. The News & Observer reports that, per The Hill, Trump said on June 5, 2026, that Tillis was not respected in the Senate and had quit after Trump declined to support him, along with posting that people wanted to run against Tillis in the primary and that he was seeking a replacement candidate.
The $1.776 Billion Fight Over a January 6 Payout
At the center of the latest dispute is a $1.776 billion settlement fund created to compensate people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden's presidency, per the News & Observer's reporting. Tillis publicly condemned the proposed fund during Senate debates in May 2026, calling it a payout pot for punks, according to CBS News.
Tillis had expressed concern about Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general, and Blanche was serving as interim attorney general when the settlement creating the fund was established, the News & Observer reports. Tillis ultimately voted to confirm Blanche only after receiving assurances that the $1.776 billion fund was dead. Acting Attorney General Blanche followed through on August 2, 2026, issuing a formal order rescinding the fund after Tillis and Texas Sen. John Cornyn had withheld support for his confirmation, according to a Medium account of the episode.
60 Minutes Appearance Amplifies Cabinet Criticism
Tillis took his grievances to a national television audience Sunday, telling 60 Minutes that without legislative checks on executive power, the country risks ending up with a sort of dictator king. In that same interview, Tillis called Homeland Security figure Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth poster children for men and women who should never have the authority they've been granted.
Tillis's history with Hegseth predates the book. He had threatened to block Hegseth's confirmation as defense secretary in January 2025 over sexual assault allegations before Vice President JD Vance persuaded him to support Hegseth, who was ultimately confirmed in a 51-50 vote with Vance casting the tie-breaker, according to Wikipedia's account of the confirmation. Speaking on MS NOW's Morning Joe in August 2026, Tillis said his book is meant to expose Trump advisers who have never worked a day in business yet hold major decision-making roles without giving the president honest advice, per the Carolina Journal.
Book Hits Shelves as Tillis's Seat Becomes a Marquee Race
HarperCollins is releasing Tillis's memoir, titled How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents: The Trouble with Sycophants, Courage Outsourcing, and Partisan Groupthink, through its Broadside Books imprint Tuesday. The publisher's preview places Stephen Miller, Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on the cover, and HarperCollins describes the 224-page book as a critique of key figures in Trump's second administration.
Tillis's retirement has already reshaped North Carolina politics, leaving an open Senate seat that Hoodline previously reported has become one of the most competitive battlegrounds in the country, pitting former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley against former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. The race has drawn visits from both Trump and Vance as both parties fight to fill the seat Tillis is leaving behind.
