Sen. Thom Tillis (File Photo: Screengrab from C-Span)

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis has a longstanding reputation for giving hints he’ll do the right thing on important issues and then, when the chips are down, chickening out and caving into pressure from the far right.

Sadly, it happened again last week as the Senate considered the nomination of Fox News talking head Pete Hegseth, to lead the Department of Defense.

As the Wall Street Journal reported, Tillis assured Hegseth’s former sister-in-law that that if she signed a statement testifying that she believed her former brother-in-law has an alcohol abuse problem and was abusive to his second wife, it would lead him and two other GOP senators to vote ‘no’ and thereby prevent Hegseth from being confirmed.

Of course, you know how this went. The other two senators did vote ‘no,’ but Tillis flipflopped and provided the deciding vote to confirm a deeply unqualified nominee.

The bottom line: To be a voice of reason and moderation in today’s Republican Party, it takes a healthy measure of courage and honesty. Senator Tillis continues to come up short in both categories.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.