Senator Thom Tillis wants to have it both ways.

He wants MAGA Republicans to think he’s a loyal Trump foot soldier.

He wants swing voters to think he’s an effective, independent voice.

But, no matter what he does, he can’t escape Trump.

His political fate in 2026 is lashed to Trump’s like Ahab to the whale.

Tillis admitted as much in his remarks on Trump’s tariffs this week, when he asked, “Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?”

Brian Murphy at WRAL reported: “He said the administration does not have a lot of time to convince the American people. Tillis said that by February 2026 voters will be readying their verdict, and Republican voters could be some of those most impacted.”

Tillis said at a Senate hearing, “Do you believe that over the course of the next 14 months, we’re going to have a level of certainty and the people in the trailer park that I grew up in, who are going to bear the brunt of some of these short-term cost increases, maybe some job displacement for a period of time? How are they going to be feeling on Groundhog Day 2026?”

Tillis might have been talking about himself.

How he’s feeling on Groundhog Day 2026 – and Primary Day and Election Day 2026 – rests on the caprices of a man Tillis knows is unsteady, unprincipled, unpredictable and untethered to reality.

Tillis no doubt breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Trump backed down on tariffs.

But today he’s no doubt holding his breath and wondering: what next?

North Carolinians are left wondering about Tillis.

Will he sit back and be a passive observer, hoping for the best and trying to have it both ways?

Or will he stand up to Trump?

What will Tillis put first: his own political future or our nation’s future?