Tillis tells Trump to 'take stock' and 'own' midterm losses, says House is lost

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said President Trump should 'take stock' and 'own some of the outcome' ahead of Tuesday's midterm election. He spoke to PBS NewsHour host Geoff Bennett about his new book, 'How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents.' ¹

Tillis said he still hopes Republicans can keep a slim Senate majority. But he said, 'I believe that the House is lost,' adding that the only open question is the size of the margins. ¹

On tapePBS NewsHour · Oct 30

▶11:43

But the president needs to own some of the outcome for next week. We need to learn from it and improve.

He rejected the idea that the losses are about individual candidates. If the president thinks so, Tillis said, 'he's got it completely wrong.' He said the cause is a national environment created 'in part by his administration.' ¹

A warning about Congress

Tillis said the book warns that Republican lawmakers are afraid to challenge Trump and that Congress is surrendering its power. ¹ He pointed to a letter he sent fellow Senate Republicans in April 2025. In it, he said, he warned that Congress needed to help shape the timing of policy. ¹

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He named the 2025 tax and spending law, which Tillis called the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' as the best example. Tillis said Republicans should have simply made the 2017 tax cuts permanent. Instead, they added health care changes that he said were the problematic portion of the bill. ¹

He said he told Trump that if Congress were not careful, the president was going to have two of the most miserable years of his life. ¹

Hegseth and the Iran war

Tillis put much of the blame for how the Iran war was carried out on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He said voters mostly think about the fact that filling up their gas tank has cost them $20, $30 more. ¹ He said he hopes Trump will fire Hegseth or move him on. ¹

Tillis has called his vote to confirm Hegseth the 'biggest regret of my career.' ² In the PBS interview he said he deferred to a unanimous Armed Services Committee vote. He also said he would vote the same way if given the same circumstances. ¹

Where Tillis stands

Tillis is retiring and has predicted a 'bloodbath' for Republicans in November. ² He mostly places blame on Trump's advisers, not the president. In his words, 'My beef is not with him, but the idiots he's got working for him.' ²

In the PBS interview, he said he thinks at least 30 Republican senators privately share his concerns. Bennett noted that the president's approval ratings are in the low 30s. ¹

That matters because it is an open admission from a sitting Republican senator, four days before voters decide. The test comes after Tuesday. If Republicans lose seats, it will show whether any of those senators speak up or stay quiet. ¹

The Record

1. Apr 1, 2025Tillis says he wrote Senate Republican colleagues in April 2025, warning that Congress needed a bigger role in shaping policy. ¹
2. Jan 24, 2025Hegseth is confirmed as defense secretary on a 50-50 Senate tie, broken by Vice President JD Vance. Tillis later calls his vote for Hegseth a regret. ²
3. Oct 30, 2026Tillis tells PBS NewsHour that Trump should 'take stock' and that he believes the House is lost. ¹

Sources

1. PBS NewsHour, “Trump should 'take stock' and 'own' election outcome, Sen. Tillis says” (2026-10-30). pbs.org/newshour/show/trump-should-take-stock-and-own-electi
2. The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Republican Sen. Thom Tillis's new book slams Trump's team, Hegseth and Kennedy” (2026-10-05). inquirer.com/politics/republican-senator-thom-tillis-book-sl

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