The White House has responded to the explosive text messages that Sen. Thom Tillis sent to Donald Trump earlier this year, and the response is almost as remarkable as the messages themselves. But it's predictable for the Trump White House.
As we noted on Friday, Tillis told Trump in one text that he had never been directly threatened with a primary contest—and said that if Trump had actually made such a threat, he would have told him to “f*ck yourself”
Tillis’s messages, which are expected to appear in his upcoming book, showed the senator bluntly rejecting Trump’s attacks and political pressure. In one message, Tillis told Trump that he did not take “bullshit” from anyone and warned that the country was failing. In another, he said that if Trump had personally threatened him with a primary rival, he would have told the president to “fuck yourself” and immediately announced his retirement.
“I don’t take this bullsh*t from anyone, including you,” Tillis wrote, adding that Trump should save the threats and games for people who didn't care whether he succeeded.
“I care if you fail,” Tillis added, “and right now we are failing.”
A senior White House official accused the retiring North Carolina Republican of making a “pussy move” by confronting Trump via text rather than saying it directly to his face, Politico's Playbook reports.
“Looks like a pussy move to send a text instead of actually saying it to someone’s face. Shows what kind of character he is,” a senior White House official told Playbook’s Megan Messerly.
Now the White House is firing back, arguing that Tillis should have delivered those words in person. Noticeably, no one in the White House called it a "pussy move" to Tillis's face. It's just another case of projection
