Republican Sen. Tillis calls his vote for Hegseth the 'biggest regret of my career' in a new book

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says his vote to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in January 2025 was the “biggest regret of my career,” and that he also “should’ve stopped” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from becoming Health and Human Services secretary early in President Donald Trump’s second term. In the book How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents, published Tuesday, the North Carolina senator argues he was reluctant to be a lone blocker of Trump nominees. Tillis writes he was skeptical of allegations about Hegseth’s management, treatment of women, and drinking—charges Hegseth denied—while also warning of a slide toward authoritarianism and predicting a Republican “bloodbath” in November’s midterms.