Senator Thom Tillis said he was “thrilled” after President Donald Trump labeled him a “loser” this week, a reaction that quickly drew attention on Capitol Hill. The exchange followed Tillis’s criticism of senior administration officials and highlighted a growing public rift between the North Carolina Republican and the White House.
As detailed by The Hill, Tillis told reporters that Trump’s insult could actually bolster his credentials. He joked that being branded a loser by the president made him qualified to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security or as a senior White House adviser.
The remark was aimed directly at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, both of whom Tillis has criticized over their handling of a fatal law enforcement encounter in Minnesota.
Tillis turns Trump’s insult into a jab at DHS leadership
Trump’s criticism came after Tillis joined other lawmakers in calling for Noem to resign, casting his remarks into the broader context of reported legislative tensions over department priorities like funding and operations, including the ongoing fallout from a GOP drawing a red line on DHS funding bill and hints at consequences. The dispute centers on the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, an incident that has drawn scrutiny over how federal officials described what happened.
In the hours after the shooting, Miller and Noem publicly claimed Pretti intended to harm federal agents, though no evidence was presented. Miller described Pretti on X as an “assassin” who tried to murder agents, while Noem told reporters the 37-year-old committed an act of domestic terrorism.
Video footage of the encounter appears to contradict those assertions. The recording shows Pretti filming Border Patrol agents on a cellphone before he was pushed to the ground, disarmed, and shot multiple times.
Earlier this week, Tillis called Noem’s comments “disqualifying” and said her handling of the situation should cost her the job, a sentiment echoed in coverage of agents involved in Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting, who are put on leave, and the Trump administration’s response is raising eyebrows. He described the response as amateurish and warned that such rhetoric undermines the credibility of federal officers.
He reiterated that view on Wednesday, arguing that senior officials were making conditions more dangerous for agents in the field. Tillis said their statements were discrediting law enforcement and creating unnecessary risk through what he described as incompetence.
Trump responded Tuesday by calling Tillis and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski “losers,” noting that both had pushed for Noem’s removal. He added that Murkowski was “gone” and that Tillis should be gone as well.
Tillis is not running for reelection in November, a decision that has coincided with his increased willingness to break publicly with the administration. In recent months, he voted against a major GOP tax and spending bill and questioned the Justice Department’s credibility in its probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
On Thursday, Tillis praised border czar Tom Homan for pledging to fix immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. He shared a clip of Homan’s press conference on X and contrasted it with Noem and Miller’s handling of the incident.
Published: Jan 29, 2026 04:45 pm