Happy Monday and welcome to another episode of the Chuck Toddcast. So here we are. It is

Independence Birthday Week for America. And wow, do we have a lot of things to talk about before we

get to the actual 249th birthday. I'll be coming at you at least one more time before before our 249th birthday. But we have a big

week before everybody leaves Washington to celebrate said 249th birthday. But you know, we don't look

a day over 247, do we? But I digress. Look, the big news, obviously, in many ways politically, yes, you have the president trying to just jam through whatever bill he can get out of Congress.

And I got a lot to say about how that's working out.

It's not going to be working out so well politically.

And how do we know?

Because we had a gigantic announcement that has shaken up the battle for control of the Senate in 2026.

Tom Tillis, Republican Senator from North Carolina, a two-termer got elected in 2014,

ousting an incumbent Democrat at the time, has decided not to seek re-election.

Now, he's been decidedly non-Maga that goes back to the first term.

And he was somebody that publicly challenged Donald Trump in his first term a couple of times,

didn't go all the way into voting to convict Donald Trump, like his then partner in the U.S.

Senate, Richard Burr did, who was one of the people devoted to convict him after the second impeachment. But Tom Tillis did put it in the U.S. Senate, Richard Burr did, who was one of the people devoted to

convict him after the second impeachment. But Tom Tillis did push back, particularly on the president's

overuse of national emergencies in order to usurp power from Congress. And we saw all year long,

as soon as Trump got into office, Tillis has been, because it's a reelection year number one, but he's been sort of one of the skeptical Republicans struggling to rally around Trump.

He was always trying to get there, whether it was on personnel, Pete Hegseth.

He was going to vote against Pete Hegseth and the harassment that he faced, that his family

faced, just like what happened to Joni Ernst, when she was attacked, when it looked like

she was going to come out against Hegseth.

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