Well, howdy there, internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about Tillis and North Carolina being in play now.

Unlike most Republicans, Senator Tom Tillis refused to settle out the rural parts of his state and those most in need.

Trump lashed out. Tillillis said he's voting

against Trump's bill and then said he won't be seeking re-election. So the obvious question is

whether this is fear, a case of pettiness, or is it something else? The common read is that

Tillis is afraid of Trump's promised primary.

That seems unlikely.

He's been in politics for almost 20 years.

He was very successful at state-level politics before making the jump to the Senate.

He was Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2011 until he moved

to the U.S. Senate in 2015. He's been through tough elections before. I'm not buying he dropped out

over a primary. Then there's the idea that it's just pettiness on the part of Tillis.

Trump lashed out at him, and he knows that by dropping out, it creates an open seat.

Incumbents have name recognition and therefore have an advantage.

By surrendering the Republican Party's incumbency, he hurt the Republican Party as a whole.

The North Carolina Senate race is now a toss-up.

But hurting the Republican Party doesn't match his rhetoric as a whole.

Tillis said, quote,

This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage

for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population, and even reducing critical services

for those in the traditional Medicaid population. He also said he liked most of the bill,

...