Is Tillis tempting a Trump tweet?

Better be careful there, Sen. Thom Tillis. A legislator who asserts his independence while President Donald Trump is in the White House does so at peril of getting rained on by the presidential precipitation known as a “tweetstorm.”

It hasn’t happened yet – and Tillis says a recent phone call was cordial – but North Carolina’s junior senator, a Trump supporter and generally a faithful follower of the Republican agenda, may yet hear a roar from Pennsylvania Avenue. Trump does not take kindly to criticism, and Tillis ...

Well, he co-sponsored legislation that would make it more difficult for the president to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who’s looking into the Trump-Russia connections and seems to be making the president more uncomfortable all the time. And, he’s defended his leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has been under fire from Trump, as well as former Sen. Jeff Sessions, the attorney general who’s also been sharply criticized by Trump.

One comforting thing from Tillis’ standpoint might be that the Trump critics in Washington are no longer a small group, and the group is likely to get bigger if the president’s approval ratings continue to decline as the 2018 election draws near.

Still, Tillis might want to wear his tweetstorm galoshes and jacket over the next few weeks. A Trump attack can be very soaking, we hear.

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Is Tillis tempting a Trump tweet?."