Thom Tillis fails at ultimate dodge when asked to defend Trump's wild claim
Tillis responded indirectly to Trump’s claim about crime in North Carolina and declined to comment on Blanche’s participation in a campaign event.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYAlternet is an opinion-oriented publisher, so its institutional credibility is below that of a general-news outlet. This article names its author and attributes key data and reporting to Spectrum News and the FBI, though the article itself offers limited sourcing detail.
- Source type — Opinion-oriented publisher; this is a strong reason to score below established general-news outlets.
- Transparency — It attributes crime rankings to Spectrum News and FBI data, but provides limited detail about the underlying material.
- Author attribution — The article identifies an individual author.
The article cites Spectrum News and FBI crime data and includes responses from Tillis and Blanche. Its treatment is brief and mainly critical, with limited sourcing detail or additional context beyond the cited rankings and statements.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The article includes Tillis’s answers and statements from Trump and Blanche, but its narrative is primarily critical and offers little further context or defense of their claims.
- Counterarguments presented — Tillis, Trump, and Blanche are quoted or paraphrased, but the article does not develop a defense of the claim.
- Loaded language — Terms such as “squirming,” “wildly inaccurate,” and “dodged” signal a critical perspective.
- Source diversity — The article relies on statements from the political figures and on Spectrum News and FBI data, but adds little independent context.
The article uses critical framing toward Trump’s crime claim and Tillis’s responses, and emphasizes evidence that undercuts the claim. Its selection and presentation of facts support a left-leaning framing.
- Framing — Centers the story on the failure to directly challenge Trump’s claim.
- Language tone — Describes Tillis as dodging and Trump’s claim as wildly inaccurate.
- Source selection — Uses crime rankings and Blanche’s contrasting statement to challenge the claim, without comparable supporting evidence for Trump’s characterization.
After Donald Trump called North Carolina one of the country’s most violent states, Sen. Thom Tillis avoided directly challenging the claim and also declined to comment on Attorney General Todd Blanche’s appearance at a campaign event. The article contrasts Trump’s claim with crime rankings and Blanche’s more positive assessment of the state.
The article reports that Trump made the crime claim at a rally for Senate candidate Michael Whatley and blamed the state’s fortunes on former Gov. Roy Cooper. Asked about the claim, Tillis pointed to the states at the top of a crime ranking and their governors rather than directly criticizing Trump. Spectrum News, citing the FBI’s most recent crime data, placed North Carolina at 21st; the article also notes that six of the ten highest-ranked states were entirely Republican-led.
Tillis also declined to comment when asked whether Blanche should participate in Trump’s campaign events. The article says Blanche spoke before Trump at the North Carolina event, describing the state as “ground zero for exactly what is working” and saying, “Communities are safer.”
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SWIPE →North Carolina senator questioned about Trump’s crime claim and Blanche’s campaign-event appearance
Attorney general who appeared at Trump’s North Carolina campaign event
President who made the crime claim at a campaign rally
North Carolina Senate candidate whose campaign rally Trump attended
Former North Carolina governor and Whatley’s Senate opponent
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