One of the worst developments in politics over the last decade has been left-wing candidates for office creating "HQ" accounts on social media. Seemingly run by Gen-Z interns, these official campaign apparatuses do their best to "own" their opponents with a mix of snark, badly-edited videos, and corny memes. Who can forget the proliferation of "Dark Brandon" by the "Biden HQ" account?

With Biden's ouster from the race, that account was quickly turned into "Kamala HQ" and has only gotten worse. On Sunday, the vice president's handlers put out a post quoting Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (NC) about the politicization of Hurricane Helene. 

ALSO SEE: Speaker Johnson Levels Harris-Biden on Hurricane Helene Response

cc: @realdonaldtrump pic.twitter.com/xd9DjuLG3V

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 6, 2024

As Republicans go, Tillis isn't exactly a star among conservatives. He's often seen as too moderate and unwilling to stand up to Democrats on tough issues. In this case, he was doing what a lot of long-time GOP senators tend to do, which is make a statement of being "above it all" in the midst of what is going to be a political battle one way or the other.

Still, he didn't take too kindly to Harris using his quote out of context. In what may be the most animated I've ever seen him, Tillis blasted the vice president, stating that he was speaking about her. 

VP Harris: I was talking about politicians like YOU using this disaster for political posturing. Claiming to be “working around the clock” while you don’t even plug in your headphones for a staged photo-op. Where were YOU as Ft. Liberty troops were standing by for days? #ncpol https://t.co/azzKEA6yLx

— Thom Tillis (@ThomTillis) October 7, 2024

I'm not going to suddenly become a fan of Tillis, but the fact that he spoke out like this counts for something. The stakes of the 2024 election are becoming clearer. I don't expect Donald Trump and someone like Tillis to ever truly get along, but when the alternative is an administration run by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the time to shake hands and move on is now. 

Harris has repeatedly politicized Hurricane Helene, from making it about "climate change" to doing scripted photo-ops where she cosplays as president. Meanwhile, on the ground, people are suffering while the federal government once again lags in its response. There are real stakes in this election that go far past personality and tactical disagreements. Tillis appears to understand that, at least on the level necessary to speak out against Harris and her dishonest gotcha attempts. 

With all that said, I will ask this about Tillis' quote: What was the point? I get that some Republicans like to be seen as statesmen who don't participate in political romps. That's not the real world, though. As I said above, this was always going to be a political issue. The only question was whether the GOP had the guts to fight back and win the argument. Kamala Harris and the Democrats were never going to stand back and not politicize Helene.