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Thune Fires Back After President Trump’s Loyalty Jab on SAVE ACT Fight

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President Trump publicly turned up the heat on the Senate Majority Leader for neglecting to get the SAVE America Act passed.

Senator Thune has been feeling that pressure, as he himself admitted.

But he’s pushing back after President Trump straight up questioned whether he was the man for the job.

Still, Thune says he’s not at all worried about his relationship with the President.

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Today he insisted that reports to the contrary are wildly exaggerated.

And that’s even after the President left the question open as to whether John Thune should still hold the highest position in the Senate, as you can hear in this YouTube video uploaded by Forbes:

Thune offered up one primary piece of evidence to support his claim that he and the President are getting along great:

The President called him twice in a single day.  And then again the next day!

(Enter background squeals reminiscent of an 8-year-old girls’ slumber party discussing a shared crush on a boy.)

Here’s that clip from this morning from PBS News:

Thune simply chalked up the pressure to what he calls President Trump’s ‘business model’.

An approach that relies heavily on constantly increasing pressure to leverage an outcome.

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Anyone who has watched the President accomplish what everyone else thinks is impossible would probably agree — that’s definitely part of his secret sauce!

But Thune is using that line of reasoning to justify his DISMISSIVE attitude towards the SAVE America Act.

And… his dismissiveness towards the President, himself.

According to Thune, that’s just Trump being Trump — according to this coverage on the issue from Fox News:

The reports of President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s dead working relationship have been greatly exaggerated, the South Dakota Republican leader told Fox News Digital.

“I’ve heard from him twice this morning already. He called me over the weekend, and so there, you know, we talk, I don’t bother him, I’m not calling him every day,” Thune said in an interview.

Last week, Trump said, “We’re going to find out,” whether Thune was the man for the job to lead Senate Republicans, casting doubt on a critical relationship between him and the Senate’s top Republican.

The tension stems from the SAVE America Act floundering in the Senate, and Trump’s desire to see the election integrity package passed by any means necessary.

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“We have those candid conversations, but I’m not worried about that relationship,” he continued. “I know he’s going to push as hard as he can. That’s his business model, is to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get people to go as far as they can go.”

“This place was supposed to be difficult, so that no dictator could master it, and I think that’s kind of the role of the Senate in our system and our democracy,” Thune said.  (Emphasis added.)

Excuse me?

I don’t mean to put words in Thune’s mouth, but did he just pivot from the question by insinuating that President Trump is leaning towards being a dictator for pushing so hard for the SAVE America Act?

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And did he then articulate that he sees it as his job — the Senate’s job as a whole — to limit President Trump?

I thought the Senate’s job was to represent the STATES in the US Congress!?  (That hasn’t been true for a long time — but that’s a completely different story for a later time.)

Maybe I’m reading too much into things, but I’m having a hard time understanding Thune’s response as quoted in the above article any other way than defending his INTENTIONAL THWARTING of President Trump’s most important agenda!

Keep in mind, it was less than two weeks ago that President Trump called on Americans to “call John Thune” to “get this stuff approved”:

So, maybe there’s motive for some Trump-hating TDS from Thune; how dare the President CALL ON THUNE to do his job!

Meanwhile, just this morning…

Thune spent more than 2 minutes highlighting the biggest items on his agenda for the Senate right now — all good things.

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With ne’er a mention of the SAVE America Act.

But he DID mention the planned recess that will kick off at the end of the week.

Here’s that clip, PROUDLY shared by Thune himself:

Speaking of that impending Senate recess —

President Trump has already taken his stance on that, last week:

Here’s the full text of the President’s call to:

  1. CANCEL THE SENATE RECESS
  2. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER
  3. PASS THE SAVE AMERICA ACT
  4. ETC!

John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to “leave town” until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of, including a full and deep throated SAVE AMERICA ACT, the Budget, and the ever looming Debt Ceiling disaster, 1929! The Dumocrats will do it on day one, and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH! President DJT

So while Thune is smiling for the cameras, pretending President Trump is in reality perfectly happy with him…

President Trump is warning that the window to actually save the country is closing, and rightly calling Thune out for letting it happen.

But it seems as though precious few ‘Republican’ Senators — EVEN WITH A MAJORITY! — are actually willing to stand up and push through President Trump’s critical agenda in the way of the SAVE America Act, as reported on Sunday by CNN:

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While the two have never been personally close, with the mild-mannered Thune far different in style than the mercurial and combative president, they were in much more frequent communication at the start of Trump’s second term, according to senators and people who know both.

Tensions have grown in recent weeks, as Trump has publicly taken shots at Thune’s stewardship of the chamber. Trump riled up MAGA Republicans to direct their ire at the GOP leader to pass the president’s “SAVE America Act” — even though the Senate has already rejected the voting restrictions bill.

The gulf is only set to widen with the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally and confidant of both men, according to GOP senators. Graham, a golf partner of Trump’s and a very close friend of Thune’s, was a “linchpin” between the two, one of the senators said.

“We need to be talking up the wins, talking about how crazy Democrats are, and instead we are knifing each other,” the senator said.

The relationship between the two men is poised to hit an inflection point as the Senate stares down a five-week recess beginning at this week’s end. Trump has demanded that his “SAVE America Act” pass before senators leave.

Trump’s frustration with Thune and his GOP leadership team are shared by the MAGA wing in Congress, which is planning to force a vote this week that would prevent the Senate from adjourning for the summer. Roughly a dozen Republicans support it, according to one person briefed on the discussions.

Trump-aligned senators, like Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, warn Thune that it would be an “enormous mistake” to adjourn without acting on Trump’s demand to move his agenda through the budget process. (Emphasis added.)

While researching this story, something happened that has become a regular occurrence for me.

I stumbled on one of those nuggets of golden foresight put out by the late and great Charlie Kirk:

Here’s a full screen version of that clip for easier viewing:

Charlie knew what Republicans were getting with Thune as Senate Majority Leader.

I only wish enough people had read the handwriting on the wall in advance.

If they had, maybe we wouldn’t be fighting REPUBLICAN SENATORS as the primary blockage on everything that really matters during the current Trump presidency.


 

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