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\n

President Donald Trump is escalating his war of words against Senate Majority Leader John Thune. He\u2019s still not likely to get what he wants.<\/p>\n

Trump on Wednesday told rally-goers in Georgia to \u201ccall John Thune\u201d over the Senate GOP\u2019s inability to pass a partisan election bill, known as the SAVE America Act, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said the president\u2019s patience with the South Dakota Republican is \u201crunning out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if Trump\u2019s rhetoric is meant to drive Republican voters to the polls this fall -\u2013 and some allies believe it will only increase ahead of November — it does little to change the reality in the Senate, where the SAVE America Act still doesn\u2019t have the votes to pass. Instead, many Republicans on Thursday came to their leader\u2019s defense, acknowledging an unwinnable standoff between the president and their 53-seat majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea that he can just command members of the Republican conference to get in line is just a fantasy. So I think it’s unfair,\u201d said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who ran against Thune for majority leader in 2024 and then lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger earlier this year. \u201cI don’t know who it was that sold the president on this idea, that this was obtainable, but it’s creating a circular firing squad for Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) added: \u201cJohn can\u2019t put a gun to people\u2019s head and make them vote a particular way.\u201d<\/p>\n

It marks the latest turbulent moment between the president and Senate Republicans, after Trump last month ranted at GOP senators in a closed-door lunch<\/u><\/a>. They, in turn, have fumed several times this year about a lack of coordination from the White House.<\/p>\n

For months, Thune and other Republicans have privately tried to tell Trump, and allies in the White House, that the votes aren\u2019t there to pass the SAVE America Act \u2014 whether with the 60-vote threshold required for most legislation to advance or even if senators did away with the filibuster, which doesn\u2019t have the votes, either.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans have also stewed for months<\/u><\/a> that Trump remains fixated on attacking Republicans over the election bill rather than training his fury on Democrats who won\u2019t allow movement on other items in the president\u2019s legislative agenda.<\/p>\n

That message, however, appears to have fallen on deaf ears inside the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senate is a place you send things when you want them to die,\u201d Trump said at the Georgia rally. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to take this any longer, we\u2019re not going to take it. I\u2019m trying to be nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

A normally even-keeled Thune immediately pushed back when asked about Leavitt\u2019s comments, suggesting that the White House should \u201cget on the phone\u201d to lock in the needed votes instead of pointing fingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s 50 around here, and so instead of, you know, pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats. And if there are Republicans that they think are gettable, get on the phone,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

But Thune and Trump also need each other. Losing the Senate majority would be a catastrophic blow for Trump, with the House majority already in grave peril. At the same time, if Trump were to go nuclear on Thune, it would be a huge political headache for GOP senators, who would face pressure to pick sides and risk only further alienating base voters who they need.<\/p>\n

Shortly after his initial comments, Thune moved to lower the tension, saying he did not \u201cread a lot\u201d into Leavitt\u2019s comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a question she got, and she was responding to it,\u201d he said, adding that he and Trump have a \u201cfairly regular conversation\u201d but acknowledged it\u2019s \u201cmore on an as-needed basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House referred to Leavitt\u2019s and the president\u2019s latest comments in response to senators\u2019 saying they don\u2019t have the votes on SAVE America, despite Trump\u2019s pressure.<\/p>\n

But the volleys traded between the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue this week underscore how much of a sore point the election bill has become between the two men.<\/p>\n

Privately, some Senate Republicans believe Trump is lashing out at Thune because, unlike in the House where the president is able to muscle through just about anything with enough pressure, he is unable to get the Senate Republican Conference to bend to his every whim.<\/p>\n

That posture has been most prominent when it comes to protecting institutional norms against Trump\u2019s wrath, like the legislative filibuster and the blue slip precedent that allows the minority to block a lower-court judicial nominee from their home states.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow often has the House called in Trump to twist arms on votes? When he does it, he takes credit. The fact that Trump can\u2019t do it in the Senate is why they\u2019re blaming Thune,\u201d said one Senate GOP aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n

A second Senate GOP aide, also granted anonymity to discuss party dynamics, said Trump\u2019s pressure on Thune about the SAVE America Act is \u201cjust exhausting\u201d for Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat leverage does he have over the Senate? He\u2019s not spending the war chest because he\u2019s saving it for when the House impeaches him. Trump doesn\u2019t care about Congress at all,\u201d the aide said, referring to the $400 million sitting unspent in the MAGA Inc. super PAC<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Behind-the-scenes, Trump is enraged, with some allies believing he will only ramp up the pressure on Thune<\/u><\/a> after the August recess. How far he goes, however, could depend on the outcome of the midterms.<\/p>\n

Thune is intending to run for GOP leader again in November and no Senate Republican has backed a challenge to him. Many Senate Republicans believe Thune is secure in his position, but some have questioned if the president could go after him after the November elections \u2014 especially if Republicans lose the majority, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump is legitimately pissed at Thune over the SAVE America Act. And the president hates the war powers votes, which just add insult to injury,\u201d said a person close to the White House granted anonymity to speak freely.<\/p>\n

Kennedy, however, acknowledged that \u201cwhen you’re the majority leader you take a lot of spears and arrows,\u201d but \u201cto my knowledge, there\u2019s no effort to replace anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House aides have long argued that the president was elected on the promise of election integrity, and that Senate Republicans should carry out the will of the voters by advancing the bill. Some people close to the White House have even suggested that failure to pass the SAVE America Act could depress turnout among core elements of the MAGA base who are more responsive to red-meat issues at the ballot box, though GOP senators believe it’s the months of infighting that would come back to bite them, not the failure to pass the bill.<\/p>\n

A second person close to the White House said the president is \u201cgrowing tired of the excuses and lack of effort\u201d when it comes to Thune.<\/p>\n

Thune and his allies, however, say it\u2019s not a lack of effort. The Senate spent weeks debating the SAVE America Act and held votes related to it as part of debate around an immigration enforcement bill as well.<\/p>\n

Even some of Thune\u2019s right flank declined to pile on the White House\u2019s remarks Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know what else I can add to it,\u201d said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), while Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who some GOP senators suspect might like to mount<\/u><\/a> another leadership bid against Thune, acknowledged that the current majority leader has a \u201chard job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), said he agreed with Trump on the SAVE America Act but returned to Thune\u2019s concern about the votes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump is escalating his war of words against Senate Majority Leader John Thune. He\u2019s still not likely to get what he wants. Trump on Wednesday told rally-goers in Georgia to \u201ccall John Thune\u201d over the Senate GOP\u2019s inability to pass a partisan election bill, known as the SAVE America Act, and White House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}