President Donald Trump is intent on forcing an August breakthrough on his No. 1 Capitol Hill priority. John Thune has the unenviable task of trying to bring him back to reality.<\/p>\n

Fixated on the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, Trump is ramping up pressure on the Senate majority leader<\/a> and fellow GOP senators. He\u2019s now going after one of Congress\u2019 most sacrosanct elements of the congressional calendar \u2014 the August recess<\/a> \u2014 to try to force Republicans\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n

But Trump\u2019s demand to keep lawmakers in town, delivered in a Monday morning Truth Social post, immediately won a skeptical reception from Thune and other senators who argued that holding senators hostage in Washington wouldn\u2019t actually deliver what Trump wants. Neither the elections bill nor his bid to end the 60-vote legislative filibuster to pass it can succeed, they said, despite the president\u2019s frequent verbal sledgehammering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I thought there was a path to getting a result, I\u2019m all for it. \u2026 But I\u2019m still, show me how this ends,\u201d Thune told reporters Monday about Trump\u2019s recess cancellation demand. \u201cIf we are going to be sitting here and in endless quorum calls, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s in anybody\u2019s best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Cornyn<\/a> (R-Texas), who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger earlier this year, argued the effect could be worse than simply wasting time \u2014 that it could backfire politically with only a few months before the midterms.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisappointing [Trump] but also our voters 99 days before the election strikes me as a bad idea,\u201d Cornyn said. \u201cIf you promise [voters] the sun and the moon and the aurora borealis, then you can\u2019t accomplish it, then they\u2019re going to be disappointed and they\u2019re going to be more focused on us than they are Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue for Trump, conservative activists and their Hill allies is that there is a quiet majority of Senate Republicans<\/a> who back the SAVE America Act but also oppose eliminating the filibuster and don\u2019t want to invite a deluge of criticism from the party base by advertising their position.<\/p>\n

Enough Senate Republicans voted to debate the elections bill earlier this year only after leaders privately offered reassurances that it wouldn\u2019t turn into an attempt to undo the 60-vote threshold.<\/p>\n

Republicans are expected to discuss Trump\u2019s push to stay in session during closed-door meetings this week, as well as his separate demand that they adopt a budget blueprint before they leave town for a $95 billion party-line spending bill that would include some election-related spending.<\/p>\n

Party leaders are eager to get their members back home, where they can spend time on the campaign trail, where the GOP is not only facing the usual midterm headwinds for the president\u2019s party but also muddled messaging from the White House.<\/p>\n

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito<\/a> (R-W.Va.), a member of GOP leadership, predicted that it would be an \u201cinteresting\u201d week.<\/p>\n

Asked if she thought the math would change if the Senate stayed in town, Capito said, \u201cI can\u2019t predict that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no sign yet that either Trump or his closest allies on Capitol Hill are ready to accept that reality. Instead, they could force the Senate to hold a vote on whether or not to stay in session, which could give the party\u2019s disgruntled base fresh ammunition to use against members of the party just months before Election Day.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mike Lee<\/a> (R-Utah) said over the weekend he opposed leaving for the break, and a slew of conservative colleagues have since piled on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand ready to stay in Washington through the August recess \u2014 as long as it takes \u2014 to get the SAVE America Act passed,\u201d Sen. Bill Hagerty<\/a> (R-Tenn.) posted on X.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tommy Tuberville<\/a> (R-Ala.) added that \u201cnow is the time to dig in, eliminate the manufactured filibuster, and start a new Senate tradition of actually getting things done for the Constitution and the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SAVE America fight has weighed even more directly on Thune as pressure builds on him personally.<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that \u201cpatience is running out\u201d with the Senate GOP leader. The president also urged supporters during a rally last week to call Thune directly to tell him to pass the elections bill as he revived his call to nix the filibuster.<\/p>\n

Thune pushed back Monday, saying the Trump administration has known for months that there aren\u2019t the votes to get rid of the 60-vote hurdle. White House officials, he said, met with about 20 GOP senators earlier this year to discuss the issue. Fifteen of the 20, he estimated, opposed moving to simple-majority passage akin to the House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an open question,\u201d Thune said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a fact. And the facts don\u2019t change. Now, if he can change the facts and start moving some of those senators who are \u2018nos\u2019 into \u2018yeses\u2019 then we have a different conversation. But that\u2019s just the reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff for the Senate Republican Conference, which is chaired by Sen. Tom Cotton<\/a> (R-Ark.), circulated internal talking points<\/a> to Republican offices Monday that were obtained by Blue Light News. They encouraged senators to emphasize that they would support staying into the August recess if it would change the outcome, but it won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think staying in session will make more votes appear. \u2026 And we have work to do at home to make sure that we beat the Democrats in November,\u201d the memo reads.<\/p>\n

Underscoring how Trump\u2019s tiff is threatening to overshadow the GOP\u2019s legislative agenda ahead of the recess, the guidance also encouraged Republican senators to \u201creject the false choice between the President and Senate leaders: express support for both.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also recommended GOP senators say that Trump and Thune \u201care united and doing an excellent job delivering safety and prosperity for Americans, despite unprecedented Democrat obstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"