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\n

John Thune is eager to let GOP senators out of the Capitol and onto the campaign trail as Republicans fight to hold the Senate majority in November. First, he has to get through the next eight days.<\/p>\n

The majority leader is hoping to fund the government, confirm dozens of President Donald Trump\u2019s nominees and hand him new powers to punish Russia\u2019s trading partners before letting his members leave for a five-week recess. But Trump has turned Thune\u2019s exit strategy into a cascading political test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The vise-like pressure campaign was playing out as Thune sat down with Blue Light News in his Capitol office Wednesday. At about the same moment, Trump was in the Oval Office insisting Thune \u201chas the votes\u201d to kill the Senate\u2019s long-standing filibuster rule and pass a GOP elections bill. He went on to sow doubt as to whether he felt Thune was fit to lead the chamber\u2019s Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will find out, and I will let you know,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

Unaware of Trump\u2019s latest attacks, Thune in the interview nonetheless repeated that, no, he does not have anywhere near the votes to kill the filibuster or pass the SAVE America Act \u2014 the partisan elections bill Trump is pushing for. And he spoke frankly about the political risk Trump and other Republicans who are training their fire inward are assuming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we’re as well positioned as we can be,\u201d Thune said of the midterm landscape, but \u201cwhat we’ve got to do is just make the overarching narrative one that has us drawing contrast with our Democrat opponents rather than us shooting each other.\u201d He held out hope that Trump would do just that as Election Day approaches.<\/p>\n

$\"Trump$ <\/p>\n

The frustration with Trump\u2019s intraparty attacks is widely shared among Thune\u2019s colleagues but has been most frequently voiced by GOP members who are retiring or are otherwise insulated from Trump\u2019s staggering political influence, like Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Tillis downplayed Trump\u2019s latest attacks Wednesday, chalking it up to the \u201ctypical tug and pull\u201d among Republicans rather than a reflection of the president\u2019s specific views on Thune.<\/p>\n

Thune has up to this point acted more as a lightning rod for his conference, which is a traditional role for congressional leaders. But typically they attract bolts from the other party, not their own president.<\/p>\n

In the interview Wednesday, Thune said he and Trump \u201cget along\u201d even as he acknowledged that he\u2019s bearing the brunt<\/a> of the president\u2019s frustrations with the Senate\u2019s inability to bend reality to his whims.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets obviously frustrated with me because he sees me as the person that’s the impediment to some of the things he wants to get done. But as I continually point out \u2026 I don’t make this stuff up,\u201d he said. \u201cMath is math, arithmetic is arithmetic. \u2026 And part of it, too, is the active role he played in some of these primaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thinks I can wave the magic wand,\u201d he added. \u201cI wish it were that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has made things more challenging in recent weeks has been the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump confidant who was able to have frank conversations with the president<\/a> about the realities of the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a great intermediary, whisperer, whatever you want to call it,\u201d Thune said. \u201cBut yeah, it’s a real loss. I do think that he had the kind of relationship where he could speak bluntly, candidly, directly, and the president would accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added there are conversations now happening about \u201chow to better have a better line of communication\u201d between Senate Republicans and Trump\u2019s orbit. Just after sitting down with Blue Light News, he met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some people that can step into that role,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

$\"Thune$ <\/p>\n

If the SAVE America Act was the only Trump-obsession Thune had to manage, it would be one thing, but the debate over the bill \u2014 which Thune supports \u2014 is also tied to Republicans\u2019 attempt to enact a new party-line spending bill, which could include some election-related grant funding.<\/p>\n

House Republicans managed to muscle through a $95 billion budget blueprint, but the path in the Senate is murky at best. Thune is dealing with deficit hawks who want at least part of the spending offset with cuts, defense hawks who want more Pentagon funding, and members who aren\u2019t convinced there should be any bill at all.<\/p>\n

But the White House is keeping the pressure on<\/a>: Trump himself issued a public call for action on Truth Social Wednesday morning, and budget director Russ Vought pushed senators to move quickly in a private lunch just hours later.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the interview shortly after the lunch, Thune said the budget blueprint Trump and his deputies are hoping to pass doesn\u2019t currently have the votes to be approved. But he left the door open to a potential breakthrough before the end of next week while also acknowledging possible Plan Bs that could release at least some of the mounting pressure \u2014 possibly by putting pieces of the elections bill up for a vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question is, do we \u2026 trigger a vote on photo ID, put it on the floor, have a debate about it?\u201d he said. \u201cThose things are all kind of [things] we’re giving consideration to. But at the end of the day, does it change the outcome? I can’t see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thune also effectively ruled out holding a test vote on killing the filibuster. He warned that forcing what would essentially be symbolic votes would risk dividing Republicans while serving no practical end.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou end up \u2026 basically for the 60 or 90 days heading into an election, fighting among Republicans, which to me seems really counterproductive, going into an election that’s pretty high-stakes,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

Instead, Thune wants to make progress on other fronts. In addition to the sanctions bill, Thune wants to pass legislation funding the government past November<\/a> \u2014 something virtually unheard of in July but something that he says is \u201ctrending in the right direction\u201d nevertheless.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also got nominees to confirm, and he\u2019s looking to at least take an initial step on a cryptocurrency bill or college sports legislation<\/a>. It’s an ambitious schedule for a month in the Senate, much less a week \u2014 especially when the president has his own priorities.<\/p>\n

But Thune has consistently paid heed to his own constituency \u2014 the Republican senators who elected him to stay focused, put legislative wins on the board, and keep the GOP in the majority.<\/p>\n

Thune has said he is planning to run for leader again in November, and most Senate Republicans believe he\u2019s secure in his job.<\/p>\n

Asked about the Oval Office comments later Wednesday evening, Thune initially danced around Trump\u2019s equivocal assessment of whether he was \u201cthe man for the job\u201d of leading the Senate GOP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a decision that\u2019s made by my colleagues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But in subsequent comments, Thune joked that if Trump \u201ccould find somebody else to do this job, it might be a big relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is,\u201d he added. \u201cYou just roll with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Thune is eager to let GOP senators out of the Capitol and onto the campaign trail as Republicans fight to hold the Senate majority in November. First, he has to get through the next eight days. The majority leader is hoping to fund the government, confirm dozens of President Donald Trump\u2019s nominees and hand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26656","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=26656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}