Senate Republicans are rallying around Majority Leader John Thune after President Donald Trump declined to endorse the South Dakota Republican for another term as GOP leader following the midterms.
Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Thune over the Senate’s failure to advance parts of his agenda, particularly the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America, Act. The president has also urged Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, a step Thune has resisted.
But GOP senators say there is little appetite inside the conference to replace him, explained The Hill.
“There’s a lot of respect for John Thune. There’s a lot of recognition of how he works and how difficult his job is and a belief that he’s doing it really well under difficult circumstances,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said.
Moran said senators may defer to Trump on policy, but not necessarily on choosing their own leader. “I also think there are some things where the Senate seems willing to accede their privileges, but I think who our leader is, there’s a real sense that that belongs to us,” he said.
Even conservatives who want Thune to move more aggressively are defending him.
“It’s a hard job, it’s really a hard job,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said.
Asked whether Trump’s criticism had changed his confidence in Thune, Scott said presidential frustration with Congress is nothing new. “I’m sure if I were president of the United States, I would be frustrated if everything I wanted didn’t get done. So that’s probably pretty common,” he said.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he does not “know of any movements to replace” Thune.
“I think the president and John like each other. I think these are tough issues and they obviously disagree over things like the filibuster,” Kennedy said.
Trump told Punchbowl News last week that Republican voters are “not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans” in Congress. Kennedy argued voters are frustrated more broadly, particularly over the economy.
“I think Republicans are angry at all of us, I mean the voters. I think the voters are angry, period. And I think they’re angry most about … cost of living, and I think that’s what this election is going to be primarily about,” Kennedy said.
Thune has largely brushed aside Trump’s criticism, saying he almost “expected” the president to withhold an endorsement.
“That’s probably to be expected,” he said.
Thune also defended the Senate’s record while acknowledging that abolishing the filibuster and passing the SAVE America Act were always going to be difficult.
“I think we’ve had a really productive run. There are a couple things I said right from the very beginning are going to be difficult if not impossible — frankly more impossible — to do,” Thune said. “That’s the reality I have to deal with.”
For now, Trump’s criticism appears to have done little to weaken Thune inside the Republican conference, where senators remain protective of their authority to choose their own leader.
“We’ll keep grinding away and let the chips fall where they may,” Thune said.
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