The public truce between President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune collapsed on Thursday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt seemingly told reporters that Trump’s patience with the South Dakota Republican “is running out,” dragging a months-long behind-the-scenes standoff out in the open.
Donald Trump is losing patience with John Thune
The immediate trigger is the stalled SAVE America Act, a voting overhaul Trump has made a signature demand. The House acted on Wednesday, passing a reconciliation package that earmarks $10 billion to push states toward adopting proof-of-citizenship rules, photo ID mandates, and sharp curbs on mail voting; the Senate has not moved.
Karoline Leavitt brought out the message further. “The president spoke about this directly yesterday,” she said. “He wants to see as much of the SAVE America Act passed as possible by the August recess.”
She cited raucous applause for voter ID at Trump’s Georgia rally as evidence that “everyday Americans want proof of citizenship in our elections.” Her conclusion left no ambiguity: “The House did its job. The Senate needs to do its job, too.”
John Thune, standing before reporters on Capitol Hill, flipped the pressure back onto the White House. “Well maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?” he said, referencing Leavitt.
“It’s 50 around here, and so instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats.” He added that if the administration believed certain Republicans remained persuadable, its staff should pick up the phone and start dialing (via Politico).
Moreover, Donald Trump’s public venting had already begun a day earlier. From the stage in Georgia, he lampooned the upper chamber without naming Thune specifically. “The Senate is a place you send things when you want them to die,” he told the crowd. “We’re not going to take this any longer, we’re not going to take it. I’m trying to be nice.”
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
