Things are not going well for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who remains under fire from the MAGA coalition for his seeming inability or unwillingness to get the SAVE America Act pushed through the Senate. He has, for example, neither broached nuking the filibuster or, perhaps more realistically and wisely, instituting the traditional rule of a talking filibuster. And now it has come out that he doesn’t even have a backup plan for pushing the bill through the obstinate legislative body.
Such came out during a press conference he held on Tuesday, March 24, during which he commented on the ongoing problem of the DHS shutdown and the Uniparty’s refusal to pass the SAVE Act despite it being hugely popular. Much of MAGA found the press conference wholly disatisfying and disappointing, and was quick to say so on X.
During his prepared remarks on the situation, the Senate Majority Leader said, beginning with the shutdown issue, “Shamefully, we are on day 39 of the Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. It is increasingly having effects across the country, as our airports and the TSA agents become more and more overrun. So it is time to end this. The time to end this is now. The Democrats have in front of them a proposal, with legislative text, that would allow us to get DHS back and opened up again, and it is essentially what the Democrats have been asking for.”
He added that they have the opportunity to show their sincerity, saying, “And so we’re going to have an opportunity to vote on that, and I hope they will put their money where their mouth is, and if they are sincere about actually getting DHS opened up again, that they’ll provide the votes and work with us in order to make that happen.”
He then got to the SAVE America Act. He began, “On the other issue, the SAVE America Act now has been on the floor for some time.” He continued, “And it is an issue on which, as we pointed out before, there is overwhelming public support among and across all kinds of demographic groups, age, political party, gender, you name it, Democrat, Republican. Overwhelming support for the SAVE America Act, the Democrats said – Chuck Schumer said out here last week – that they support voter ID. Well, we’re going to give them an opportunity to evidence that by putting it up for a vote.”
He continued, “Later, I’ll be filing an amendment that would require photo ID, and we’ll see what the Democrats do. What happened last week, as you all know, Senator Husted from Ohio offered a very straightforward voter ID amendment, which was blocked on the floor by the Democrats – and furthermore, wasn’t just blocked … the Democrat, Senator Merkley from Oregon, offered a counterproposal that specifically would ban voter ID across this country, and actually something that 36 states already have in place.”
He then said, “So this is a an issue on which there is broad agreement with the public, and obviously we’re going to give the Democrats an opportunity to vote on that one particular issue – and that is whether or not people ought to have to show some form of identification when they go to vote. So that’s the schedule for the balance of this week, and hopefully we’ll have cooperation from Democrats to end the government shutdown.”
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However, it was what he said after that spiel that really set MAGA off. He was asked: “Don’t you risk alienating some of your base if you’re unable to pass the SAVE AMERICA Act? And the idea that this could go into budget reconciliation, that everybody around here, including you, has indicated that that’s very hard to do, isn’t that just kind of a wing and a prayer?”
Responding, he accidentally revealed that he doesn’t really have a plan other than the budget reconciliation plan outlined above. He said, “I think the budget reconciliation, as I’ve said before, you have to have a reason to do it, and if we have reasons to do it, and we may, very well may. And I think there are a number of our colleagues in the Senate.”
He continued, “We just came out of a luncheon where with this was discussed, and I think there’s a lot of support for budget reconciliation bill. We have two legislative vehicles, as you know, available to us, so we could tee one of those up and and that’s an option, and we’ll see if, if that’s what it takes to get some of these things across the finish line, and we can do it with simple majority.”
Watch him here:
Senator Thune’s career is over.
He won’t be majority leader next year.
He is up for re-election in South Dakota in 2028.
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) March 24, 2026
That got him torn into by conservatives online. The Patriot Oasis X account posted the clip and captioned it, for example, “Leader John Thune says he hasn’t even TIRED or prepared a BACK-UP plan to pass the SAVE America Act.” Similarly, the “Wall Street Mav” account posted the clip and said, “Senator Thune’s career is over. He won’t be majority leader next year. He is up for re-election in South Dakota in 2028.”
Commenters largely agreed and skewered Thune for betraying MAGA, saying things like, “All of these senators must be replaced” and “Thune is a poster child for a back stabbing, public trough feeding parasite.” “Lazy bastard. Useless rino. We need better,” wrote another.
Another said, “Not only will he not be Majority Leader, but in 2028 he will face a MAGA-primaried candidate, and we will end his political career. Are you listening @LeaderJohnThune”. Still another alleged, “This guy sabatoged the Republicans majority and made sure nothing happened. Dem plant!”