Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate Majority Leader, is facing significant fury from MAGA over the spending bill he pushed through the Senate in the dead of night, one that funds the TSA but leaves ICE unfunded, a massive victory for Democrats that has enraged MAGA Republicans in a huge way and led to immense backlash online.
Thune, predictably, tried to play off a defeat inflicted thanks to his own weakness as something of a victory. He began, “Let’s summarize where we are after a 40+ day Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. 1) ICE and CBP are funded, thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts and the foresight of President Trump and Republicans in Congress. 2) After holding DHS and the American people hostage for over 40 days, Dems got ZERO restrictions that would prevent ICE and CBP agents from doing their jobs safely.”
He continued, “3) Due to Dem obstruction of the appropriations process, ICE and CBP will get even more funding through budget reconciliation. 4) Dems have once again established themselves as the “Open Borders, Defund the Police” party heading into an election. 5) Dem leadership has proven once again they can’t be trusted to make a deal. Which begs the question if you’re a Dem senator or one of their left-wing supporters: What was this really all about?”
MAGA wasn’t having it, and responded with absolute fury to his stunning betrayal of them, Trump, and the MAGA agenda. Leading the charge on that was DataRepublican, which went step by step to dismantle his claims and expose just how he had avoided doing his duty and totally betrayed MAGA in a fight he should have won.
Beginning, the account noted how he carried out his betrayal in the dead of night, when the unsuspecting were asleep, saying, “Hello Senator Thune, At 3 AM on Friday, March 27th, in a near-empty chamber, you passed a bill by voice vote that excludes all funding for ICE and CBP. Let me repeat that: voice vote. No roll call. No record of who was there. No accountability. Just you, Barrasso, and a handful of senators shuffling paper in the dead of night while America slept.”
Continuing, the account noted that there were a great many tools at his disposal he could have used to win, but chose not to out of weakness, cowardice, or both. It said, “You could have demanded a recorded vote. You chose not to. You could have held the line for five more days until the House returned. You chose not to. You could have used the same procedural tools Democrats have used against you for 40 days. You chose not to.”
Noting what he had done, the account argued that he had given the Democrats exactly what they wanted after weeks of chaos, a loss by every metric imaginable, and had done so for no reason. It said, ” Instead, you gave Chuck Schumer exactly what he asked for, DHS funding minus immigration enforcement, and called it a win. Then you walked to the cameras and blamed the Democrats. Let’s be precise about what you did: 1. You caved to a demand Democrats made on Day 1 of this shutdown. Forty-one days of supposed hardball negotiation, and you settled for their opening offer. 2. You handed them a template. The next time Democrats want to defund any agency — ICE, CBP, or anything else — they now know: just shut down DHS and wait. John Thune will fold at 3 AM. 3. You punted to reconciliation. “Good possibility,” you said. Not “we will.” Not “guaranteed.” Just maybe. Meanwhile, ICE operates on fumes from last year’s bill with no certainty of future funding.”
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Continuing by arguing that the even bigger problem was the disastrous precedent he had set in his weakness, the account then argued that “The precedent you set: You have argued for months that the filibuster is sacrosanct. That the 60-vote threshold protects minority rights. That we cannot bend Senate rules for policy wins. But at 3 AM on Friday, you bent every norm that actually mattered: • Voice vote to avoid accountability • Empty chamber to avoid debate • Midnight deal to avoid scrutiny • Immediate recess to avoid questions You’ll bend the rules to avoid a fight. You just won’t bend them to win one.”
And, noting that he had given the Democrats a major victory on defunding ICE, the account argued, “What you’ve actually accomplished: Democrats demanded ICE restrictions. They got ICE defunded. Not reformed. Not restrained. Defunded. And you’re out here tweeting about how Democrats are the “Defund the Police” party while you just voted to defund border enforcement at 3 in the morning.”
Other Republicans chimed in with fury as well. Rep. Keith Self, for example, angrily posted, “In the dead of night, with only five senators present on the floor and no one there to object, the Senate rushed through a DHS funding bill that deliberately left ICE and CBP unfunded. Now, they are leaving town. No SAVE America Act. ICE and CBP unfunded. Senate Republicans just gave the Democrats everything they wanted and more.”
Similarly, Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote, “Don’t listen to the spin coming from Senate Republicans. Democrats got everything they wanted. American voters got screwed. There was a reason why John Thune scheduled the vote while the nation was asleep – so they could skip town before voters woke up and discovered what they had done. And here’s the real kick in the pants – Republican senators left for yet another vacation without doing anything about the Save America Act. There’s no polite way to say this – but Senate Republicans are sabotaging the midterm elections and President Trump’s agenda.”