We’ve covered Sen. John Thune (R-SD) making the worst remarks at the worst possible moment. The fact that he was re-elected to lead us as we enter the minority in January is also baffling. His Fox News interview with Bret Baier this week didn’t rehabilitate his image as someone incapable of holding the line. I hope I’m wrong. In fact, I’d be overjoyed. Yet his recap of why the Save America Act languished remains frustrating, since the filibuster should’ve been nuked under us. Now, Democrats will do that, as they’ve said for years — another instance where the GOP sees the enemy’s playbook and ignores it — and most of the Trump agenda will now be buried. We had a prime opportunity to get a ton done. Thune didn’t want to break arms, which left the upper chamber engulfed in torpor.
You don’t put back John Thune, who was at the head of all of this, and make him the Senate minority leader. @RobFinnertyUSA @NEWSMAX https://t.co/y4YDZfl08t
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) November 11, 2026
We couldn’t even fund an agency — DHS—last winter. Perhaps that was a sign that the 60-vote threshold should be nuked. I don’t know why these games were played, but we dithered. John dithered, leaving us with very little to campaign on. It’s not all of Thune’s fault. That’s absurd. Trump hasn’t been an ace on the Iran operation, and saying the Democrats are crazy is no substitute for a solid policy to tout on the stump. The Save America Act was just the start of what could’ve been. Now, Democrats will try to ram whatever through in the next two years.
Thune’s recap of why Save America stalled was bad enough, but let’s rehash his plan to become more centrist:
Saying, “We’ve got to start talking to independent voters,” here is Swamp talk for “run to the middle.” Running to the middle is not what got Trump popularly elected in 2024, but it is what got Republicans crushed in the midterms. Bold conservatism is what will attract independent voters and win elections.
— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) November 11, 2026
🚨 "SHOULD HAVE BEEN A REVELATION SIX MONTHS AGO": A sitting member of Congress just torched his own party's leadership on live TV. Republicans lost SEVEN Senate seats. Almost half a billion dollars was spent for Republicans in Texas, and they still lost. John Thune's excuse? We lost independents by 30 points, so "we have got to start talking to those people." NOW you want to talk to them? After the election? He said it was "very shocking" that Thune got re-elected leader, and that nobody else seemed to want the job. They had the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they couldn't even pass a law making sure only citizens vote. That's on Thune and Johnson. Not the voters.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) November 11, 2026
In his interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, Senate Minority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) regarding the disastrous midterm elections, @johnthune actually said, “What could we have done differently?” Seriously 😒 https://t.co/eWcoWkpmlV
— David Burke 🇺🇸 (@ConservativeTht) November 12, 2026
On its face, it makes sense, right? We got killed in the midterms, so retool, right? No. We got killed because while the House did its job passing bills, the Senate didn’t do its part. It wasted precious time on DHS. Immigration enforcement remains popular. Independents saw a circus, which is partially the President’s fault, with the Iran bomb, the ceasefire, the deal coming, and the no-deal carousel, all of which were undeniably bad. Thune acting like Patrick Starr when it came to leading the caucus and getting things done was also bad.
And here we are, but telling a GOP base to moderate to win back independents who might have abandoned us due to a lack of governing and passing bills is cheap talk.
What are we going to moderate on, John?
Guns, illegal aliens, taxes, spending — what?
🚨 UPDATE: Bret Baier says he can't even POST about John Thune without seeing a flood of angry comments BAIER: "A LOT of people are angry. Look at your social media. If I post about you, there's a lot of anger." THUNE: "I love the fight...I have core values that drive me." A LOT of that is over the SAVE America Act and secure elections Thune himself said it's a daily occurrence for him to face fury online He just CRUISED to reelection as Senate leader, and now that the filibuster was never nuked, says we'll appreciate having it
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 10, 2026
Some record of accomplishment. @LarryOConnor mocks John Thune’s pitch to stay Senate GOP leader after the election disaster: “Did you see John Thune on the campaign trail at all saying any of this? Me neither.” “Did John Thune secure the border? Did I miss something there?” “By the way, there’s a ton of judges waiting to be confirmed right now. Why weren’t those taken care of? Why are we waiting for a lame duck session to do that?”
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 9, 2026