President Trump on Monday declined to say whether he thinks Thune should be replaced as Senate Republican Leader, and instead defended the failed Senate Majority Leader.
The GOP Senate is slated to hold an election for Senate Minority Leader, following a bloodbath defeat last Tuesday that cost Republicans the House and Senate majorities, but a handful of Republican Senators.
“I don’t believe we should move to leadership elections until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward. We need leadership in place fast, but Tuesday is too soon,” McCormick said in a statement, calling for a postponement.
Separately, Senators Ron Johnson (WI), Ted Budd (NC), Rick Scott (FL), Mike Lee (UT) and John Kennedy (LA) have sent a letter to Thune, calling for Republicans to “have a fulsome conference discussion and delay holding leadership elections until we all have a chance to hear from leadership candidates as to what type of collaborative conference governing model we should adopt and what our strategy will be to counter the emboldened Democrats.”
Thune’s priorities, however, include promising to work with Democrats “in a bipartisan way.” The RINO Leader declared on Monday that “Republicans are ready to work with you” in an address to his friends on the left.
Trump, once the kingmaker and the unabashed critic of fellow Republicans, now doesn’t want to get involved– even after Thune spent the last year stabbing him in the back and overseeing one of the least productive Senates in 40 years.
Republicans held control of both chambers of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court but got almost nothing done, largely because of failures to pass bills, especially major policy achievements the GOP ran on, in the Senate.
But Trump on Monday described Thune as a “very fine man” when asked if Thune has earned the right to remain in Senate Leadership.
“I know him very well, but that’s really up to the senators. I like John Thune. I wish they could get more produced. You know, we’ve had Save America up there, we’ve had, you know, voter ID and proof of citizenship, and many other things,” Trump said before excusing Thune for his failure as leader and his inability to whip votes from Republicans.
“It’s not easy,” Trump added. “First of all, you have 100% negative Democrats; they never vote yes; they always vote no. That means he has to get almost 100% of the Republicans, and you have some Republicans in there— I can name them, but why should I?— that are very difficult.”
“I said, as leader, you have to get those people, but John’s a good man. I guess they’re going to be voting tomorrow, or maybe it’s delayed. I don’t know what the status, but you know, he’s a friend of mine. I wish the Senate could get more done,” he said.
WATCH:
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.
