For all the bitching about Senator John Thune, he is geared to cooperate with Trump.
Thune Elected Senate Majority Leader
To the consternation of Rick Scott supporters, Republican John Thune of South Dakota is Elected the Next Senate Majority Leader.
Republicans have elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the next Senate majority leader, completing a momentous shift in their leadership that elevates a top deputy of Mitch McConnell into a key position as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Thune, 63, is in his fourth Senate term and has promised to work closely with Trump, despite differences the two have had over the years, and will be a crucial part of the incoming president’s efforts to push through his policy agenda. The two spoke on the phone shortly after Thune was elected, the senator posted on X Wednesday afternoon, adding that “Senate Republicans are excited and ready to get to work” with the incoming president.
Trump later congratulated Thune on his social media platform, Truth Social. “He moves quickly, and will do an outstanding job,” Trump wrote. “I look forward to working with him.”
Thune beat out two other competitors, Sens. John Cornyn and Rick Scott, by gaining majority support from GOP senators in two rounds of secret ballots behind closed doors. Scott was eliminated on the first round and the final vote between Thune and Cornyn was 29-24, according to several people who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
“It is a new day in the United States Senate,” Thune told reporters immediately after he was elected. He said his majority will work to toughen border security laws, lower energy costs and overturn regulations they see as burdensome.
“We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda,” Thune said.
As the candidates tried to win over individual senators, all of their pitches centered around how close they would be to Trump. That was a more difficult task for Cornyn and Thune, who broke publicly with the former president over his effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. At the time, Thune called Trump’s actions “inexcusable.”
In recent months, though, Thune has worked to smooth over that relationship, visiting Trump at his Florida home and consulting with him on how to implement the incoming president’s agenda. Thune told The Associated Press over the summer that he views their potential relationship as a professional one. If they both won their elections, Thune said then, “we’ve got a job to do.”
As he made his case, Thune has made clear that he will listen to Trump’s demands. When Trump posted on X Sunday that the new leader “must agree” to allow him to appoint Cabinet members and others when the Senate is on recess, avoiding confirmation votes, Thune quickly responded in a statement that the Senate must “quickly and decisively” act to get nominees in place and that “all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments.”
Speaking to reporters after he was elected, Thune noted that “the Senate has an advise and consent rule in the Constitution” but that they will do everything they can to get his nominees in place.
Well liked and a respected communicator, Thune has been perceived as a front-runner for much of the year. As he geared up to run for leader, Thune spent much of the year campaigning for his colleagues. According to his aides, he raised more than $31 million to elect Senate Republicans this cycle, including a $4 million transfer from his own campaign accounts to the Senate’s main campaign arm.
In the week since the election, Scott aggressively stepped up his campaign for GOP leader, campaigning publicly as the candidate closest to Trump and winning endorsements from people who are close to the former and future president, such as billionaire Elon Musk. But some questioned whether that strategy might backfire.
South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, Thune’s home state colleague, said that he prefers the way that Thune and Cornyn have “handled it one-on-one with everybody,” but that he had talked to Scott as well. “We’ve got three qualified individuals,” he said ahead of the race.
Still, both Thune and Cornyn adopted some of Scott’s ideas as they worked to win over voters. Thune told the conference in a candidate forum Tuesday evening that he would allow more amendments on the floor and improve communication from McConnell’s regime, addressing frequent complaints from that wing of the conference.
Two Good Things
- Trump appointments will sail through, most likely in one big fell swoop.
- The Senate did not go through the endless and counterproductive leadership bickering as did the House last year.
I don’t know who the theoretical best candidate was. But I would rather see cooperation than endless bickering.
It’s going to take statesmanship, not petulant demands, to get some things passed this session. House republicans proved that.
This seems like a good start, especially given the slim majority of Republicans in the House.
For discussion, please see Can Republicans Pass Key Legislation With a Miniscule House Majority?
Terry Smith – UK warren Buffett – thinks that NVDA is beyond peak.
Between 2008 and 2013 debt rolled back. Between 2013 and the 2021 money tsunami consumers were in a good shape. After 2020 rent, house prices and pickup trucks are up 50%. The cost of debt doubled.
Zoomers, young millennials and many in the major cities are renters. Rent is paid in cash or withdrawn from a checking account online. After paying rent a large segment of the population is soaked with debt. Rent+ Cash + Debt payments might be equal or
higher than Disposable Income.
Most boomers are homeowners. After medical bills and house expenses boomers are
drowning in debt.
That’s why Trump, Thune and Mike Johnson won.
Trump, Thune, Johnson…are they going to be real leaders and tell the citizens the hard truth that we need to start austerity across the board and stick to it until the debt is substantially reduced, or will they ignore it, blame others. We will see if they exercise the real leadership and courage needed to right this ship.
You do know that Thune is a big RINO and the most anti-Trump of the three choice. Let’s see if he’s changed his stripes, but I doubt it. How long would it take to get him out as leader? He could delay things significantly in the meantime.
Thune = McConnell
He’ll manage the Senate on his heels, like a pussy, because that’s the M.O. of boomer RINO neoCon globalists… they’ll never change, so we’ll have to wait for them all to die.
The anti-Trump brigade collectively losing their minds is going to make me run out of popcorn.
4 glorious years ahead. Maybe more if we can amend the constitution and let him run for a 3rd term. I think we should.
A question To all the wise and honest people on this thread ,Mr.Trump promised to end the Ukrainian war within 24 hours of his victory have you guys noticed it’s been about 200 hours.so what’s happening?
He’s not in office yet. Not only that but Biden said he’s giving as much money to Ukraine before Jan 20th as possible. Again the Democrats doing nothing to stop the war and everything to continue it….It’s almost like you don’t want peace George. Be part of the solution
What excuses so early in the game,boy I don’t envy your position 4 more years,4 more years and so forth and so on.
Cheer up George. After he brings peace to Ukraine and Israel he will likely get the Nobel Peace Prize. And he will have deserved it.
War is the health of the state,remember that!
Being so petty must really wear you out.
Who was George Logan?, Alex!
When a clown moves into a palace ,he doesn’t become a king .the palace becomes a circus. Old Turkish proverb.then the people suffer
Absolutely, George! And that’s exactly what we’ve had since Brandon & Comrade Kamala parked themselves in the WH.
Joe Biden was on vacation for 40% of his presidency and can barely add 1 + 1.
Comrade Kamala was appointed the border Czar and promptly let 12M illegals into the US.
That’s a Clown show. Thanks for reminding us! Cheers!
Amateur-hour sarcasm and cheap shots – that’s all the anti-Trumpers can come up with
May the Lord have pity on you all.
Dóminus vobíscum George…
I am so tired of this continual political chicanery and mendacity by our professional sophists.
So, on a lighter note, some morning sarcasm.
I always preferred the fast recess in the Spring and Fall.
In the Winter it took much longer to go outside because of the boots and coats.
Its great to watch these media types deleting their X accounts. Just shows that once the censorship stopped they didn’t want to share a playground. They can’t win with arguments. So they just quit.
Coming up soon FBI.
Can not wait to see whom Trump picks.
My vote goes to Flynn. Now that would be some hell to pay.Boom!
Yes yes and yes, great point to see Flynn reconfigure FBI.
Trump has been matching people who are aggrieved with agency which did the dirty work to them.
Thune has a LOT of bridge-building to do, I suspect that he has very weak principles that change with whoever is in charge. That might be alright at this early stage in the game, but he comes across as a snake who is not to be trusted and needs to be ousted.
Thune is a career politician for both good and bad. Every politician has to take positions that they may find disagreeable if it means keeping their job. And that is often a good thing. Relative to the others, both Thune and Cornyn are good candidates. Scott made his money ripping off taxpayers by submitting false claims to Medicare when he was CEO of HealthSouth. He is a true snake, and I appreciate that his colleagues at least have the principles to keep him far away from power.
“It is a new day in the United States Senate,” Thune said.
“We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda,” Thune said.
This certainty sounds like someone ready to “Get to Work” with Trump, and His Colleagues, to get sh$# Done!!! I have no worries Trumps Agenda will be supported, because He only has 4 Years, and then someone New takes over,
Happily work with whom you’re taking over for in the near future Always! It behooves You to do so, and nothing else…
Trump just appointed someone on the “TERROR WATCH LIST” to his cabinet.
I also hear the president is a Felon. The inmates are running the place …
What’s next Putin for Treas Sec? /s
https://x.com/TheRicanMemes/status/1856857775046832148
Why not? Russia doesn’t carry much of a debt load, in spite of the sanctions. He’s in completely different time zones so he could moonlight on the grave yard shift.
Russia is a former ally of the USA and UK in the war against Nazi Germany, and has valuable resources and a rich cultural history, and solid conservative Christian values; it’s in the world’s interests for Russia and the rest of the European world to make peace after the destructive whims of socialists and feminists and their illegal immigrant agenda and pervasive corruption.
Ally of convenience. That quickly dissolved after the war ended. I think the US realized that even during the war.
Peace means giving Russia Ukraine. I’m not sure the Ukrainians like that idea. And we have the same thing problem with China & Tiawan. Oh, and there’s the Israeli Palestinian issue.
The most direct solution is to tell Russia they’ve got 90 days to negotiate a peace treaty with Ukraine which is the exact moment Ukraine will be admitted into NATO.
Do the same thing with China. Let them people of Tiawan hold a referendum on whether they want independence from China. If they vote no, then let China have Tiawan. If they vote yes, then tell China that every Western country with a military is going to go toe-to-toe with them, if they ever invade Tiawan.
Have a vote for the Palestinians to reject terror. If they vote yes, have them lay down their arms and let them move to Egypt, Jordan, Syria or whatever Arab country they want. Israel should annex the West Bank & Golan Heights. In exchange, they should give up some land along the Sinia Peninsula & encourage Egypt to do the same, so Gaza can be expanded into a Palestinian state. Otherwise, let them know that America and few other counties are going to get involved.
It’s time for all of these centuries long rivalries to be put to bed.
“It’s time for all of these centuries long rivalries to be put to bed.”
..By the way the Founders noted: No entangling alliances. No standing armies. No restrictions on owning and bearing arms. All men created equal. Which, as anyone with even the tiniest trace of logical aptitude immediately recognizes, has exactly not one single thing in common with any of the childbrained, interventionist nonsense the rest of your post is babbling about.
Instead: Until China invades the US mainland, “the US” does not waste even a dollar of tax payers money making themselves aware of whether a place called China exists or not. And even if China should invade the US mainland, they’ll fight The Militia. Which has been free to arm themselves as they very well please in preparation for any such encounter. Not some standing thugband army of tax feeding, totalitarian hacks with grotesquely privileged access to kit which The Militia is somehow banned from procuring.
Not that “logical aptitude”; any at all; is to be expected from the sub-literate garbagepile of indocrinated nothings which currently make up the idiotistans referred to as “every Western Country”. It ain’t the #DumbAge for nothing. Masses of the dumbest backmarkers to ever pollute the air by exhaling instead mindlessly cheering for ever more of the same pointless, worthless and useless; singularly destructive; drivel which is all that has made up ANY segment of “The West” for at least 50 years.
To the point where; while I’m sure plenty of Ukranians and Taiwanese would prefer increased nominal independence from their much larger neighbors to less of it: If the choice is subservience to pretty much anyone else vs any kind of dependence on “The West” at all, the former is, by now, always and everywhere, near infinitely preferable. For anyone. Anywhere. No matter what.
Lots of nonsense, Stuk!
yeppir TDS is big problem with dimwits
Shows you how bogus those fake convictions and inappropriate abuse of OpenSkies was. Illustrative of the colossal levels of corruption of the Democrat administration, that turned the entire American popualtion into inmates; now, thankfully, rejected.
Unfortunately Putin would be an improvement.
The place he’s running appears to be solvent and with controllable debts.
I wish the US could do as well.
And I’m very very sorry to say that too!
One problem with that other country is the leadership debases the heck out of their currency and stifles political opposition. A true leader has the courage to stand in a free and fair election.
Trump’s constitutional rights were violated in the trial for which he was corruptly convicted of 34 felonies, in what amounted to a Stalinist show trial. Overturn on appeal for several reasons.
Great troll post, notaname. We’ll head over to the DailyKos to read your other posts.
Odds on Mike Lindell being named Sec’y Commerce?
I heard he wants Hannibal Lecter for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Better for federal reserve chairman. That man knows how to handle money!
Mish, my Norton antivirus appears to be blocking popups from your site that occur when I’m typing in the comments section; not sure if anyone else is getting this? The latest one was a fake CAPTCHA.
GOP: “We need smaller government”
GOP supporters: “Yeah!”
Also GOP: “We’re making the government bigger”
Also GOP supporters: “Yeah!”
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
DEM’s: “We need Bigger Government”
DEM Supporter’s: “Yeah!”
Also DEM’s: “We’re making the Trashy Deplorable’s Smaller”
Also DEM supporters: “Yeah!”
I suppose this was the other option, which was far more unreasonable and never going to happen, as witnessed…
75% of the US public sector part of the 2025 huge layoffs coming as a result of global deflation and the global debt and demographic crisis.
OMG, Mish, I’m so happy with Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence.
Lets look at cpi https://www.clevelandfed.org/indicators-and-data/median-cpi
Yep, (inaccurate) official number at 20%+ and rising thanks to Bideninflation!
End-the-Fed (demote JPow to start)
There are many WORDS. DEEDS MUST FOLLOW.
This time TRUMP will need to keep his words and implement enough change to return us to a track that means we WILL improve as a Country.
There is not ONE thing going well here:
1) STICKY PRICE INFLATION (things ain’t retreating. PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING). 2) JUSTICE is a mess.
3) FOOD IS CRAP HERE IN AMERICA and EXPENSIVE.
4) MEDICAL COSTS and the Insurance to cover them is COMPLETELY LOBBIED away by Congress and NOTHING APPEARS to be even SAID ABOUT IT. THEY DO NOT AIM to fix it.
5) ENDLESS UNDECLARED PROXY WARS are sickening the world with America, and we will be hated until we are DEFEATED….
…………and WE SHALL BE DEFEATED eventually because all of the previous regimes fell: GREECE, ROME, SPAIN, ENGLAND – – you name them. ALL OF THEM FELL due to incompetence and GREED and AVARICE.
TRUMP cannot contain this shit-house mess and I am not holding my breath.
My prediction:
After that, probably a depression because by then 80m people will be collecting social security and not paying taxes and eating up all the healthcare via medicare.
Trump promised no more wars so I skipped that part but it may be a 4a or 5a to rally sympathy for GOP.
I agree with 5 a lot, 4 a little but, but you are anticipating that the Dems will not be going through their own internal crisis, convulsions, and divisions.
A lot of layoffs from the public sector can only be a good thing, like when the aborigines burn the land to help it regrow.
Ah, the myth of the Feenicks. /s
The Democrats are gone.
You won.
Nobody to complain about now but your fellow Repubs.
Official CPI is running at 2.1%. Unemployment is running at 4%. Personal bankruptcies are running near the lowest rate in history as is the personal debt to income ratio. The stock market has been setting repeated records over the last few years.
We will see how those numbers change over the next 4 years.
And GDP at 2.8% but I don’t think it will take 4 years, it’ll start falling apart as soon as the tariffs start.
I wa sin the local Safeway yesterday when I passed a display with 2lb packages of brown sugar on sale. The “normal” price was $5.99! The sale prices was $4.99.
I haven’t bought sugar in maybe 5 years but I recall this same item was available for $2-$3 back then.
Brown sugar is made by mixing white sugar with molasses. It’s dirt cheap to make and there isn’t any reason why 2lbs should be $5.99 (or even $4.99).
I wonder how Trump is going to address the expectation by his voters that he will somehow reduce grocery store prices.
The sugar families’ lobby have tariffs almost as successful as the Israel lobby.
Remember when white sugar would be on sale before Thanksgiving?
Four pound bag for $1.50.
Matt Gaetz. Seems like an honest guy.
He don’t just have a forehead, he’s got a sixhead.
Compared to Garland, for sure.
Reminds me of a used car salesman.
LOL! Matt’s the lowest piece of human garbage ever elected by the American people! His daddy was President of the Senate in the great State of Florida for decades, and taught his boy the fine art of corruption and personal aggrandizement from the public coffers. But Matt surpassed his daddy in so many evil little ways.
Feels swampy … that said only 20-30% of “R” senators are true MAGA.
DOGE won’t work without companion legislation.
The Gaetz nomination might lead the Senate to disallow recess appointments (once in recess he’s got the job until the Senate goes through the confirmation process or a year elapses). But those folks ought to remember: Jeff Sessions didn’t have the backbone to fight the phony Russia Russia nonsense; Rod Rosenstein was the Republican appointee who selected Mueller (who knows if he was a Democrat or not); Mueller was nominally a Republican; Barr was nominally a Republican. You simply can’t trust a RINO.
Amen
What you are describing is only the surface of what is going on.
If you believe that Thune and Friends just are doing their civic duty, well there is much more to it then that.
But that it does center around Constitutional powers of a President will be revealed if necessary in time.
Maybe after the innauguration MTG’s Jewish space laser will misfire and destroy the White House. Cosmic justice to the rescue!
for who? Russia? China? North Korea? Who are you batting for?
Prediction: Trump will abdicate and then nominate a horse to be president after JD Vance falls out of a window at Trump Tower.
https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1856807207360249891
He better get Matt Gaetz confirmed for Attorney General ASAP. EXCELLENT choice! I would love to see him on the Supreme Court. I think there will be multiple openings (deaths and/or retirements) on the Supreme Court during Trumps Presidency.
We already have sex criminals on the supreme court. No need to add another.
Well, there are a couple of lesbians, but I don’t think they’re supposed to be called sex criminals these days.
It should be obvious that now that the Republicans control all 3 houses, the clock is ticking in the eyes of the public for them to get things done.
So if in 2 years it’s been bickering and little accomplished, I’d expect the public to harshly vote out senate/house members in the mid terms. I presume the Republicans know this too (they experienced it during Trumps 1st term after bickering with him for 2 years) and aren’t eager to repeat that. Hence the rush to get things done so that they can show the public they are doing something.
Absolutely no excuses.
They did poot last time… and he’s even more addled now.
It’s what the Dems should have done when Biden started. Had they, Trump would have been in jail and unlikely to run for President.
The only way Trump can ensure that republicans can’t stymie him like they did in 2017-2019 is to be willing to shut down the government for an extended time. ZFG. His refusal to do that in the past is how he got rolled. With no more reelection considerations, he needs to be willing to dig his heels in. Grab the f***ers by the ballsack and twist. Later he can say “oops, sorry. That was an accident.”
I love how Gaetz pick is making heads explode. That’s the point. Someone once said elections have consequences. Shouldn’t have lied for 4 years about Biden’s dementia and then installed a candidate no one wanted. Tough shit.
If Thune allows Gaetz and Gabbard to get confirmed, he’ll go way up in my estimation. I know he’s concerned about that.
Amen to that.
Well, no one could be a bad as McConnell on stuff like preventing recess appointments. Also, Thune is probably better than Cornyn, since Thune wins his home state much more easily and he looks meaner – like Stephen Miller.
Miller just looks crazy.
I agree.
I will defer to this view Mish. I hope you’re right. I’ll give him a chance