Despite President Donald Trump’s position as leader of the Republican Party, Senate Majority Leader John Thune remains the one steering affairs in the Senate.
President Donald Trump, who is expected to join Senate Republicans for lunch at the US Capitol on Wednesday, has become increasingly frustrated with hearing resistance from the Senate leader as he pushes some of his more controversial agenda items, according to sources familiar with the matter. However, John Thune continues to enjoy strong backing ahead of the midterm elections, while some Republican senators have grown more confident and appear more willing than in recent years to challenge the administration’s position.
According to more than a dozen interviews with senators and Senate aides, John Thune has faced a difficult period as majority leader, repeatedly navigating politically sensitive issues linked to President Donald Trump’s agenda. While Trump is said to be unhappy that Thune does not always align with his directives, several Republican lawmakers appreciate the South Dakota senator’s willingness to put his political standing with the president on the line in an effort to strengthen the party’s chances of retaining control of the Senate.
Over the coming months, Thune is expected to continue balancing support for a president who expects unwavering loyalty while also defending the Senate and supporting Republican colleagues dealing with their own political challenges.
“The president is creating terms that will never ever be satisfied, so why are we walking into a boxed canyon? That’s what John is confronted with,” retiring Sen. Thom Tillis said. “John Thune is an extraordinary leader. He has the patience of Job.”
The North Carolina Republican added, “I could not do his job.”
For months, President Donald Trump has reportedly expressed frustration over John Thune’s refusal to fast-track a broad federal elections reform bill before the November midterm elections — legislation Trump considers important enough to justify scrapping the filibuster if required. According to people familiar with private discussions, Trump has complained to allies that Thune is not pushing aggressively enough for his agenda and has grown weary of hearing explanations from the Senate majority leader about why the closely divided Senate cannot deliver on his demands.
John Thune has repeatedly stated, both publicly and in private discussions, that there is insufficient support in the Senate to pass President Donald Trump’s proposed voting legislation. Even so, he has agreed to repeatedly bring the measure forward, including during the Senate’s lengthy voting session earlier this month tied to the passage of an immigration enforcement funding bill. Thune has also resisted Trump’s demands to dismiss the Senate parliamentarian — the chamber’s independent rules adviser — or eliminate the filibuster as a way to force the bill through.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who recently lost a primary election to a candidate backed by President Donald Trump, suggested tensions between Trump and John Thune could become problematic.
“It’s not good. I mean, the president depends on the majority leader to get his agenda passed,” Cornyn told reporters.
“As far as I can tell, John Thune is guilty of nothing except telling the president the truth, which is there are not the votes.”
The growing tension between President Donald Trump and John Thune highlights a wider disagreement within the Republican Party over how to navigate the critical months leading up to the midterm elections — a period that could determine whether the party keeps control of Congress or risks stalling the White House’s agenda.
According to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Wednesday’s lunch meeting will serve as a “day of reckoning” and an opportunity for Republicans to address and resolve some of those disagreements.
“We gotta stay together as a team. Right now, we’re kind of a split group,” the Alabama Republican said.
President Donald Trump, acting on his own convictions and backed by a small group of outspoken lawmakers, has continued to urge Republicans to fully embrace his most ambitious priorities, maintaining that his political judgment can lead the party to success — if they are willing to follow his lead.
John Thune, meanwhile, leads a Senate Republican conference that has become increasingly uneasy with some of the president’s policy demands, with a growing number of lawmakers arguing that protecting the party’s Senate majority in November may require resisting Trump on his more contentious proposals.
The rift has become more pronounced in recent weeks following several disagreements between the White House and Senate Republicans, including concerns over Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chief and his failed bid to set up a $1.8 billion fund that opponents say would have largely advantaged political supporters. Just a day before Trump’s scheduled visit to Capitol Hill, the Senate also acted to curb the president’s authority on Iran.
Handling those tense situations has largely rested on Thune’s shoulders. He has worked to manage Republican senators’ concerns over Pulte and even collaborated with Democrats in an effort to quickly advance the confirmation of nominee Jay Clayton for the position, only for the process to be disrupted after the president called off the confirmation hearing.
When a proposed “anti-weaponization” fund from the Department of Justice threatened to derail a major homeland security funding package, Thune reportedly devoted hours to persuading Sen. Bill Cassidy to oppose a Democratic amendment that could have killed the legislation. His efforts ultimately enabled three Republican senators up for reelection to side with Democrats in rejecting the controversial fund.
As senators debated the politically sensitive idea of supporting millions of dollars for President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project amid rising fuel costs, Thune opted for a hands-off approach, allowing lawmakers to chart their own course and voice their own stance on the matter.
“I am not sure anybody else could do it as well as John Thune has done it,” said GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “He delivers on the president’s agenda quite nicely but never completely caves into the president. Not because he wouldn’t on certain things, but he understands his constituency, which, ya know, is 52 other Republican senators.”
Thune is currently heading a Republican conference that has grown somewhat more willing to openly express frustration with the president. Two GOP senators — Cornyn and Cassidy — were defeated in spring primaries by candidates endorsed by Trump, while Sen. Thom Tillis is set to retire, leaving them and others less constrained by reelection pressures.
The experience of seeing the president back a challenger against Cornyn’s opponent — even though many considered the Texas senator broadly supportive of Trump — has sent ripples through the Republican conference, according to several senators and aides who spoke to CNN.
“Republicans have been deferential to the president to a point that doesn’t seem to have done any good,” Cornyn said. “We’ve learned some lessons. If you support the president, it doesn’t mean he’s going to support you. Part of the problem is people who are up in 2028 are thinking, ‘Holy crap, could this happen to me?’”
Allies of Thune contend that the current strain with the president may only be temporary. They point to his long-standing, cordial relationship with Trump, noting that the South Dakota senator has helped advance key priorities such as the president’s major tax cuts, supported progress on significant housing reform, overseen a historically fast confirmation of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, and consistently provided frank assessments during frequent phone calls about what the closely divided Senate can realistically achieve.
“I think Trump genuinely likes and respects him. Compare that to some other people, that isn’t the dynamic that exists,” one GOP senator said.
President Donald Trump has at times spoken positively about Thune, referring to him earlier this month as a “good man.” In turn, Thune has worked to maintain a strong relationship with the president, while also making it clear that certain White House priorities lack sufficient Senate support to move forward.
In a reflection of Trump’s apparent acknowledgment of both Thune’s limited authority and his strong backing within the GOP conference, the president has resisted pressure from some MAGA allies to move against or replace the Senate majority leader.
“The White House and President Trump have enjoyed working closely with Leader Thune and Seante Republicans to deliver on many important promises to the American people,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement downplaying the difference between Trump and Thune. “We look forward to continuing these close relationships and fulfilling President Trump’s priorities that Americans elected him to enact.”
However, in recent weeks, people familiar with the dynamics have acknowledged that the relationship between the two has become strained.
“I don’t think he has the best relationship in the world right now with John Thune,” said one Trump adviser, who described the president as particularly frustrated with Thune’s insistence on preserving long-held Senate customs. “The problem is Trump looks at John Thune as [Mitch] McConnell 2.0, and that’s not a good thing.”
Within sections of the White House, Thune’s influence is said to have weakened, with some officials drawing unflattering comparisons to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has earned praise from President Donald Trump and senior aides for pushing key elements of the administration’s agenda through the House on very narrow margins.
Advisers and allies said Johnson has also invested significant time and effort in cultivating President Donald Trump’s confidence, more so than Thune — making frequent trips to the White House and Mar-a-Lago and showing a readiness to explore creative strategies to advance Trump’s agenda, even when doing so risks pushback within his own conference.
“He’s a fighter and he understands the ‘America First’ base, and I’m not sure if Thune does,” the Trump adviser said.
Supporters of Thune argue that the House and Senate operate under fundamentally different rules and dynamics, meaning he does not have the same tools as his House counterpart to visibly demonstrate to Trump how he is advancing the president’s agenda.
“If you’re the speaker and you have 218 [votes], you have everything. But if you’re the Senate majority leader, you’re always going to have three or four people who for various reasons on any given day need something or feel strongly about something,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who remains close to the White House.
However, he added: “I think Trump is not particularly interested in constitutional process, and he’s not particularly interested in Thune’s problems.”
In the lead-up to Wednesday’s closely watched lunch, Thune has expressed hope that Senate Republicans will convey to the president that he is not the sole obstacle to Trump’s agenda, but rather serving as the voice and intermediary for the broader GOP conference.
