John Thune, the soft-spoken senator from South Dakota who’s never made anyone’s blood pressure rise, has just been chosen as the new Senate Majority Leader. The man’s practically a political monk: calm, unflashy, never caught in a scandal, and with the drama level of a carefully arranged bedspread. And now he’s stepping into the spotlight, in a role previously reserved for more, let’s say, headline-generating Republicans. The Senate GOP just picked him over Rick Scott—the guy Trump personally endorsed for this job. You know, Rick Scott: Trump’s poster boy for “We’re Doing This My Way.”
So, what does it mean that the GOP chose Thune, a guy as Trump-averse as a vegetarian at a Texas barbecue?
The Legend of Thune: David Beats Goliath (But Then Keeps It Low-Key)
Thune’s rise to power in the Senate is kind of legendary, or at least it is if you live in South Dakota. He’s been around since 2004, when he toppled Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, a feat that practically made him South Dakota’s Batman. But Thune’s never been one to brag. In fact, he could probably teach a master class in how to avoid the spotlight. Thune doesn’t go for grand speeches, and he’s definitely not the guy firing off tweets with all-caps rants. He’s more likely to make a strategic move without anyone realizing until six months later. If Trump is the brash reality star yelling “You’re fired!” at the end of each episode, Thune is the guy who quietly exits the room with everyone’s wallet.
Thune and Trump: Not Exactly BFFs
Thune has supported plenty of Republican measures over the years, which means he voted with Trump roughly 90% of the time during Trump’s first term. So, on paper, it looks like he was right in line with the Trump agenda. But that’s like saying you’re “in line” with your mother-in-law because you both like cranberry sauce. Sure, he’s been a good Republican, but Thune was never on Trump’s Christmas card list.
When Trump pushed to overturn the 2020 election, Thune didn’t just say no—he let out a verbal gut-punch that raised eyebrows across the country, saying the effort would “go down like a shot dog.” There’s no soft-pedaling that one. Thune went with a metaphor so blunt you’d expect it to show up in a Western film. He didn’t just disagree; he shut down the whole idea with a shot of “No, thank you.”
So, for Trump’s base, Thune’s not exactly a saint. They see him as a card-carrying member of the establishment, one who hasn’t exactly been waving the Trump flag. Thune is more about traditional conservative values, you know—the ones that don’t involve storming the Capitol or skipping civics class.
Thune’s New Role: A Calm Guy in a Very Loud Room
Now, Thune’s got the Senate Majority Leader’s job, and with it, the unenviable task of keeping the Senate GOP together while Trump and his MAGA crowd are busy trying to remake the party in their image. Thune is the definition of steady—like, Midwestern stoic steady. But even he’s going to have to navigate some serious political landmines. He’s walking into a room half-filled with folks who think compromise is a dirty word and the other half who think it’s the only way they’ll survive.
The question is, will Thune play nice and try to steer his party back toward something resembling traditional conservatism? Or will he just close his eyes, say a prayer, and let the Trump-aligned senators do what they do best—make the rest of us question what exactly they’re doing up there?
It’s a delicate balance. Thune’s got a style that could best be described as “introverted Eagle Scout.” He doesn’t want drama; he wants to pass bills and maybe shake hands about it afterward. But with Trump back in office come January, his leadership will be tested by forces far louder and far less interested in decorum than he is.
The Next Four Years: Or, How Long Can John Thune Keep His Sanity?
Here’s the thing about Thune: he’s a man who truly believes in the old-school rules of government. He’s a coalition builder, a negotiator. He’s the guy who wants to sit everyone down and say, “Let’s work this out.” Which is fine and good—until you remember that he’s now leading a group where half the members don’t even believe the government should be working, period.
So the next few years for Thune could be like trying to keep the peace at a family reunion where one side of the family wants to play board games, and the other wants to set the table on fire. He’s got to figure out a way to keep everyone happy without losing himself in the process. And that might mean Thune will find himself in a position he’s not exactly comfortable with: challenging a president of his own party when he feels it’s necessary.
The GOP has given John Thune the Senate’s steering wheel at a time when there’s a very real tug-of-war over where, exactly, the Republican Party is going. And the big question is whether Thune can steer it in a direction that isn’t straight into a brick wall. If he can hold his ground and find some middle ground between the MAGA movement and the more traditional conservatives, he might just pull it off. If not, we’re in for a long four years of Senate Majority Leader John Thune saying, “This is fine,” while everything behind him is on fire.
