Senate Majority Leader John Thune was booed the moment President Trump mentioned his name during his remarks at the Republican midterm convention Wednesday night in Dallas.
Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, has faced scrutiny from Mr. Trump and the Republican base over not aggressively pushing the SAVE America Act toward final passage, and many in the base have grown more frustrated with the majority leader.
Mr. Trump attempted to quell the angry crowd after he first mentioned Mr. Thune’s name. “And John Thune is here from the Senate. Where’s John? Where is John?” he said, over a chorus of boos and jeers from GOP attendees.
“No, no, John is, John is working hard. He’s got great opposition. He’s got great opposition from the Democrats,” Mr. Trump said, attempting to defend Mr. Thune.
“[Sen. Charles] Schumer and these guys are terrible. He’s got great opposition. He’s working very hard. He’s going to have great success. You watch.”
He added, “We are going to have great, great success with our Republican senators.”
While Mr. Thune supports the legislation, he does not support eliminating the legislative filibuster to pass it, as Mr. Trump has wanted him to do. With the filibuster in place, any contentious legislation needs 60 votes to advance, much more than the 53 they have.
“It’s a deep, sort of philosophical debate on a lot of levels, but on a practical level, it’s just not going to happen,” Mr. Thune said of eliminating the filibuster.
“The votes aren’t there to do it,” Mr. Thune recently told KELOLAND News, adding that, on top of the chamber’s current 47 Democrats, “25 or 30” Republican senators support keeping the filibuster in its present form.
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