UNBELIEVABLE: Turncoat Thune Tells GOP Base to Blame Democrats and NOT Senate Republicans for SAVE America Act Failure — Says Elect More Republicans and Make It a Campaign Issue
by Jim Hᴏft Aug. 20, 2026 2:20 pm284
RINO Senate Majority Leader John Thune is now telling frustrated Republican voters to redirect their anger away from Senate Republicans and toward Democrats after the GOP-controlled chamber failed to send President Trump’s SAVE America Act to his desk.
The South Dakota RINO argued that Republicans should stop fighting among themselves over the stalled election-integrity legislation and instead use the bill as a campaign issue ahead of the November midterms.
And Thune once again made clear that he has NO intention of eliminating the legislative filibuster to get Trump’s election legislation across the finish line.
The SAVE America Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and impose photo-identification requirements for voting. Republicans currently control the Senate, but the legislative filibuster generally requires 60 votes to advance major legislation.
President Trump has repeatedly demanded that Thune and Senate Republicans find a way to pass the legislation and has publicly called for terminating the filibuster if necessary.
Speaking to reporters, Thune said:
“First is, there are no Democrats who are gonna vote for this. All 47 voted against the SAVE Act five times. So, let’s make this an issue in the campaign. How about we go out and turn our fire on Democrats and make it about them opposing the SAVE Act?
He’s turned fire on you. So we’re not—that’s the point. So we’re not getting any Democrats.
The second thing is, we are not getting rid of the legislative filibuster. The votes aren’t there to do that. I’ve made it abundantly clear many, many times. And it seems to me, some days, that I’m the only one here who can count to 50 in this town.
But we don’t have the votes to get rid of the filibuster, and there aren’t—we aren’t flipping 10 Democrats to vote for the SAVE America Act.”
WATCH:
In an interview with Fox News, Thune criticized Democrats for being out of touch with the American people.
“The president made the argument, ‘Well, pass the SAVE America Act, it will motivate our base,’” Thune said. “Yeah, but I think the base can be plenty motivated by other issues, and particularly by the president getting out there on the campaign trail and telling them why it’s important that they elect Republicans to the Senate.”
Thune continued:
“Everybody has their own ideas about how best to communicate our message, but I think our message between now and November ought to be why the Democrats are completely out of step with the American people and why we need to elect more Republicans so we can do things like the SAVE America Act.”
More from Fox News:
++Thune said, “Why not turn [the SAVE America Act] into a campaign issue,” and argued that the key to winning out this cycle will be independent voters who aren’t moored to either party.==
But the Beltway issues, like nuking the filibuster and squabbling over legislation that has stalled since March, aren’t helping make the case to those voters, for now, that Republicans should be in charge.
“If you look at Maine, in North Carolina, in Ohio, in Iowa, in Alaska, you know, it’s the Indy voters, it is the middle of the electorate, and we are not talking to them when we are arguing with each other over whether or not to eliminate the filibuster,” Thune said.
“I mean, that’s just not an issue that’s going to win the hearts and minds of the American people in November,” he continued.“So, I’d turn my fire on the Democrats, attack them for being against something that is fundamentally straightforward, simple to understand for the American people, and realize that the best way to get the SAVE Act across the finish line is to elect more Republican senators.”
Democrats absolutely deserve to be hammered for opposing proof of citizenship and photo ID. Every vulnerable Democrat should be forced to explain why noncitizens should not have to prove their eligibility before entering the federal voter-registration system.
But Senate Republicans cannot expect the base to ignore their own failure to break the logjam. The American people gave Republicans control of the Senate to fight, and they failed horribly.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/unbelievable-turncoat-thune-tells-gop-base-blame-democrats/