Thune’s Quiet Deal With Trump: Power Without The Drama

One year after taking over as Senate Majority Leader, John Thune has answered the question many skeptics were asking: could an old school , process-oriented senator function under President Donald Trump?

The answer is yes – Thune is going full send on Republican initiatives, providing Trump with an arsenal of wins to brag about as we head into midterms. 

Trump of course dominates the headlines – using his bully pulpit to excoriate enemies, while steamrolling those who step out of line with ‘revised’ agenda like MTG and Thomas Massie. Apparently he’s made Foreign Intervention Great Again (with some arguing that removing Maduro denied foreign adversaries a foothold in the region). 

And while mainstream MAGA twists itself into a pretzel to justify the whiplash, Thune has been quietly running the Senate the way it has long been run – using majorities, rules, and procedural control to move legislation and nominations efficiently, Punshbowl News reports following an interview with Thune marking his first year as GOP leader.

When Thune replaced Mitch McConnell, pundits assumed that friction with the executive branch was a foregone conclusion. Thune’s skepticism of tariffs, his attachment to Senate norms, and his discomfort with public political combat seemed ill-suited to a president who thrives on chaos as a tool to apply pressure. Instead, he’s making hay while the sun shines. 

In 2025, Senate Republicans passed a sweeping tax-and-spending-cut bill, confirmed Cabinet nominees at a historic pace, and altered Senate rules to accelerate nominees stalled by Democratic obstruction. These were not concessions extracted by Trump so much as long-standing Republican priorities that moved once political obstacles were cleared.

Trump supported the outcomes. Thune managed the process.

“I feel like I’ve gotten to a point where [Trump] respects enough how I view the world and look at these issues,” Thune told Punchbowl. “And he has an understanding that I want what’s in his and our best interest. Let’s talk about the things we can do and not the things we can’t.”

The boundaries of the relationship are most visible in what Thune has refused to do. Despite pressure from Trump and his allies, he has not eliminated the filibuster or abandoned the blue-slip process for judicial nominees. Those guardrails remain intact, but they remain intact alongside rapid confirmations, large spending packages, and of course – they need Trump’s signature at the end of the day. 

Rather than confronting Trump publicly when disagreements arise, Thune has chosen to raise concerns privately. He has said he prefers to “not litigate these things in public.” 

Democrats argue they no longer trust Thune, accusing him of failing to push back when Trump pressures Congress on spending and funding decisions. Republicans complain that Thune is too cautious and too deferential to process. Thune’s response is essentially the same to both: public resistance is not how power operates in the current environment.

“The president has his way of doing things,” Thune said. “We’ve got to figure out how to work around that.”

Meanwhile, Thune continues to pursue bipartisan deals on housing, market structure, and permitting reform, and he has left the door open to a limited Obamacare compromise. He has acknowledged how difficult legislating has become in a polarized, election-year environment, calling these “not normal times.”