President Trump dropped a bomb on Senate Republicans over the weekend: he’s not signing a single bill until the SAVE America Act hits his desk. The bill requires voter ID and proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. You know — the kind of thing that 85% of Americans support and that every other functioning democracy on the planet already does.
So naturally, Senate Majority Leader John Thune says it’s “not going to happen.”
Thune isn’t just blocking the bill. He went on record dismissing the millions of Americans demanding it as pawns of a “paid influencer ecosystem.” That’s right — the guy we elected to lead the Senate Republican majority just called YOU a paid shill for wanting to verify that only American citizens vote in American elections.
Senator Mike Lee wasn’t having it. He fired back: “Over the last few months, tens of millions of Americans have jumped on the cause of supporting the SAVE America Act. I regret that some in Washington are dismissing all those who feel this way as somehow ‘paid influencers’ or the product of paid influencers.”
Lee’s being diplomatic. The rest of us aren’t feeling quite so generous.
Here’s where we are. The SAVE America Act passed the House along party lines. It mandates photo ID, proof of citizenship, and limits on mail-in ballots. Trump wants it. The base wants it. Mark Meadows is running a daily public whip count naming which Republican senators support a talking filibuster to push it through — and which ones are hiding behind Thune’s skirt.
The holdouts? The usual suspects. Lisa Murkowski. Susan Collins. Mitch McConnell, who somehow still haunts the Senate like the Ghost of RINOs Past. And right at the top of the list: “Leader” John Thune, who keeps insisting that the votes aren’t there to change the filibuster rules.
Here’s a question, John: whose job is it to GET those votes? Isn’t that literally the majority leader’s entire job description?
Thune’s excuse is that a talking filibuster would open the floor to “unlimited amendments” from Democrats. Oh no! Chuck Schumer might propose amendments! We’d have to — gasp — vote on them! The horror of democracy in action!
Meanwhile, Trump told House Republicans in Miami that the SAVE Act will “guarantee the midterms.” He’s not wrong. Election integrity polls through the roof with every demographic. But Thune would rather protect the cozy Senate “traditions” that let career politicians avoid taking tough votes on camera.
Chuck Schumer called the bill “dead on arrival.” Thune seems to agree with him, which tells you everything you need to know about whose side the Senate Majority Leader is actually on.
Remember when everyone said nuking the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations would “never happen”? Mitch McConnell said it. The Senate institutionalists said it. Then Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and suddenly — poof — the filibuster for judicial nominations vanished overnight. McConnell pulled the trigger because the base demanded it and because the political cost of NOT confirming Gorsuch was higher than the cost of changing the rules.
That’s exactly the math Thune is staring at right now, except he’s too busy calling his own voters “paid influencers” to see it.
Mark Meadows’ daily whip count is doing something very specific: it’s creating a public record of who stood where. Every senator who refuses to back the talking filibuster is getting their name posted on social media every single day. That’s not a “paid influencer” operation — that’s a primary target list being assembled in real time.
There are 53 Republican senators. You need 50 to change the rules. Meadows has already publicly pressured John Cornyn into flipping — the Texas AG Ken Paxton leaned on him and suddenly Cornyn’s name moved from the “holdout” column to the “yes” column. That template is about to get repeated.
“But the votes aren’t there!” Sure they’re not, John. The votes weren’t there for nuking the judicial filibuster either — until they were. The votes weren’t there for the nuclear option on executive nominations when Harry Reid did it in 2013 — until they were. The pattern is always the same: institutional resistance, mounting base pressure, a few key flips, and then the dam breaks. Usually at 2 AM on a Tuesday when nobody’s watching C-SPAN.
(Somebody should tell Thune that Mark Meadows is still adding names to that list every morning. Tick-tock.)
Trump’s ultimatum — no signatures on anything — is a pressure cooker with a timer. Every bill Republicans want signed is now hostage to the SAVE Act. Defense spending. Tax cuts. All of it sitting on Trump’s desk unsigned until Thune figures out whose team he’s on.
Before this is over, one of two things happens: either Thune caves and finds a way to get the SAVE Act to the floor, or Trump uses his Truth Social megaphone to turn “Thune” into a four-letter word in every Republican primary for the next two cycles. Ask Liz Cheney how that movie ends.
Mark my words — this bill passes before the August recess, and John Thune’s name goes on it whether he likes it or not. The only question is how much political skin he loses before he figures out that the “paid influencers” he’s mocking are the same voters who decide whether he stays majority leader.