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John Thune and Donald Trump are texting buddies now.
The new Senate majority leader and the president-elect have very different personalities: One is a genial midwesterner with a measured approach to politics, the other a brusque New Yorker with a fondness for hyperbole. Not too long ago, Thune was supporting a Trump rival in the 2024 primary. Before that, Trump wanted to oust Thune from his seat.
But these days, Republican leaders are well aware of their shared destiny over the next four years, and that a lack of close coordination will spell political disaster. So Thune and Trump are building a harmonious relationship, with a different feel from the fight-night chumminess that House speaker Mike Johnson has with Trump (though Thune did attend the Army-Navy game with them).
Earlier this month, Thune described his bond with Trump as “evolving.” He told Semafor this week that he put it that way “because I tend to understate things.”
“It’s going really well … I get texts from him. I talk with him fairly regularly on the phone,” Thune said from his new Capitol office overlooking the National Mall. “At the same time, as you know, I don’t over-promise. And I like to keep expectations realistic. And I like to be straight with people.”
Perhaps in the spirit of not over-promising, Thune isn’t guaranteeing all of Trump’s Cabinet will be confirmed. But he’s clearly expended real energy to steer potentially difficult picks through the Senate, an effort that’s increasingly likely to succeed.
That confirmation pace was hardly guaranteed. But after Trump openly ruminated about recess appointments, Thune’s leadership team scheduled 10 straight weeks in session to plow ahead with Trump’s work.
The Trump-Thune bond was rebooted, in a way, after Trump took the presidency, Republicans claimed the Senate and Thune won an internal GOP election to succeed Mitch McConnell as leader. While plenty of conservatives pushed for Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Trump stayed neutral in the Senate leadership battle.
Trump even confided in allies that he thought Thune would win.
“He consistently said to me: ‘I think John Thune is going to be the leader,’” recalled Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “And he also consistently said to me, ‘I’m fine with that.’”
Trump also referred to Thune as “very elegant” in a meeting with the Senate Republican conference last week.
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Trump and McConnell, who criticized the former president after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, had a famously arm’s-length relationship for most of outgoing President Joe Biden’s term.
So one reason that Trump and Thune seem to be working well together is simply that Thune is not McConnell. That factor came up in interviews with multiple people in Trump’s network.
“That’s the basis of everything,” the person close to Trump said.
This person noted that Thune is willing to be more deferential to the president-elect than McConnell. Thune “sees what he wants to do and tries to work around that,” the person said, adding a caveat that “as with all relationships with Trump,” their dynamic could change.
The majority leader said he’s not going to be all happy talk when it comes to executing Trump’s agenda in Congress. Thune often points to his Scandinavian heritage as a reason for his realism about the challenges of his job.
“You can find yourself sometimes trying to achieve other people’s expectations and make people happy all the time. And sometimes you can’t,” Thune explained. “My understanding of the relationship is built around a foundation of: ‘I’m going to tell you what I think.’”
At the moment, Thune is navigating Trump and Johnson’s disparate views on how to pass a party-line Republican tax and border security plan. Thune sees separate bills on national security and taxes as preferable to the “one, big beautiful bill” that Trump has discussed and some House Republicans prefer, but he’s not lobbying too hard.
Thune has made the case for his own two-bill approach but also signaled a willingness to accommodate the one-bill strategy, particularly during a private GOP meeting last week with Trump.
“It’s been a good, direct communication and I saw it in living color in the meeting,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “He’s showing that measured words matter right now.”
Still, the “HoneyThune” — as some Republicans describe the early days of full GOP control — may eventually come to an end as the president-elect’s interest in quick action meets the often-painstaking Senate.
“It’s going to get a hell of a lot tougher,” warned Tillis, a former statehouse speaker.
Senate leaders can’t be cast out on the floor like House speakers, but McConnell was dogged by persistent critics on the right who made his job increasingly difficult. Some Trump allies remain skeptical.
“I don’t trust him,” one of those allies said of Thune. “We shall see.”
Still, among his members Thune seems in the clear. Scott, who lost the leadership race to Thune and talks frequently with Trump and House hardliners, said “my goal is for [Thune] to be successful.”
The View From Lindsey Graham
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pointed to two other critical factors making things easier for Trump and Thune. The first: the majority leader’s appearance. It’s an important factor for Trump, who likened JD Vance’s beard to that of a “young Abraham Lincoln.”
“John looks like central casting,” Graham put it in an interview.
Graham also offered an assessment of Trump’s openness to discord that cuts against conventional wisdom, as he explained how “two really different personalities” like Trump and Thune can work together.
“President Trump will accept criticism and accept disagreements, if he believes you want him to be successful,” Graham said. “And John wants him to be successful.”
Burgess and Shelby’s View
The success of the Trump-Thune partnership rests on results, but also on perception — both Trump’s sense of his own success as well as that of his top allies and the MAGA movement.
Which creates a difficult balancing act for Thune, especially once Trump takes office on Monday. Keeping Trump happy is no easy feat. And while those close to Trump seem to be giving Thune a chance, at least a few of them are doing so reluctantly.
Thune said it’s important to build muscle memory with Trump.
“The more interactions you have, the more he has the opportunity to kind of see you hopefully doing your thing here,” Thune said. “That continues to build and strengthen that relationship and the level of trust that’s going to be necessary to do some really hard things around here.”
Notable
- Thune filled out his leadership team with several Trump-wing senators, Axios reports.
- Trump’s nominees are looking increasingly safe in the GOP Senate, Politico reports.