South Dakota U-S Senator John Thune, the Senate Minority Whip, earned the Twitter wrath of President Trump last night because of his opposition to the efforts of some GOP House members to overturn the results of last month’s election.
The plan to challenge the results in Congress needs the support of at least one senator and Thune, the chamber’s #2 Republican, said Monday night that he doesn’t know of any senators committed to doing that.
Thune said of the challenge, “it’s just not going anywhere. It’s going down like a shot dog. And I just don’t think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.”
Trump responded last night – right after issuing a wave of pardons and making a stunning 11th hour statement opposing the new covid stimulus legislation that just passed the House and Senate by wide margins.
Calling Thune “Mitch’s boy,” a reference to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump tweeted that Thune should “just let it play out. South Dakota doesn’t like weakness. He will be primaried in 2022, political career over!!!”
Trump also called Thune, who’s supported the president on legislation nearly 94% of the time, a RINO – Republican in name only.
Shortly after Trump’s tweet was published, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem took to her private Twitter page and said she would not challenge Thune in 2022 but instead plans to run for a second term that year.
Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender also posted a response, saying Thune’s statements were “the logical conclusion” of the efforts to challenge the election.