Tipsheet

John Thune Fumes After Getting Roasted by Karoline Leavitt Over His Incompetence

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 23, 2026 3:30 PM

Fox Business' Larry Kudlow said it perfectly: the Senate GOP is bungling everything. At every turn, they crash into a wall. He tore into Sen. Steve Lankford (R-OK), by pretty much saying this caucus has no idea what they're doing. And the fish rots from the head here:

And now John Thune is getting uppity over being called out by the Trump White House? 

Here’s the thing, John—if you don’t want to get roasted, do your job. It’s not like he’s pushing for a national reciprocity law, which would be full of hurdles. The SAVE America Act has support from 70 percent of Americans, and a slim majority is no excuse: Speaker Mike Johnson has a more unruly group, but he also has a slim majority. He was able to get three bills passed. He also managed to pass 12 appropriations bills this winter, most of which funded the government through this year. The Department of Homeland Security bill, however, caused a headache, with the agency shut down for almost 100 days. Thune opted to work with Democrats on a deal; he believed them—the worst part—and they schooled him.

He’s repeating the same strategy with this government funding measure to prevent a shutdown on September 30. Once again, Democrats want a government shutdown, and the Senate's approach of passing its own funding bill only delays the process and increases the risk of derailment, all because Thune cannot get things done. 

He’s been roasted by President Trump and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt today during the briefing, where our senior Washington correspondent, Cameron Arcand, also had the honor of asking the first question from the new media seat. 

“She or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?” Thune said, mighty huffy. 

At this point, I’m sure the White House press office could do a better job, Thune. A Ficus plant could—what a miserable failure. 

Speaker Johnson may not have wanted the job, but he gets stuff done. The Senate drags a**, mopes around, complicates the legislative path, and ends up doing the Democrats’ bidding by delaying and increasing the risk to total disaster. 

So, Thune wants to work with Democrats on a spending bill to prevent a shutdown, then said a stopgap through reconciliation was his ‘break glass in case of emergency’ option, and now this:

Thune, to ensure you have a solid 50 votes, is to apply pressure, threaten re-election funds, and taking gavels away. You need to subject some members to "the treatment." Stop being a panican loser. 

When I think of Thune doing his job, I think about this: