Sen. John Thune delivered a blunt “reality” check to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, warning that the president’s latest scheme to force through a controversial voting bill simply doesn’t add up in the Senate.
Trump has recently been pushing hard for passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, which would tighten federal voting rules ahead of the midterm elections.
In a fiery Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump declared the bill “supersedes everything else.” The president even attached a threat to the demand, saying he would refuse to sign other legislation until Congress passed the measure.
The 79-year-old also urged Republicans not to settle for what he called a “WATERED DOWN VERSION” and instead to“GO FOR THE GOLD.”
But the Senate Republican majority leader poured cold water on the plan when reporters asked whether Trump’s strategy could actually work.
Trump has floated the idea that Republicans could muscle the bill through by invoking a filibuster or even a so-called “talking filibuster”—a tactic in which senators hold the floor for hours to stall proceedings. The problem, Thune told reporters, is that the tactic doesn’t actually help the majority party pass a bill.
“The votes aren’t there, one, to nuke the filibuster, and the votes aren’t there for a talking filibuster,” Thune said. “It’s just a reality.”
Despite the president’s chilling warning demanding Republicans “Do not fail,” Thune said he had already discussed the limitations of the plan directly with Trump, and asserted that it is “very hard to see” bringing home a win for the party.
“I’m the one who has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here,” he said.
The South Dakota senator said GOP leaders have already run through the available options, and the conclusion is unavoidable.
Under current Senate rules, most legislation—including the SAVE Act—needs 60 votes to advance. Republicans hold 53 seats, meaning they would need at least seven Democrats to break a filibuster. It’s a level of bipartisan support that Thune said appears highly unlikely, arguing that despite the president’s assertion, “there’s no getting around it.”
The SAVE Act itself proposes several sweeping changes to federal voting procedures. Its central provisions would require voters to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and place restrictions on mail-in ballots.
Critics say it could create major barriers for millions of legitimate voters.
The bill has already passed the Republican-controlled House, but the Senate presents a far steeper challenge.
Even if Republicans could unify behind the measure itself, Thune noted, they would still need agreement on the procedural steps needed to move it forward.
To pull it off, Thune said, lawmakers would need unity from both parties on the bill itself and undergo “the process to be able to defeat amendments that would undo the legislation in the first place.”
That kind of alignment is rare in the Senate—and Thune said the historical record backs that up.
“We can’t find a piece of legislation in history that’s been passed that way,” he cautioned.
Meanwhile, the White House has already softened Trump’s sweeping ultimatum.
The president had warned he would refuse to sign other legislation—including a funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security—until the SAVE Act became law.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
