Shortly after President Trump declared that South Dakota Senator John Thune’s “political career is over”, the state governor and Trump ally Christine Noem, the second Republican in the Senate, called “a friend” and said she would not “challenge” Thune when he is on re-election 2022.
The president’s fireworks came Tuesday night when Trump tweeted “Republicans in the Senate are forgetting so fast. Right now they would be down to 8 seats without me supporting them in the last election. RINO John Thune,” Mitch’s boy “, should just let it play out. South Dakota does not like weakness. He will be primary 2022, political career over !!! “
Trump did not say why he was aiming for Thune, but his tweet came a day after the longtime senator dismissed pressure from the president to try to achieve the results of the presidential election when a joint congressional session scheduled for January 6 is canceled. to formally certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Trump at 306-232 Electoral College.
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Thune told reporters that the president’s plan, backed by some strong Trump allies in the House of Representatives, “just does not go anywhere” and that “in the Senate it would go down like a shotgun.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., With, from left, sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., McConnell, John Thune, RS.D. and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Speak to Reporters at Capitol Hill, Washington, February 26, 2019. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The president has refused to allow the election to Biden, even after the voting school last week, and has repeatedly accused without providing concrete evidence that the election was “RIGGED” due to “massive voter fraud”.
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Trump has also repeatedly targeted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the longtime GOP senator from Kentucky last week acknowledged Biden’s victory. McConnell won re-election last month and would not face voters again in another six years.
Thune, a former congressman who was first elected to the Senate in 2004, is far from a “RINO” who stands for Republican-in-Name-Only. He is considered one of the most trusted Republican voters in the House and is not seen as a vulnerable senator.
Noem, one of the few Republicans in South Dakota with effort and size that could potentially challenge Thune 2022, wasted no time in dispelling such a view.
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The governor tweeted: “@ Johnthune is a friend of mine, and I will not challenge him. I am honored to be governor of South Dakota and will ask the people to give me an opportunity to continue serving them as governor in 2022.”
In recent weeks, the president has also targeted other Republicans who have either acknowledged Biden’s victory or refused to help the president when he tried to turn the election around. Among those attacked are the Georgian government Brian Kemp and the Ohio government Mike DeWine, both of whom are up for re-election in 2022.