The New York Times is admitting something they previously pretended did not exist, Mitch McConnell is ready to fight Donald Trump.  You guys have watched this battle before, and you guys know that John Thune is the exact same ideological construct as his mentor, Mitch McConnell.  We do not need to pretend here.

An additional aspect to watch closely.  We know the Intelligence Community, the “Six Ways from Sunday” group, are going to do whatever is needed in order to protect their equity interests from the return of President Trump.  Again, no pretending is needed.

Currently, as Senate Majority Leader, John Thune elevates to the intelligence “oversight” group known as the Gang of Eight.  Four members of the Gang of Eight (Go8) come out of the Senate, and four from the House.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are three of the four from the Senate.  However, we still do not know who will join Thune from the GOP side. Who will be the Republican SSCI Chairman?

Internally, Susan Collins is now Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Mitch McConnell is now Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, a specifically taken position to retain control of Senate rules (think Cloture, Filibuster and importantly, Recess Appointments via Senate schedule).

With Thune on the Gang of Eight, Collins as Appropriations (spending), and McConnell in charge of ‘rules’, who joins Thune on the Gang of Eight?

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The RGA as an organization is the state level equivalent of the Mitch McConnell’s federal never-Trump group.  The RGA is notorious for selecting the “approved republican” candidates who are permitted to run for Governor.

If a gubernatorial candidate does not get the approval of the RGA, the candidate can never win the election.  All strategies are deployed to stop him/her.

With the American voters having previously rejected the RGA candidate for Republican president, Ron DeSantis, the RGA announces who will lead their counterattack to regain control.

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT – The Republican Governors Association (RGA) today announced Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has been elected to serve as RGA Chair, and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte will serve as RGA Vice Chair for 2025. (read more)

The RGA is as predictable as the “six ways from Sunday” organization.

And tomorrow is a Thursday.

…“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.”

~ Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

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The “Big Ugly” was always a description of the battle that few understood.  You cannot be betrayed by your enemies; that happens when your allies reveal themselves against your interests.  Majority Leader John Thune will play his cards carefully in order to extract maximum damage.

The Senate is factually the core of republican opposition to MAGA and President Trump.  The visible battle against Obama, Biden, Harris and the professional political left, always consumes the most attention.  However, it is the less-visible battle against the entrenched ideological republicans that proves to be the hardest.

The Republicans in the upper chamber will not relinquish power easily.  They have a multitude of weapons to use against the insurgency of President Trump supporters.  We are seeing this play out now in the alignment of Republican Senators who stand in opposition to President Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz as U.S. Attorney General, and this recent report aligns with exactly the type of move we would expect.

The basic outline is that senate leadership will reluctantly support Matt Gaetz for Main Justice, where ‘support’ means they will not directly oppose; in exchange for the nomination of FBI Director Mike Rogers to defend their interests at FBI.

This is the typical type of deal the DeceptiCons are well known for.

Thune and McConnell (in background) have yet to reveal who they have planned to place in the chair positions of multiple committees. We are very interested to see who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence because that mutually dependent relationship is the core of the IC influence in the legislative branch.  The same may be said for the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and ultimately the Gaetz nomination.

This recent report aligns with information we have received from the senate staff offices who are discussing the Gaetz nomination.  Thune would not make such a proposal openly, for obvious reasons, but intermediaries would relay the message between the upper chamber and the transition team.

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It has come to my attention that most of MAGA, specifically those who do not understand the history of Republicans in the Senate, support a return to Senatorial and Parliamentary norms, where 60 votes are needed in order to advance any legislative intent. [READ HERE] Stupid is, as stupid does.

Prior to the 2024 election, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, promised to end the filibuster rule and change the Senate to a simple ‘majority rules’ body.  However, in the aftermath of the 2024 election outcome, where Democrats are now in the minority, Chuck Schumer has a reversal of prior opinion and is requesting the Republican leadership to retain the filibuster rule – giving power to the Democrats who now hold minority position.

Into this mix of UniParty and DeceptiCon political constructs, the online MAGA community are now advocating for a return to old Senatorial rules where amendments can be offered to all bills proposed and the 60-vote threshold is retained for cloture, filibuster power and legislative passage.

Despite knowing Majority Leader Schumer was going to crush them, Senator Rick Scott, Senator John Cornyn and yes, now, Majority Leader John Thune, are taking the high road and promising to keep the power of the Democrat minority in place.  A more apropos example of “Battered Conservative Syndrome” has never been so clear.

WASHINGTON DC – […] “The short version of that is: Please don’t do to us what we were going to do to you. Schumer is obviously concerned that Republicans might embrace a scheme to eliminate the filibuster and pass all sorts of consequential legislation with no Democratic input at all. That wouldn’t be bipartisan! Fortunately for Schumer, Republicans have been more principled than Democrats when it comes to the legislative filibuster, and to the filibuster in general. Republicans realize that even though they will have the majority for the next two years, they might be back in the minority at any time after that. So, Schumer will not get it good and hard the way he planned to give it to Republicans.” (more)

This is exactly how ‘republicanism’ infects the MAGA movement, ultimately and predictably positioning the future republican voters frustrated and shouting at trees.  Democrats, together with Mitch McConnell and John Thune love this, because it retains their lucrative business model.

Let me start by reminding the MAGA victims, that’s YOU, of the position of Democrats:

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Newly elected Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), held a press conference today to answer questions and introduce his leadership team: Assistant Majority Leader, also called the Republican “whip” John Barrasso (R-WY), Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR), Republican Policy Committee Chair Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Republican Conference Vice Chair James Lankford (R-OK), National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC). WATCH:

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[Now we must focus on the very important chairmanships of the senate committees that John Thune will decide.]

In the first ballot the results were: Thune 23, Cornyn 15, Scott 13.

Scott was removed and the Senators went to the second ballot between Thune and Cornyn.

As expected, the Scott coalition split 50/50. Thune picked up 6 votes from Scott’s group.  Cornyn picked up 7 votes from Scott’s group.

Final Vote:  John Thune 29, John Cornyn 24.

It was always going to be this way.  Remember, the Senate is a silo -by design- isolated from influence of the American public.

If we want to change the dynamic, we must repeal the 17th amendment and return to the original constitutional construct: Senators appointed to represent the interests of each state, by State Legislature.

The Senate was designed to represent the interests of the State, not ‘the people’; that’s the job of the House of Representatives.

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