Rookie Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., might be the unsung hero of the early Trump administration. Moving the Senate with unaccustomed speed and keeping his often disparate Republican caucus largely united should earn acclaim throughout the Republican Party for his leadership ability.
At this writing, the Senate has confirmed 19 Trump Cabinet and sub-Cabinet nominations and, through a cumulative 1,197 Republican confirmation votes. In only seven of these 1,197 instances did a Republican fail to support the appointees, and the Nay votes came from only three GOP senators: former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (3 times), Susan Collins, R-Maine (2 times), and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska (2 times). The remaining 50 Republicans voted unanimously for all of the nominations, though in a few instances certain senators were absent.
Included within this group are the four nominations that were expected to be the most tenuous and challenging to confirm. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FBI Director Kash Patel all cleared the confirmation process and gave Thune a 1.000 batting average for so far shepherding all nominees through what is often an adverse and complicated process.
Of course, the threat of Trump-endorsed primary challengers against those in-cycle Republicans who might have been shaky regarding some of the nominations certainly did not hurt.
Yet, Thune used that to his advantage, too, and particularly for the Hegseth appointment, which was the one instance requiring Vice President J.D. Vance to break a tie vote. Bringing publicity to Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst's private meeting with Hegseth and then highlighting her converted support for the nominee proved to be the necessary momentum starter that led to the new secretary's final acceptance.
Perhaps the most impressive part surrounding the confirmation process is the speed with which the votes have occurred. Such is true because many of the individuals were viewed as controversial in their own right, compounded with coming from a polarizing president.
The second-term Trump confirmation process is five approved nominees ahead of former President Joe Biden's slate. In 2021, former Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., faced much easier political circumstances and presided over a united majority Democrat caucus, yet the confirmation rate was slower. Additionally, the current confirmations are way ahead of Trump's first slate of Cabinet selections in 2017.
In the latter instance, only seven of the initial Trump nominees had been confirmed at the commensurate time.
Leader Thune's alacrity and management of the action should be noted in a broader historical context since these are the fastest cumulative confirmations the public has seen since Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., moved the George W. Bush appointments through the Senate in 2001. The Bush picks, however, were uniformly establishment-accepted, unlike most of the Trump choices, who lay clearly outside the Washington inner circle.
Leader Thune also moved quickly and skillfully to pass a 62-page budget resolution, setting the stage for enactment of the president's energy, border, and defense priorities. And he did so ahead of the House bill, of which Trump favorably proclaimed as "a big, beautiful bill."
Holding together 52 Republicans in support of the budget resolution, Thune lost only one Republican — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — on final passage. That show of unity followed 10 hours of roll call votes on 25 amendments, most of which were defeated largely along party lines.
Thune's deft leadership is strengthened by an insight once and best articulated by Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately," Franklin allegedly remarked.
Following the Senate's lead, House Republicans ought to take note of what they too can accomplish, even with the slimmest of majorities, if they stick together. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., knows this all too well.
An earlier Senate majority leader, Howard Baker, believed that "being leader of the Senate was like herding cats. It is trying to make 99 independent souls act in concert under rules that encourage polite anarchy and embolden people who find majority rule a dubious proposition at best."
Thune has, in two short months, demonstrated he is a cat herder of the highest order.
James Carter is a Principal with Navigators Global. He previously headed President-elect Donald Trump's tax team during the 2016-17 transition and served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Jim Ellis is the founder of the Ellis Insight election analysis service.