Thune Faces Delicate Task Leading a Fractured Senate

Sen. John Thune had a little more than three hours to bask in his big victory before Donald Trump dropped an anvil on his head.

- MOLLY BALL

At midday on Nov. 13, Thune's Republican Senate colleagues elected him majority leader, the triumphant capstone to his decades in public life. Just after 3:30 p.m., Trump announced he planned to nominate Matt Gaetz, the polarizing Florida congressman, to be his attorney general-sending GOP senators into a tizzy over the scandal-plagued choice.

"Well, this is going to be a tough one," Thune said with a chuckle, recalling what went through his mind at the time.

The 63-year-old South Dakotan's lanky figure was splayed across a blue brocade armchair in his office in the Capitol as the barren winter landscape cast a cold light. "You're just reminded," he reflected further, "of how challenging the job is going to be." Thune took it in stride, as he does most things. The genial 20-year veteran of the Senate is preternaturally evenkeeled and difficult to rattlequalities he will undoubtedly need in the months to come.

The recent shutdown drama put a spotlight on the fractious House. But the Senate-where it will fall to Thune to manage the process of staffing Trump's administration and shepherd his agenda to crack down on immigration and cut taxes-is where much of the early policymaking action will be. Perhaps no one in Washington will be more central to Trump's governing prospects as Thune seeks to marshal the GOP's 53 Republicans behind the unpredictable leader in the White House. And while optimism and team spirit are the words of the day, some conflict seems unavoidable.

A wave of pressure

Thune-a politician of natural talent who's succeeded at everything he's virtually tried-inevitably will have to choose between being popular and being effective. To win his leadership post, he fended off a wave of outside pressure from Elon Musk, but there is undoubtedly more where that came from.