SAVE ACT: Leader Thune Accuses Others, But Someone Just Brought The Receipts

The SAVE America Act is a no-brainer. It’s got ENORMOUS bipartisan support across the electorate. Even Dem voters support the idea. So why won’t our ‘leaders’, especially the ones who are supposed to be our GOP ‘friends’?

It’s a question that has PO’d the base from time immemorial. The left didn’t even have a Senate Majority under Biden, but managed to ram an aggressive leftwing agenda down our throats without any help, and pass most of their appointments. Now that we control all three branches, we can’t get any of that done, and it’s mostly a question of political will. Not even when the question is this clear:

Leader Thune (who is the first leader in this century if not longer not to have made use of his recess appointment powers to get Presidential appointments into positions of leadership) is looking us all in the eye and telling us that the SAVE ACT isn’t real, but astroturf being pushed by a Paid Influencer Campaign. Basically he’s claiming that Senator Mike Lee and others like him are supporting Voter ID laws because they’re on the take.

The President doesn’t buy what Thune’s shoveling. And neither should we.

🚨 BREAKING: John Thune says support for the SAVE America Act is a “PAID INFLUENCER” campaign

That is TOTAL BULLSHlT, and even PRESIDENT TRUMP called it out today

“The people are DEMANDING it! Every time I go out, [people say] ‘The SAVE America Act, sir! We want the SAVE… pic.twitter.com/5OseJR6uai

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 10, 2026

Enter the most dangerous new voice in social media. Data Republican is one of those tenacious personalities that digs and digs and digs to find all of the dirty little secrets nobody else even knows are being hidden. She played a role in DOGE, and she’s still in a consultant role helping wrangle corruption. But for the most part, she’s doing this digging all on her own.

Thune is NOT going to like what she found. It’s looking like his accusation might actually be one of those ‘admission by projection’ situations.

Here pinned tweet sets up the story:

Punchbowl News? That outfit that specializes on what’s going on in the Swamp?

You bet.

She responds to the following tweet…

…with the now-familiar greeting that signals an incoming beating for the ages:

Hello, Mr. Desiderio, Punchbowl News sells access to Capitol Hill for corporate clients. Their senior Senate reporter is you, Andrew Desiderio. Here’s how the access works: Punchbowl has a weekly show called “Fly Out Day,” taped at the Punchbowl News Townhouse and described on their own site as an “exclusive first look” for Premium subscribers. Those Premium subscribers are the K Street corporate government affairs staff and trade association officials whose legislative interests depend on what Senate leadership decides to schedule… or kill. The second-ever guest was Senate Majority Leader John Thune, on September 11, 2025. This is documented in your own webste. Now let’s go over your post carefully. You say Mike Lee “primed the GOP base to believe” something. That’s manipulative framing, the language of a man working a crowd. But Thune “pointed out” something. That’s the language of a man correcting the record, establishing fact. This is not a one-off phrasing choice on your part. Your Punchbowl coverage consistently frames Thune’s positions as institutional reality and conservative alternatives as base management. Thune “declared” that the talking filibuster is dead. Lee and his allies “captivated Trump’s base.” Thune “had enough.” The SAVE Act push is “a self-inflicted wound.” These are not neutral verbs. They are a point of view… and it’s Thune’s point of view, delivered with a byline. There’s a structural reason this happens. Jake Sherman described Punchbowl’s business model in his own words on The Rebooting podcast (January 2022): nearly 90% of the outlet’s revenue comes from corporate sponsorships… “trade groups and companies looking to get their public affairs messaging in front of those making public policy.” The sponsors documented at Punchbowl include PhRMA, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Facebook, JPMorgan, Blackstone, the American Investment Council (private equity lobby), and others. These sponsors need the goodwill of the Senate Majority Leader, who controls which of their legislative priorities come to the floor. Thune controls the floor. Thune sits in Punchbowl’s townhouse. You reports Thune’s framing as conventional wisdom. When Desiderio writes that the talking filibuster “will ultimately fail” … not might fail, not Thune argues it will fail, but when it ultimately fails … is that journalism? Or is it the view from Thune’s Fly Out Day chair? You are busted, Mr. Desiderio.

Who — exactly — is it that Thune believes he works for in DC, anyway?

Because it sure as hell doesn’t look like it’s the members of his own party.