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Thune Blames Trump’s “Social Media Distractions” for Policy Inaction

Dana Ferguson finds Dakotafest attendees clinging to the “Let Trump do his job” narrative to excuse their support for the incompetent racist in the White House. Trump again this morning blames Democrats for obstruction.

However, Senator John Thune drops by the Brown County Fair and says the real problem may be that Trump is keeping himself and Congress from doing their job:

There’s plenty of work to do in Washington, and Thune said he hopes Trump can focus on that and limit the social media distractions.

“There are a lot of things we need to fix in the economy right now. We still need to get health care resolved, we need to reform the tax code, we need an infrastructure bill. We have to stay focused on that agenda. I think that he unfortunately seems to create like a virtual news cycle with his tweets and sometimes in ways that I think do create distractions, and it makes it harder for him to stay focused on the things he wants to get done. He ran on jobs and economy, and he’s got a huge opening there to do good things, and he has done some good things, but he needs to do a lot more and it’s going to require a level of focus. For us to as a Congress to able to work with him is important in that it gets us sort of distracted too when the president gets off the tracks” [Shannon Marvel, “Thune Denounces Hate Groups, Continues to Back Trump,” Aberdeen American News, 2017.08.18].

That’s not quite Senator Bob Corker’s indictment of Trump’s stability and competence, but Thune hits a nugget of truth here: Trump is scratching his itch for attention by spending more time on Twitter than on security and policy briefings. Trump thus drags his staff and his Congressional leaders into unforced controversy that distracts from practical governance.

However, neither the media nor the Democrats can stop Trump, Thune, and their majority party from enacting their agenda. No one has to “let Trump do his job”—he’s got the job. Since we’re a Republic Not A Democracy™, Trump needs no further permission from us to do that job. When Republicans hold the House, the Senate, and the Oval Office, the only people they have to blame for a failure to get things done are themselves.

11 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2017-08-18 08:31

    However, Senator John Thune drops by the Brown County Fair and says the real problem may be that Trump is keeping himself and Congress from doing their job:

    Marlboro Barbie’s job is to impeach and remove this stain from the history of the USA. However, wingnuts are incompetent gomers and cannot govern if their lives depended on it. The best they can do is say no in unison.

    MB- all you pathetic wingnuts should get the hell out of congress and let some people in there who are willing to do their constitutional duty, which, in your case, does not include collecting a huge pay check every two weeks.

  2. BIll DIthmer 2017-08-18 08:38

    I guess my question is,what is Johns excuse?

    The Blindman

  3. Loren 2017-08-18 09:47

    Hey, Big John, you and your fellow republicans had 7 years to come up with a reasonable health care alternative and YOU FAILED! Now you are going to blame tRump’s “distractions” for your inability to get anything done. You are a real star, Bucko, #3 “leader” of the senate that you are.

  4. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-18 11:34

    America doesn’t have the time to impeach trump, the GOP House and Senate must force his resignation just as they did with Nixon.
    Did Thune back away from blaming Democrats for obstructing trump’s agenda as he has done in the not to distant past?

  5. buckobear 2017-08-18 12:45

    Gosh, Golly ……. (and Loren, please be careful when you bandy my name about — thax)
    Seems that Farmer John has forgotten the previous eight years where the republican mantra was “don’t help the blah guy.” So far JT has been a helping leader in tearing down any good that was done during the administration of President Obama.
    I’ve always maintained that republicans are excellent at running for office but total disasters at governing.
    The fact that they’ve put forward no coherent legislative proposals and that the guy in charge has submitted flawed, unqualified nominees for staffing the administration seems to have escaped Mr Thune.
    Oh well, you get what ya pay for.

  6. jerry 2017-08-18 18:21

    Here is the social media distraction Thune, Rounds and NOem speak of as they are all in on this. Here is what we can expect for our disabled children in South Dakota and the rest of the country so they can put more money in their pockets. http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/18/health/florida-sick-kids-insurance-eprise/index.html How can we even think that NOem could be governor of the state with how she treats disabled children. Shameful.

  7. Rorschach 2017-08-19 12:29

    The Senate’s summer vacation this year was shortened by 2 weeks. It runs from August 11th – September 5th. (4 weeks). The house is taking the full summer vacation from July 29th – September 5th.

    So … Thune is blaming Trump for congress not getting anything done?

  8. Roger Cornelius 2017-08-19 12:37

    Rorschach,
    Excellent point about the congress and senate vacations, I would also include Trump’s own vacations and golf days.
    He has already gone on and spent more on his own pleasure than President Obama did in his whole first term.

  9. jerry 2017-08-19 13:51

    Just a bunch of lazy white guys and gals acting like they are working. Big party at Thune’s place tonight reads the emails, tomorrow, Paul Ryan’s place for another kegger.

  10. leslie 2017-08-20 19:35

    that’s like not getting anything done in SD except photo-ops with Mitch McConnell.

    Dithmer, its been quiet from Missouri. Welcome ole musician:)

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