{"id":16068,"date":"2024-02-26T00:47:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T00:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/26\/exclusive-no-2-senate-republican-leader-john-thune-endorses-trump-in-2024-republican-primary\/"},"modified":"2024-02-26T00:47:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T00:47:51","slug":"exclusive-no-2-senate-republican-leader-john-thune-endorses-trump-in-2024-republican-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/26\/exclusive-no-2-senate-republican-leader-john-thune-endorses-trump-in-2024-republican-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: No 2 Senate Republican leader John Thune endorses Trump in 2024 Republican primary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"paywall has-gated-overlay gated-article-body\">\n<p class=\"speakable\">Senate Minority Whip John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican leader, is endorsing former President Trump for reelection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">It\u2019s a key win for Trump from the establishment wing of the Republican Party. The South Dakota Republican is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell\u2019s top deputy in the Senate GOP.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The primary results in South Carolina make clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president in this year\u2019s pivotal presidential election. The choice before the American people is crystal clear: It\u2019s Donald Trump or Joe Biden,\u2019 Thune told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I support former President Trump\u2019s campaign to win the presidency, and I intend to do everything I can to see that he has a Republican majority in the Senate working with him to restore American strength at home and abroad,\u2019 he continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Together we must put an end to the disastrous Biden-Schumer agenda. Our country cannot endure another four years of Bidenomics, continued lawlessness at our southern border, and American weakness on the global stage.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Thune and Trump spoke by phone on Saturday night after Trump\u2019s commanding victory in the South Carolina Republican primary, a source familiar with the call told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t clear before now whether Thune, who\u2019s seen as one of McConnell\u2019s potential successors to lead the Senate Republican Conference, would endorse either of the two major candidates for the 2024 GOP nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Like McConnell, he suggested he would support whoever Republican voters chose as their presidential nominee, but Thune has for the most part avoided mentioning the former president.<\/p>\n<p>He previously endorsed South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott\u2019s presidential campaign and was present at Scott\u2019s launch event. Scott dropped out in November and endorsed Trump last month.<\/p>\n<p>The Sunday announcement puts added pressure on McConnell, who has brushed off scrutiny on whether his frosty relationship with Trump would stop him from endorsing the ex-president in the Republican primary.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell said at a press conference this month when asked about the race, \u2018I\u2019ve stayed essentially out of it, and when I change my mind about that, I\u2019ll let you know.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Both Thune and McConnell were targeted by Trump for criticizing his handling of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>Thune won a landslide reelection victory for a fourth Senate term in 2022 despite Trump calling for a primary challenger against him.<\/p>\n<p>His endorsement of the former president comes after Trump beat former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state primary on Saturday night. The ex-president won roughly 60% of the vote compared to 40% for Haley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate Minority Whip John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican leader, is endorsing former President Trump for reelection. It\u2019s a key win for Trump from the establishment wing of the Republican Party. The South Dakota Republican is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell\u2019s top deputy in the Senate GOP. \u2018The primary results in South Carolina make clear <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}