Rep. John Rose (R-TN) laid into Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Todd Starnes' Newsmax show Wednesday evening, suggesting the Republican leader should step aside if he isn't prepared to carry out the full MAGA agenda.
Rose particularly took issue with the fact that President Donald Trump's SAVE America Act, a draconian crackdown on voting rights, hasn't been able to pass despite a Republican Senate majority, and the fact that the GOP is still wrangling over how to bypass Democrats to pre-fund immigration enforcement through the entire remainder of Trump's term.
"That's got to be discouraging, only 10 percent of Americans like you guys," said Starnes. "I think even IRS agents are more popular. What's going on?"
"And maybe used-car salesmen as well," laughed Rose. "I think it's a reflection of the frustration the American people feel with the inability to get things across the finish line in Washington ... even though the House has been incredibly productive, even though President Trump has been miraculously productive over the last year and outpacing what most presidents do in an entire term in this one year, I think the American people have a lot of pent-up frustration from the four years of the failed Biden administration."
Rose then turned his anger on Thune, whom he blamed for the gridlock in the Senate.
"I think we want what was promised to us, I think that's what people want," said Starnes. "And we all know what's going on here, we all know what's responsible for the bottleneck, and that person is Majority Leader John Thune. I'm wondering, is it time for Senate Republicans to start calling out John Thune by name?"
"I think it is, I think it's past time," said Rose. "We've certainly been doing that in the House, you know, I've done that on this show. You know, Republicans in the House, under the leadership of Mike Johnson, have been delivering, and so we've passed over 400 bills, implementing much of the president's agenda. But too many of those bills are stalled on the Senate side, including important legislation like funding the Department of Homeland Security, which we've done multiple times on the House side, and including passing the SAVE America Act."
"It's time that the senators quit paying lip service to important agenda items ... they've got to produce and they've got to make their leader produce, and we've got to quit taking excuses," said Rose, adding, "They need to put pressure on Leader Thune to do his job or step aside."