U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appeared on Fox News with Martha MacCallum to discuss current national security and legislative issues.
During the interview, Thune addressed the War Powers Resolution, criticizing Democratic opposition to President Trump’s actions in Iran. He stated, “This is all about the Democrats’ … Trump Derangement Syndrome … and their blind hatred of the president, just being opposed to anything that he wants to do … Clearly there are Democrats, I believe, who understand that what we’re doing in Iran right now makes all the sense in the world from a national security standpoint. But this is an attempt … to try to derail or step on the president’s messaging around that and create a political issue where there really isn’t one … This is … nothing more than political messaging on behalf of the Democrats. This isn’t going anywhere. The president’s acting well within his authorities as the commander in chief.”
Thune also commented on U.S. military action against Iran, saying, “What the president is doing in Iran is something that, frankly, should have been done … arguably a long time ago … Iran has been building not only its nuclear capability, but its conventional weapons capability to a point that it would have threatened the entire region … [Iran is] run by somebody who has said, ‘Death to Israel. Death to America.’ That’s what they believe. They’re the biggest exporter of … terrorism in the world today and they … have more American blood on their hands than any nation in the world, if you look at the last 47 years … The president is taking steps to make the world and our country and our people safer.”
Discussing Operation Epic Fury and its objectives in Iran, Thune said: “What [the administration is] doing [in Iran] is achieving the objectives that they set out to achieve, and that is to diminish the capability of Iran to threaten the entire region and the world with nuclear and conventional weapons; to diminish their naval capacity in that region; and ultimately, I would love to see a leadership change there, Martha. I think a regime change is a worthwhile objective. That’s not something I think that’s part of the president or our Defense Department or the State Department’s objectives here, but I think right now, it’s about achieving our military objectives, and it’s very clear.
“Those have been identified by the president and his team and I think the folks in the region are making significant headway in accomplishing that objective, and we want to make sure that we continue to support them, and continue to pray for our men and women in uniform and particularly … those families who have lost loved ones.”
Turning attention toward domestic policy efforts such as housing reform legislation—the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act—Thune explained: “[T]he housing bill … will complement the things [that] the president said … in his State of the Union speech about restrictions on institutional investors’ ownership of … single-family houses, that sort of thing. And so there will be things like that included in there that are reforms. It will get rid and cut a lot of red tape associated with some of these housing programs in this country and increase supply of housing …
“We want to do it in a way that encourages private investment, not more government. And the nice thing about this is it doesn’t cost a thing. It doesn’t have a score associated with it. These are just changes that will increase supply, reduce red tape, and make … important reforms that should make it more affordable for people to own homes in this country. That’s what it’s all about.
“The president’s very focused on affordability as are we—and we’re actually doing something about it – unlike Democrats who just ran up more government spending and… continued historic inflation when they had majorities.”
Thune represents South Dakota as its U.S senator according to his official website. He holds positions including Senate Republican Whip as well as committee roles related to finance; agriculture; nutrition; forestry; commerce; science; transportation according to his official website. His legislative priorities include agriculture policy initiatives along with economic development measures for South Dakota as detailed online. In addition Thune engages regularly with constituents through public events while supporting veterans as noted by his office.
