Courage Won't Save America-- but Stupidity Might!

With the Election of Donald Trump and the results from the Majority Leader's race, it has become unclear how exactly the MAGA wing of the Republican party intends to get anything done.

Over the last 4 years Democrats have called Donald Trump a fascist, a threat to democracy, and a danger to America. It was a core part of the Kamala Harris campaign– correctly pointing to Trump’s role in January 6th and his former staff and advisors role in Project 2025. 

When Donald Trump won the Presidential election by a shocking margin, many people began to panic at the impending reality that a convicted felon who had campaigned on promises of mass deportations & abolishing the Department of Education would now once again hold the nuclear codes. 

During his first term as President, Trump bumped heads with more “moderate” members  of his party, including former Vice Presidential Nominee Paul Ryan who served as Speaker of the House. Ryan would eventually follow in the footsteps of his predecessor John Bainer and retire, not seeking re-election in 2018. A common practice of Republicans who rebuked Trump in one way or another.

After voting to impeach him in 2021, former Presidential nominee and Utah Senator Mitt Romney announced he would not be seeking re-election. Romney says his reason for retiring is to make way for younger and new leadership, but doubt is cast on this claim when you see video of Romney being booed at a Republican convention in his own state. It is unlikely that Romney would have been able to win another Republican primary.

Although Romney’s reasoning may be less than honest, new leadership for Republicans was on the horizon when he made the decision. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in February of this year that he would not be seeking another term as Leader, signaling that a new election among the Republican caucus would take place. 

Senators immediately began throwing their name in the hat. Most notable being Senators John Cornyn and John Thune, both of whom have long served in leadership positions under Mitch McConnell. However, when it became clear that Republicans would control the Senate the tone of the Majority Leader’s race shifted very quickly from a traditional election to an online street fight between established conservatives and the MAGA wing of the Trump controlled Republican party. 

In 2022 following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Senator Cornyn would be a sponsor of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act– a law focused on counteracting gun violence. The bill is far from perfect, and does not fully address the root causes of mass shootings or gun deaths– but it was a start for a country that hadn’t passed a major bill of this kind in several decades. 

Although this bill was a win for advocates and gun violence survivors, bringing small comfort to the families who had lost their children in mass shootings from Uvalde to Parkland, Senator Cornyn was lambasted for his work on it. Much like Mitt Romney, he was booed at his own state's Republican Convention. Rumors soon began to circulate that Cornyn would have a competitive primary in his next election, which will take place in 2026. 

Cornyn didn’t alleviate the tension between him and members of his own party, in fact he doubled down. During the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Cornyn was an outspoken antagonist of Paxton– even going as far as to say it’s “hard to run from prison”’ when Paxton alluded to a primary challenge against Cornyn.

So when it came time for the Majority leader election, it was no surprise MAGA Republicans rebuked John Cornyn. Online MAGA voices like Commentator Benny Johnson posted “admissions” from a Republican Senator who said Thune and Cornyn were “trained like dogs by McConnell.” Other MAGA voices like former Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi posted “Cornyn needs to go either way.”  (It is rumored that when Paxton launches his bid for Cornyn’s Senate seat, Rinaldi will launch a campaign for Texas Attorney General.)

MAGA voices began lining up behind Florida Senator Rick Scott, who just won re-election by a large margin on November 5th— including Texas Senator Ted Cruz who ironically just ran a re-election campaign focused on “Keeping Texas, Texas.” While MAGA focused on beating up on Cornyn and uplifting Scott– Thune was secondary in the conversation. 

This morning, Republicans voted via secret ballot to determine who would be the next Majority Leader. Rick Scott was eliminated in the first round of voting. John Thune would be elected by a margin of 4 votes, defeating John Cornyn. 

While this may seem like a victory to the MAGA voices who spent the last several days beating down Cornyn, it shows a deeper flaw in the type of governance these voices push for. It has become increasingly clear that few Republicans will stand up to Donald Trump or the MAGA wing of the party, unless they are retiring or have nothing to lose.  

When John Cornyn announced he was running for Majority Leader he did so knowing he was already likely to face a primary challenge from MAGA Ken Paxton in 2026. He did so knowing he would have to walk a fine line to keep President Trump happy or risk losing his seat all together. This was clear leverage that could have been used by MAGA Republicans to keep Cornyn in line with their agenda.

However, they may have just orchestrated their own downfall. Instead of picking the candidate afraid of losing his primary, already at odds with his party, and close to losing all his political power– they picked the guy who isn’t up for re-election until 2028.

Thune won re-election in 2022 with nearly 70% of the vote. He is largely popular in South Dakota and unlikely to receive any kind of primary challenger. His next election won’t take place until Donald Trump is on his way out of office, and he will remain majority leader for at least the next 2 years. Just in time for the 2026 midterms– where Republicans will face difficult challenges and are at risk of losing control of the U.S. Senate. 

It is unlikely that John Thune will be a pillar of Democratic values and courage, after all he does support a 15 week national abortion ban– but he is a supporter of NATO and Ukraine, which is more than can be expected from many Republicans in the modern party. 

Courage won’t save America– but stupidity might! By electing a Leader who they have no leverage over, MAGA Republicans can’t say with impunity that they control the U.S. Senate. Instead they will have to cross their fingers and hope that John Thune is going to fall in line. 

This alongside a slew of questionable cabinet and leadership nominations from Donald Trump, including selecting a Fox News Host as Secretary of Defense, raises the question on how exactly the Trump administration will govern over the next four years. 

They made a lot of hefty promises– the question is are they smart enough to get them done? Or will they bring the government to a standstill with their incompetence? 

For now, we cross our fingers and hope democracy will prevail.