These Senate Traitors Helped John Thune Block Trump’s Recess Appointments—And They’re Still Smiling for the Cameras

They talk a big game on Fox, Truth Social, and the campaign trail. They thump their chests about draining the swamp, fighting the Deep State, and standing with President Trump. Then they quietly hop a flight back to Washington every few days, grab the gavel, open a one-minute “pro forma” session, and slam it shut again—exactly as Deep State John Thune ordered.

That little ritual is how Thune and the Senate Republican leadership have systematically denied President Trump the constitutional power of recess appointments throughout 2025 and into the summer of 2026. And the list of senators who showed up to do the dirty work is long, familiar, and damning.

“JOHN THUNE BLOCKS PRESIDENT TRUMP” John Thune is the most devious Senate Leader ever!! Grant Stinchfield: “This was John Thune’s fraudulent idea to stop President Trump from making any recess appointments…How devious and deceitful, and low.”

“JOHN THUNE BLOCKS PRESIDENT TRUMP”

John Thune is the most devious Senate Leader ever!!

Grant Stinchfield: “This was John Thune’s fraudulent idea to stop President Trump from making any recess appointments…How devious and deceitful, and low.” pic.twitter.com/MDPtp9Xhxm

— GRANDPA’s FREE ADVICE (@GOP_is_Gutless) August 11, 2026

These are not obscure backbenchers. These are the same faces who sound so tough when the cameras are rolling:

• Rand Paul, Jim Justice, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, Dan Sullivan, Bill Hagerty, Markwayne Mullin, Jon Husted, Ted Budd, Mike Rounds, Bernie Moreno, Rick Scott, Thom Tillis, Tommy Tuberville, James Lankford, Todd Young, Dave McCormick, Roger Marshall, Shelley Moore Capito, Tim Sheehy, John Curtis, Bill Cassidy, Jim Banks, Ashley Moody, Pete Ricketts, John Barrasso, Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, Deb Fischer, Steve Daines, Ron Johnson, John Boozman—and more.

Every one of them has presided over at least one of these empty, formalistic sessions under Thune’s leadership. The sessions last seconds. No debate. No votes. No business. Their only purpose is to keep the Senate “in session” just enough to stop the clock from running long enough for a true recess under the Supreme Court’s Noel Canning decision. No real recess means no recess appointments. No recess appointments means Trump cannot install the people he needs to actually run the executive branch against the permanent bureaucracy. This is a Deep State scam and is a perfect illustration of what Whatfinger News has been saying since Trump’s election.  What we have said is nothing is changing, and the Deep State is still 100% in charge.

That is the Deep State’s preferred outcome. That is Thune’s preferred outcome. And every senator who grabbed that gavel helped deliver it. I get sick thinking of how so-called Republicans are doing all they can to hamper President Trump. Why is Trump not calling them all out? What power does the Deep State have over him, to make him not even complain about this total BS against him and America?

They will claim it is just “majority party rotation” and “constitutional formality.” Spare us. Any one of them could have refused. Any one of them could have stayed home, forced the leadership’s hand, and coordinated with the White House to create the opening Trump needs. They chose not to. They chose loyalty to the institutional Senate—and to John Thune—over loyalty to the president the American people elected and the agenda he was sent to execute.

Look at the current August–early September stretch. Eleven pro forma sessions scheduled. Jim Justice just did his turn on August 17. John Boozman and Jim Banks already took theirs. The rest of the rotation is lined up to keep the door locked. Trump has zero recess appointments in his second term so far. Previous Republican presidents used the tool routinely. Thune’s Senate has made sure this president cannot.

This is not abstract procedure. It is power. It is whether Trump gets to staff the agencies that still resist him, or whether the same permanent class that fought him from day one in the first term gets to run out the clock again. Every time one of these senators gavels in and gavels out, they are choosing the second option.

They sound good on camera. They post the right memes. They wave the MAGA flag when it is convenient. But when the real test came—when a simple refusal to play Thune’s game could have given the president the tools to fight the Deep State—they showed up and did the job that protects the status quo.

That is not leadership. Not in any way, shape or form.. That is not America First. That is collaboration with the very forces that have spent a decade trying to kneecap Donald Trump and the voters who put him in office.

The names are public. The Congressional Record and the Senate Daily Press Gallery archives record every single one of these sessions. The senators who participated cannot pretend they did not know what they were doing. They knew. They still did it. And they will keep doing it until the pressure becomes unbearable or until enough of them finally decide that loyalty to Trump and the country matters more than loyalty to the Senate club.

America is watching. The base is watching. And the list of who showed up for Thune instead of for Trump is not going away. Is this not an indication of what is about to happen? These low lifes will do all they can to stop Trump, including keeping voter fraud in place so the Democrats can steal both Houses in November. Dark days are ahead folks, if Trump does not put foot to ass and get medieval on them all.  See the following for what is about to happen – CLICK HERE

— The Whatfinger News Team: Sgt Pat and Lisa

More: THEY JUST LOCKED THE PRESIDENT OUT OF HIS OWN POWER While Trump is fighting to staff the administration America voted for, Senate “leadership” is running a quiet blockade. John Thune sent everyone home for the August break… then quietly scheduled a string of pro forma sessions so the Senate never actually recesses. Result? Zero recess appointments. Not one. Then scheduled 11 pro forma sessions for one reason only: to stop President Trump from filling critical positions. Reagan: 240 Bush 41: 77 Clinton: 139 Bush 43: 171 Obama: 32 Trump: ZERO This isn’t about “regular order.” This is the institutional club protecting itself from a president they still refuse to fully accept. The same people who spent years crying about norms are now inventing new ones to keep the swamp in place.

🚨 THEY JUST LOCKED THE PRESIDENT OUT OF HIS OWN POWER

While Trump is fighting to staff the administration America voted for, Senate “leadership” is running a quiet blockade.

John Thune sent everyone home for the August break… then quietly scheduled a string of pro forma… pic.twitter.com/yvnpfJFPJG

— QThestorm (@17QStorm) August 11, 2026

Resources

• The Senate GOP’s summer hot seat: Pro forma sessions – Politico
• Thune Once Again Uses Pro Forma Session to Block Trump Recess Appointments – PJ Media
• U.S. Senate Daily Press Gallery – Pro Forma Session Archives
• Senate pro forma schedule through mid-September – Chad Pergram / Fox News
• Senate Press Gallery official pro forma announcements
• The Senate’s Brazen Mutiny Against President Trump’s Recess Appointments – American Liberty News
• Congressional Record – Congress.gov