President Donald Trump has struggled to advance his legislative agenda in the Senate because he has insisted that Republican leaders there pass his SAVE America Act, a voter suppression bill he hopes will help him in the 2026 midterm elections. But according to the Senate majority leader, Trump's actions have held up legislation to an unacceptable degree, and he used a two-word phrase to describe the situation.

“The Senate is making some progress toward breaking its pre-recess logjam,” USA Today’s Zachary Schermele reported on Wednesday. “Between confirming Todd Blanche, passing a government funding stopgap, advancing a college athletics bill and more, there remains much on the agenda. This morning, amid GOP disagreements about a number of things stalling the legislative sprint, Thune was sounding less than optimistic.”

Schermele then quoted Thune: “It’s a bit of a train wreck, isn’t it?” Thune said, according to Schermele. The South Dakotan later described the comparison as “probably a little extreme,” adding that “it’s just a series of things that are sort of piled up.”

This is not the first time Thune has expressed frustration with Trump. The senator, who succeeded Mitch McConnell as majority leader at the start of the current Congress, has repeatedly said there are simply not enough votes in the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, and that Trump's demands are therefore politically unrealistic. With Republicans holding 53 seats, advancing the bill over a 60-vote filibuster threshold would require at least seven Democratic votes — support that has not materialized. Trump, in turn, has claimed that by not passing the SAVE America Act, Thune is making it possible for Democrats to retake the chamber in the upcoming midterm elections. Until Thune passes the SAVE America Act, Trump has opposed allowing other legislative priorities to move forward.

In July, when Trump called for Thune to be replaced as Senate majority leader because of his inability to push through the SAVE America Act, Thune responded directly.

“Alright,” Thune said. “Well, that’s nice of him. I GUESS. I don’t know what do you say on that. That’s a decision that’s made by my colleagues!”

Roll Call's Savannah Behrmann recently described the dilemma facing Thune.

“For Majority Leader John Thune, the equation is not new: The math isn’t mathing, and there has never been enough support in his conference to establish a new precedent and lower the 60-vote hurdle most bills must clear to advance to a simple majority threshold,” Behrmann wrote. “Those numbers are hardly a secret, but some are reluctant to take a public stance when it means defying the party’s president. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Politico this summer that more Republicans oppose the so-called nuclear option than are willing to say so. 'I regret that the other 25 or 30 people who oppose blowing up the filibuster don’t say it out loud like I do, because it leaves the impression that there are only four or five of us, just enough so that he doesn’t have 51,' Cramer said.”