Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:55:27 +0000

Republicans Fall Apart—Thune’s Betrayal Exposes Shutdown Disaster In a stunning turn of events, Senator Tim Thune’s defection from staunch Republican opposition to championing a government shutdown compromise has laid bare the deep fractures within the GOP. What began as a predictable rift over federal spending now reveals a broader collapse of party discipline, as rank-and-file GOP senators, led by figures like Thune, throw caution to the wind instead of enforcing fiscal brinkmanship. Why Thune’s Betrayal Matters For months, House Republicans pushed for a high-stakes shutdown to extract concessions from Democrats on budget negotiations—an aggressive gambit that many feared would provoke public backlash and economic damage. Yet Thune, a key GOP strategist and longtime free-market advocate, shocked allies by embracing a compromise that averts shutdown but falls far short of conservative demands.