{"id":2498556,"date":"2025-10-13T19:59:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thune-draws-flak-for-native-american-day-post\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T19:59:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T23:59:57","slug":"thune-draws-flak-for-native-american-day-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thune-draws-flak-for-native-american-day-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Thune draws flak for &#8216;Native American Day&#8217; post"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthune-draws-flak-for-native-american-day-post%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2498556&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) faced criticism for celebrating &#8220;Native American Day&#8221; instead of Columbus day, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/catholic-football-player-suspended-for-saying-there-are-two-genders\/\" title=\"Catholic Football Player Suspended for Saying There Are Two Genders\">contentious cultural issue<\/a> in the U.S. Republicans generally honour Columbus day as a customary celebration, while Democrats and liberals mark native American Day or Indigenous Peoples&#8217; Day too recognize the history and suffering of Native Americans. Thune&#8217;s choice to commemorate Native American Day drew backlash from many Republicans and supporters of Columbus Day, including the Italian American Civil Rights League, which condemned his post as offensive and anti-Italian American.This stance puts Thune at odds with prominent Republicans like former President Donald Trump, who has actively promoted Columbus Day as a symbol of Italian-American heritage and pushed back against efforts to downplay or replace it. thune defended South Dakota&#8217;s tradition of recognizing Native American day, highlighting the state&#8217;s respect for the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Thune draws flak for &lsquo;Native American Day&rsquo; post<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2368346\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Senate Majority Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-thune\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Thune<\/a> (R-SD) was bashed for his celebration of &ldquo;Native American Day&rdquo; rather than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3392952\/trump-promises-bring-back-columbus-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Columbus Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The decision of what to celebrate on the second Monday of October has been a culture war issue in the United States for decades, reflecting how people see the U.S. and its history. Republicans and conservatives tend to celebrate Columbus Day, viewing it as a traditional celebration of the man who set off the string of events leading to the U.S.&rsquo;s founding. Democrats and liberals tend to celebrate Native American Day, or Indigenous Peoples&rsquo; Day, a day primarily of mourning for the defeat of North America&rsquo;s first inhabitants.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3848467\/senate-democrats-hold-luxury-fundraising-retreat-shutdown\/\">Senate Democrats ripped for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-demcrats-ripped-for-holding-luxury-fundraising-retreat-during-shutdown\/\" title=\"Senate Demcrats ripped for holding luxury fundraising retreat during shutdown\">holding luxury fundraising retreat<\/a> during shutdown<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3847556\/murphy-continues-shutdown-blame-game-confronted-over-past-comments\/\">Murphy continues shutdown blame game when confronted over past comments decrying &#8216;hostage&#8217; tactics<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3847425\/schiff-trump-impeachment-illegal-hoax\/\">Schiff tells Trump &#8216;put down your phone&#8217; after president calls impeachment &#8216;illegal hoax&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Despite this typical divide, one of the most powerful Republicans in the country opted to celebrate a commemoration of the Native Americans, drawing the ire of many.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Today we celebrate Native American Day. I&rsquo;m proud to join South Dakotans in honoring the heritage and contributions of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people,&rdquo; Thune said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LeaderJohnThune\/status\/1977748681794150651\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">post<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n<p>He didn&rsquo;t post acknowledging or celebrating Columbus Day, an anomaly among Republicans who have been particularly outspoken about celebrating the great Genoan explorer. President Donald Trump has led the efforts, stressing that the holiday represents a reversal of the apologetic approach toward U.S. history taken by his predecessor. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Graeme Jennings\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This puts Thune in clear opposition to Trump and the wider mood in the Republican Party, reflected in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/look-vogue-magazine-unveils-candidate-for-our-times-cover-of-kamala-promptly-gets-eviscerated\/\" title=\"Look: Vogue Magazine Unveils &#039;Candidate for Our Times&#039; Cover of Kamala, Promptly Gets Eviscerated\">overwhelmingly negative comments<\/a> and reactions to the post <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RaheemKassam\/status\/1977751015534313680\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">citing favor<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GuntherEagleman\/status\/1977805855677685922\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Columbus Day<\/a>, even noting Thune as a &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VDAREJamesK\/status\/1977794271907336592\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">traitor<\/a>.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>In previous years, Thune has been more explicit about rejecting Columbus Day in favor of Native American Day.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;While much of the United States celebrates Columbus Day on the second Monday in October, South Dakotans instead proudly recognize Native American Day, honoring the rich heritage and tribal people of our state. A tradition that began in 1989 when Gov. George Mickelson proclaimed 1990 as the &lsquo;Year of Reconciliation,&rsquo; we&rsquo;ve continued to celebrate Native American Day in lieu of Columbus Day,&rdquo; he said in a 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thune.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/2019\/10\/celebrating-native-american-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most outspoken opponent of Thune&rsquo;s statement was the Italian American Civil Rights League, viewing it as an attack against Italian Americans.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Italian American Civil Rights League condemns Senate Leader John Thune for this racist, insensitive and frankly Anti-Trump post. Today is COLUMBUS DAY only. Stop trying to erase Italian Americans,&rdquo; it said in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheIACRL\/status\/1977770287086084482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;IT&rsquo;S OUR DAY! COLUMBUS DAY! NEVER let anyone tell you otherwise or make you apologize for your heritage. Thank you to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/POTUS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@POTUS<\/a> for protecting our culture and tradition. The work of the Italian American Civil Rights League has only just begun!&rdquo; it added in another <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheIACRL\/status\/1977749270087295378\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/op-eds\/3847895\/were-back-italians-trump-proclaims-in-recognition-of-hero-christopher-columbus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&lsquo;WE&rsquo;RE BACK, ITALIANS,&rsquo; TRUMP PROCLAIMS IN RECOGNITION OF &lsquo;HERO&rsquo; CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The remarks are in line with Trump&rsquo;s rhetoric around the holiday. He has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3392952\/trump-promises-bring-back-columbus-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeatedly stressed<\/a> that Democrats are mounting an assault on American history and Italian Americans.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much,&rdquo; Trump claimed on&nbsp;Truth Social. &ldquo;They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but &lsquo;WOKE,&rsquo; or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you&rsquo;ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thune criticized for celebrating Native American Day over Columbus Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2498558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100725_WEX_GOP_LUNCHEONS-12.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[50410,65172,5894,32364,23610],"class_list":["post-2498556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-controversy-2","tag-native-american-day","tag-politics","tag-social-media","tag-thune"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/100725_WEX_GOP_LUNCHEONS-12.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2498556"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2498560,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498556\/revisions\/2498560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2498558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2498556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2498556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2498556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}