Trump keeps calling Thune despite public fight over SAVE America Act

"I've heard from him twice this morning already. He called me over the weekend, and so there, you know, we talk, I don't bother him, I'm not calling him every day," Thune said in an interview.

Thune doesn't see Trump's comment as a personal slight, however. Both he and the president "want to get to the same place. We have, sometimes, disagreements about how best to get there."

"Most of mine are constrained by what's achievable in an institution like the Senate that has procedural roadblocks to do almost anything," Thune said.

"We have those candid conversations, but I'm not worried about that relationship," he continued. "I know he's going to push as hard as he can. That's his business model, is to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get people to go as far as they can go."

There is a voracious appetite among Trump, Senate Republicans and their base to see the SAVE America Act passed. One that Thune hears every day, either online or within his own conference.

"There are good days and bad days," Thune said. "And around here, probably lately more bad days than good days, but you know you just kind of, like I said, keep your head down, do the work."

But passing the SAVE America Act is the most elusive item for Republicans, given the current make up of the Senate.

And Thune is one of the Republicans that wants the bill passed - he's an original co-sponsor of the SAVE Act, the precursor to the current version of the SAVE America Act. The avenue of cutting Democrats out of the equation and ramming through aspects of the bill through budget reconciliation exists, which Thune is interested in pursuing.

But then comes the problem of generating 50 votes to support that, and keeping those votes together to shut down "crazy democratic amendments."

Thune's job helming the Senate majority is to do the math on what can be accomplished in an institution that's "designed" to be difficult. And the votes still aren't adding up.

"I keep asking the question, am I the only one in this town that can count to 50? Because it seems like these questions recur and there are a lot of people out there who haven't seemed to internalize the fact that there aren't Democrats that are going to flip and vote for this," Thune said.

Thune's position is, by extension, an embodiment of the Senate in many ways.

Unlike the House, legislation and agendas can't be rammed through without a bipartisan agreement to blast through the filibuster. And senators' concerns and desires encompass an entire state, not just a sliver of a state's population.

Through several interviews with Fox News Digital, he's instilled that part of his job is to listen and take consensus on what does and doesn't work, deliberating on the best path for a deliverable outcome.

"This place was supposed to be difficult, so that no dictator could master it, and I think that's kind of the role of the Senate in our system and our democracy," Thune said.

"It's important to keep that in perspective, but it's frustrating as heck when you're somebody who likes to get things done, likes to get results, and you've got procedural roadblocks holding things up as we try to wind down and get some things done," he continued.