Copyright The Daily Beast
President Donald Trump’s calls to end the filibuster are getting increasingly desperate. The president has now demanded four times in five days that Senate Republicans embrace “the nuclear option,” even as congressional leaders have remained steadfast in their support of the centuries-old check on the party in power. “The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes. FOR THREE YEARS, NOTHING WILL BE PASSED, AND REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAMED,” Trump wrote Tuesday in a Truth Social post. “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER NOW, END THE RIDICULOUS SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATELY, AND THEN, MOST IMPORTANTLY, PASS EVERY WONDERFUL REPUBLICAN POLICY THAT WE HAVE DREAMT OF, FOR YEARS, BUT NEVER GOTTEN,” he added. A few hours later, he wrote a succinct follow-up post just in case he hadn’t been clear: “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!!” The government has been shutdown since Sept. 30 as Congress has failed to pass a budget bill. Democrats are calling for any spending plan to roll back GOP cuts to Medicaid and extend tax credits to stop health insurance premiums from skyrocketing next year. The latest polls show a majority of voters blaming Republicans for the shutdown, and that Trump is suffering from his highest-ever disapproval ratings as voters sour on his economic policies and handling of inflation. On Tuesday, voters headed to the polls for local and statewide races in New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania for the first major electoral test of Trump’s second term. In between calling for an end to the filibuster, Trump took a moment to comment on the race for New York City mayor. “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” he wrote. Most of his posts, however, were already thinking ahead to 2026, which he warned would be “rightfully brutal” if the filibuster remains intact. “If we do terminate the Filibuster, we will get EVERYTHING approved, like no Congress in History. We will have FAIR, FREE, and SAFE Elections, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everybody, Strong Borders, Major Tax and Energy Cuts, and will secure our Second Amendment, which the Democrats will also terminate, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote in his first post. So far, however, Republican leaders in Congress have resisted. The filibuster, which requires 60 senators to agree to bring legislation up for a vote, has existed in various forms since the 1780s and was adopted as an official rule in 1917, according to the U.S. Senate. Last week, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CBS News that the South Dakota Republican, who has previously rejected calls to change the filibuster rule, still opposed the move. “I like John Thune, I think he’s terrific, but I disagree with him on this point,” Trump told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell during an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday. House Speaker Mike Johnson has also cautioned against eliminating the rule, telling reporters, “Is it possible? Yes… Is it wise? A lot of people would tell you it’s not.” “I mean, on the Republican side, I would be deeply concerned if the Democrats had a bare majority in the Senate right now,” he added.
