President Trump called on Republicans Thursday to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” and change Senate rules to allow legislation to end the 30-day-long government shutdown to pass with a simple majority vote.
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” the president wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.
Trump explained that during his whirlwind Asia trip “the one question that kept coming up, however, was how did the Democrats SHUT DOWN the United States of America, and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it?”
The president said he pondered the question on his long flight back from South Korea.
“The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?” Trump wrote.
“Majority Leader John Thune, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, are doing a GREAT job, but the Democrats are Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY,” he argued. “It is a sick form of the now ‘legendary’ Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) that only comes from losing too much.”
Trump insisted that Democrat demands to reopen the government “will hurt American citizens, and Republicans will not let it happen.”
The 60-vote threshold needed for legislation to clear the upper chamber has prevented Republicans from advancing a short-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government at pre-shutdown levels.
All but three Senate Democrats have voted down the Trump-backed proposal more than a dozen times since federal funding lapsed on Oct. 1.
Republicans need five more votes to push the bill forward.
“Just a short while ago, the Democrats, while in power, fought for three years to do this, but were unable to pull it off because of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona,” Trump wrote, referring to a previous effort to undo the legislative filibuster. “Never have the Democrats fought so hard to do something because they knew the tremendous strength that terminating the Filibuster would give them.”
The president suggested Senate Democrats would brazenly move to “substantially expand (PACK!) the United States Supreme Court, make Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico States (Thereby automatically picking up 4 Senate seats, many House seats, and at least 8 Electoral Votes!), and many other highly destructive things” if they could pass legislation via a simple majority.
“Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous, Country destroying ‘SHUT DOWN,’” Trump asserted.
On top of ending the shutdown, Trump pointed to “all of the other things we would get” without the legislative filibuster, “such as the best Judges, the best US Attorneys, the best of everything.”
“[T]his was a concept from years ago of then President Barack Hussein Obama and former Majority Leader Harry Reid in order to take advantage of the Republicans. Now I want to do it in order to take advantage of the Democrats….” he continued.
In a separate Truth Social post, Trump added: “BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD ‘CRAZY,’ THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) pledged to preserve the filibuster in January, when Republicans took control of the upper chamber.
Earlier this month, he dismissed the idea of using the nuclear option to end the shutdown and said he hasn’t had conversations about it with the White House.
