President Donald Trump taunted Democrats on Saturday, saying that he believed their caucus was close to fracturing over the ongoing government shutdown — and then he called on Republicans to do away with the Senate filibuster once and for all, and clear the way for his agenda.
Trump issued both statements together in a post to his Truth Social platform, saying that Republicans should &#8220;blow up&#8221; the filibuster whether or not they were able to reach a deal with Democrats to end the shutdown.
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<a href="https://t.co/yHfTkdvywq">pic.twitter.com/yHfTkdvywq</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1987227878375698491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The Democrats are cracking like dogs on the Shutdown because they are deathly afraid that I am making progress with the Republicans on TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER!&#8221; Trump began. &#8220;Whether we make a Deal or not, THE REPUBLICANS MUST &#8216;BLOW UP&#8217; THE FILIBUSTER, AND APPROVE HUNDREDS OF LONG SOUGHT, BUT NEVER GOTTEN, POLICY WINS LIKE, AS JUST A SMALL EXAMPLE, VOTER ID (IDENTIFICATION).&#8221;
&#8220;Only a LOSER would not agree to doing this!&#8221; he added, for good measure.
Trump&#8217;s comments come just 24 hours after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put forth a proposal to bring the shutdown to an end, saying that Democrats would come to the table if Republicans would sign off on a one-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies — a move that would bring the health care discussion back to the forefront just in time for the midterm elections.
Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has already said that Schumer&#8217;s offer is &#8220;dead on arrival.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Nope. Schumer’s plan is dead on arrival.
— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMullin/status/1986918313914495288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) offered a slightly more colorful take, telling Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, &#8220;God, please give me patience, because if you give me strength, I’m going to need bail money. What Senator Schumer is suggesting is that we do the dumbest thing possible that won’t work.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨BREAKING: Sen. Kennedy just TORCHED Schumer&#8217;s &#8220;new deal&#8221; that was just proposed.
&#8220;God, please give me patience, because if you give me strength, I’m going to need bail money. What senator Schumer is suggesting is that we do the dumbest thing possible that won’t work.&#8221;
LMFAO🤣 <a href="https://t.co/Tg7HBkBkE1">https://t.co/Tg7HBkBkE1</a> <a href="https://t.co/APrb4TftLA">pic.twitter.com/APrb4TftLA</a>
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) <a href="https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1986891882832540054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But Republicans would not have been Schumer&#8217;s only hurdle — one month ago, just one week into the shutdown, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) turned down that same deal, calling it a &#8220;laughable proposition.&#8221;
The complicating factor, as Trump pointed out, is that the longer the shutdown drags on, the more talk there is about Republicans doing away with the Senate filibuster in order to reopen the government and get things moving again. And despite the fact that Democrats overwhelmingly supported ending the filibuster when President Joe Biden was still in office, the absolute last thing they want is to have it scrapped while Trump has the White House and majorities in both chambers.
CNN anchor Dana Bash cornered Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) on that topic on Friday.
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Question: You wanted the filibuster to be ended under Biden. Do you still want that?
Raskin: Not so much. <a href="https://t.co/YPXEv2Pa2z">pic.twitter.com/YPXEv2Pa2z</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1986795531914399868?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Raskin, clearly loathe to answer the question, ultimately shrugged it off by saying that because he wasn&#8217;t in the Senate and had no power, his opinion no longer mattered.

Donald Trump

‘Cracking Like Dogs’: Trump Taunts Democrats, Calls For GOP To ‘Blow Up’ Filibuster ASAP

Chuck Schumer

Filibuster

Jamie Raskin

Media

Politics

President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that Democrats, if they returned to power, would waste no time in remaking the Supreme Court in its entirety. Two key figures on the Left — former Attorney General Eric Holder and longtime Democratic strategist James Carville — appear to be on the same page.
&#8220;The Democrats will terminate the Filibuster in THE FIRST HOUR, if and when they assume &#8216;control&#8217; or power. Republicans have what the Democrats want — We should do it, NOW, and have the greatest three years in History!&#8221; Trump said Thursday via his Truth Social platform, largely in an effort to prompt Republicans to force an end to the ongoing government shutdown.
Carville essentially predicted exactly that on his &#8220;Politics War Room&#8221; podcast Thursday morning.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨NEW: James Carville says he&#8217;d &#8220;BET A LOT OF MONEY&#8221; that Dems will *PACK SUPREME COURT* if they regain power in 2028🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DailyCaller</a> <a href="https://t.co/SQRQntC6Nj">pic.twitter.com/SQRQntC6Nj</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1986454405042843670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I want to talk to Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Barrett, Justice Kavanaugh, Justice Gorsuch, I might be forgetting one,&#8221; Carville began, likely omitting Justice Clarence Thomas from his list of more conservative members of the Supreme Court.
&#8220;I&#8217;m gonna tell you what&#8217;s gonna happen. A Democrat is gonna be elected in 2028, you know that, I know that,&#8221; he declared. &#8220;There&#8217;s gonna be a Democratic House, there&#8217;s gonna be a Democratic Senate. The Democratic president is gonna announce a special transition advisory committee on the reform of the Supreme Court.&#8221;
Carville said they would claim that the Supreme Court &#8220;has lost the faith and trust of the American people&#8221; and use that to justify recommending packing the court to restore &#8220;balance&#8221; and thus restore faith in the institution. And while he did not explicitly predict the end of the filibuster, it is far more likely that Democrats would have a simple majority in the Senate rather than a filibuster-proof majority going into 2028 — meaning that in order to pass such a controversial measure, they might be forced to first address the filibuster.
&#8220;They&#8217;re going to recommend that the number of Supreme Court Justices go from nine to 13. That&#8217;s gonna happen, people,&#8221; he insisted. &#8220;That&#8217;s gonna happen to you. They&#8217;re going to win, they&#8217;re gonna do some blue ribbon panel of distinguished jurists, and they&#8217;re going to recommend 13 and a Democratic Senate and House are going to pass it and the Democratic president is going to sign it, because they have to do an intervention so we can have a Supreme Court that the American people trust again.&#8221;
&#8220;I would bet a lot of money that that&#8217;s gonna happen,&#8221; he said.
Holder said something similar just two days earlier, claiming that the district court judges had been doing a great job in trying to check President Trump — but that the Supreme Court was damaging its own reputation.
&#8220;It pains me to do this, but I think the Supreme Court is a broken institution,&#8221; he said, and much like Carville said, he argued that if Democrats control the House, Senate, and White House, they would have to do something to address the fact that the court persists in ruling against Democrat interests.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Former AG Eric Holder says that SCOTUS is a &#8220;broken institution&#8221; now that they&#8217;ve ruled in favor of the Trump administration on key cases.
Translation: When/If Democrats retake control of DC, they will immediately move to abolish the filibuster and pack the court.
Dangerous. <a href="https://t.co/J2BNTP3Akm">pic.twitter.com/J2BNTP3Akm</a>
— Media Lies (@MediasLies) <a href="https://twitter.com/MediasLies/status/1985732240781799445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Politicon 2019 – Day 1

Two Key Leftists Predict Dems Will Obliterate Supreme Court As We Know It

Democrats

Supreme Court

President Donald Trump on Wednesday argued that by getting rid of the filibuster, Republicans would win so much that Democrats would be hard-pressed to take over the Senate.
Trump has called for ending the Senate filibuster, which sets the threshold to pass most legislation through the upper chamber at 60 votes, and reducing the bar to pass bills to a simple majority. The president has pushed to end the rule in order to end the government shutdown.
The president <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1986214960398049694">reiterated</a> his call to end the filibuster during an interview with Fox News that aired on Wednesday evening. Trump downplayed concerns about ending the longstanding Senate rule to Fox host Bret Baier, saying that without the filibuster in place, the GOP would be so successful that the Democrats would be unlikely to retake the chamber.
“I think that if we got rid of the filibuster, we would approve so many good things, common sense things, wonderful things that it would be hard to beat us,” said Trump. “If we don&#8217;t, it&#8217;s always going to be a slog.”
“I have no doubt in my mind, get rid of it,” he continued. 
The president admitted that the choice to push for ending the filibuster is tough, not just for the consequences of a potential Democrat takeover, but because of the feelings of his allies in the Senate who disagree with the need to end the filibuster.
Senate Democrats have rejected a continuing resolution, which would continue to fund the government at status quo levels, over a dozen times since they withheld their votes to bring the government into a shutdown last month. Democratic leaders have argued that the shutdown is necessary to protect government healthcare subsidies.
Republicans have offered continuing resolutions to fund the government for a short period of time to create room for negotiations over the budget.
On Tuesday, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-crazed-democratic-lunatics-blocking-americas-comeback-filibuster-must-go">argued</a> that midterm elections would be much tougher for Republicans with the filibuster still in place.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “FOR THREE YEARS, NOTHING WILL BE PASSED, AND REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAMED. Elections, including the Midterms, will be rightfully brutal.”

Trump Says Scrapping Filibuster Would Make GOP Tough To Beat

Senate

President Donald Trump ramped up his pressure campaign to end the filibuster on Wednesday, telling Republican senators in a White House meeting that it’s “very important” for the GOP to “terminate the filibuster” and reopen the government.
In the past week, Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-crazed-democratic-lunatics-blocking-americas-comeback-filibuster-must-go?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=21&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Trump%3A+%E2%80%98Crazed+Democratic+Lunatics%E2%80%99+Blocking+America%E2%80%99s+Comeback+%E2%80%93+Filibuster+Must+Go%21">called</a> for the end of the filibuster <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-wants-republicans-to-hit-stone-cold-crazy-dems-with-ultimate-trump-card-in-shutdown-fight">multiple times</a> as Democrats continue to block GOP efforts to pass a short-term spending bill to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Trump took another step in his call for the end of the filibuster in Wednesday’s meeting, making his plea directly to Republican senators.
Trump suggested that Republicans should end the filibuster as soon as “this afternoon.”
“I think it’s very important. We have to get the country open, and the way we’re going to do it this afternoon is to terminate the filibuster,” he said. “And it’s possible you’re not going to do that, and I’m going to go by your wishes. You’re smart people. We&#8217;re good friends, but it would be a tremendous mistake, it would be a tragic mistake, actually. It’s time.”
The filibuster allows senators to prolong debate on legislation; 60 votes are needed to end a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill. The minority party often uses the filibuster to block votes on bills pushed by the ruling party. Republicans have cautioned against ending the filibuster, saying that it would set a precedent that would also be used against the GOP in the future. Trump, however, argued that Democrats will nuke the filibuster the next time they have power.
“We have to do it first,” the president said. “We’ll end up with two, three years, and we’ll have this country so perfect. We will have passed more legislation than any Congress and any group of senators or group of congressmen. … It will be a beautiful machine. Otherwise, we’re just going to sit around and argue with these people all day long, and they’re highly unrealistic. Many of them are radical Left subversives, frankly.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> to GOP Senators: &#8220;I think it&#8217;s very important. We have to get the country open, and the way we&#8217;re going to do it&#8230; is to terminate the filibuster&#8230; It&#8217;s time, it&#8217;s time&#8230; We&#8217;ll end up with two, three years, and we&#8217;ll have this country so perfect.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Clrd60V7nS">pic.twitter.com/Clrd60V7nS</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1986067842295287839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump added that keeping the filibuster alive would ultimately hurt Republicans.
“If [Democrats] take power, and it’s more likely that they take power if we don’t [end the filibuster] because we won’t be passing any legislation,” he said.
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;If I thought that they weren&#8217;t going to pass the filibuster, I wouldn&#8217;t even bring it up. They&#8217;re going to pass it within the first hour&#8230; if [Democrats] take power&#8230; they&#8217;ll wreak havoc.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/ogxZN6PkVT">pic.twitter.com/ogxZN6PkVT</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1986065444256510330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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After the media left the room and cameras were turned off, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly disagreed with Trump on this point, and the two engaged in a “spirited back-and-forth,” according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-government-shutdown-election-11-05-25?post-id=cmhm47vi100053b6oy3rv3tl7">CNN</a>.
During his remarks, the president argued that if Democrats refuse to agree to a simple bill to extend government funding for even a short period, they won’t negotiate any significant legislation.
“We should start tonight with the country is open, congratulations, and then we should pass voter ID. We should pass no mail-in voting. We should pass all the things that we want to pass to make elections secure and safe,” Trump continued. “Because California is a disaster, many of the states are disasters.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> to Republican Senators: &#8220;It&#8217;s time for Republicans to do what they have to do — and that&#8217;s terminate the filibuster.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/BMUKPybb9a">pic.twitter.com/BMUKPybb9a</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1986065143478776187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump’s comments on Wednesday morning came hours after Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/11/04/trump-filibuster-republican-senators-shutdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the president was preparing to ramp up pressure on Republican senators. One anonymous Trump adviser told Axios that the president planned on making GOP senators’ lives “a living hell.” Another anonymous adviser cited by Axios said that Trump is “really mad about this.”
As of last week, Republican Senate leadership remained “unchanged” in its support for the filibuster. The office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-leaders-stance-on-filibuster-remains-unchanged-as-trump-pushes-nuclear-option">The Daily Wire</a> last Friday that they continue to support the filibuster. Thune <a href="https://x.com/burgessev/status/1986092191383502925">told</a> reporters on Wednesday morning, “I know where math is on this issue in the Senate. It’s just not happening.”
When former President Joe Biden was in office with majorities in the House and Senate, some Democrats pushed for party leaders in the Senate to end the filibuster to pass leftist priorities, such as abortion protections, gun control, and packing the Supreme Court. Democrats’ efforts to eliminate the filibuster in 2021 were ultimately stopped by former moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Trump Demands Action From GOP Senators, Wants Filibuster Terminated ‘This Afternoon’

Congress

Executive

Republicans

Senate Republicans

As voters head to the polls on Election Day, President Donald Trump reiterated his call to abolish the Senate filibuster.
The appeal was part of a recurring effort, echoing similar demands he made during past legislative standoffs when he urged Republicans to invoke the “nuclear option,” — a change to Senate rules that would allow most legislation to pass with a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes.
“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,” he wrote on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115491634358714159">Truth Social</a>. “FOR THREE YEARS, NOTHING WILL BE PASSED, AND REPUBLICANS WILL BE BLAMED. Elections, including the Midterms, will be rightfully brutal.”
“If we do terminate the Filibuster, we will get EVERYTHING approved, like no Congress in History,” he continued. “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. If we don’t do it, they are far more likely to do well in the upcoming Elections, which would mean a PACKED Supreme Court, 2 more States and 4 more Democrat Senators (D.C. and Puerto Rico), and 8 more Electoral Votes.”
Trump characterized Democratic senators as being ready to abolish the filibuster themselves, claiming that only retiring Sen. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema prevented its removal when Democrats controlled the chamber.​
“Remember, Republicans, they are going to end the Filibuster as soon as they get the chance,” he cautioned. “We know this because they already tried, and the only two people who didn’t go along are now out of office. But they have much less chance of WINNING if we have Great Policy Wins after Wins after Wins. IN FACT, THEY WILL LOSE BIG, AND FOR A VERY LONG TIME. 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. WE WILL BE THE PARTY THAT CANNOT BE BEATEN &#8211; THE SMART PARTY!!!”
This pressure occurred during the 31-day shutdown and intensified as critical programs such as SNAP benefits and ACA health insurance faced lapses due to a congressional stalemate.​​
Democrats have aggressively campaigned to weaken or abolish the filibuster during their periods of control, in particular during the Biden administration. Their main targets included voting rights expansion, codifying abortion rights, and gun reform legislation. Numerous Democratic senators and candidates endorsed various reform proposals, including shifting to a “talking filibuster” or scrapping the 60-vote threshold entirely.
Many leading Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have opposed abolishing the filibuster, pointing out that Democrats would push extreme policies unchecked if they regain the majority, such as statehood for Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, gun control, and court packing.
The Senate filibuster is a cornerstone of American legislative procedure. It allows a minority of senators to extend debate on a pending bill indefinitely, preventing a final vote unless three-fifths (60 out of 100) senators agree to end the discussion, an action known as “invoking cloture.” This mechanism means that even a small group of senators — or a single determined senator — can derail or postpone legislation if the majority cannot unite on 60 votes.​

Trump Strikes Deal With German Merck On Tariffs, IVF Costs

Trump: ‘Crazed Democratic Lunatics’ Blocking America’s Comeback – Filibuster Must Go!

WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office confirmed to The Daily Wire that he continues to support the filibuster and his position remains “unchanged&#8221; by President Donald Trump&#8217;s call to abandon the filibuster as the government shutdown hits day 31.
On Thursday night, Trump took to <a href="https://x.com/AmberJoCooper/status/1984233772871516162">Truth Social</a> to urge Republicans to use the so-called “nuclear option.”
The president praised Republican leaders, saying Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are doing a “GREAT job, but the Democrats are Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY.”
“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!” Trump said.
The filibuster requires 60 votes to end debate on most legislation before it can proceed to a final vote.
The ongoing government shutdown has dragged on because Republicans hold only 53 seats, leaving them short of the 60 votes needed to advance the House-passed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5371">continuing resolution,</a> which would reopen the government. So far, the closest vote has been 55 — just five short of the threshold.
Trump said he believes if Democrats ever came back into power, they would end the filibuster “in the first day they take office, regardless of whether or not we do it.”
However, not everyone agrees ending the filibuster is the solution.
On October 10, Thune explained why he opposed eliminating it:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
FLASHBACK: Here is <a href="https://twitter.com/LeaderJohnThune?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LeaderJohnThune</a> prev. comments from 10/10 where he explained why he is AGAINST getting rid of the filibuster:
&#8220;The filibuster protects..&#8221;
This morning, Thune&#8217;s office confirmed his position is &#8220;unchanged.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> <a href="https://t.co/LfpQo9Z2sI">pic.twitter.com/LfpQo9Z2sI</a>
— Amber Jo Cooper (@AmberJoCooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmberJoCooper/status/1984269430319403481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
Thune said the “supermajority requirement is something that makes the Senate the Senate,” adding that without it, “there’s a whole lot of bad things could have been done by the other side.”
“The 60-vote threshold has protected this country and frankly, that&#8217;s what I think this last election was largely about because if the Democrats had won the majority, they probably would have tried to nuke the filibuster,&#8221; Thune said.
He added that Democrats had &#8220;six or seven things that they were going to do&#8221; when they attempted to nuke  the filibuster.
In 2022, Democrats attempted to eliminate the filibuster, but former independent Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) voted with Republicans to keep it.
&#8220;And then you&#8217;d have four new U.S. Senators from Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, you&#8217;d have a packed Supreme Court, you&#8217;d have abortion on demand — a whole bunch of things that were on that laundry list,&#8221; Thune said.
The Senate Majority Leader said he believes the filibuster “protects” and has been &#8220;a voice for the minority.&#8221;
“It gives the minority a say in what happens in this country. The founders created the Senate, uniquely that way, for that specific reason,&#8221; Thune said.
Through the entire standoff, Thune has maintained his position, calling on Democrats to join Republicans to end the shutdown.
“It&#8217;s just really not that complicated. All it takes is a little backbone, a little courage on behalf of five Democrats to do what they have done and what we&#8217;ve done for decades when it comes to funding the government,&#8221; he added.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso’s spokeswoman confirmed to The Daily Wire that his support of the filibuster is “unchanged” as well.
Barrasso previously appeared on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwKliF4llDI&amp;t=151s">Fox &amp; Friends</a> and said there “aren’t the Republicans that would want to support it.”
“The Democrats would love for us to do that. They tried to do it last time because they wanted to add D.C. and Puerto Rico as states with more Democrat senators. They wanted to expand the Supreme Court from 9 to 13, and they wanted to get rid of voter ID, so that’s not something that we’re going to entertain,” Barrasso said.
Thune told Daily Wire editor emeritus <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEGCgwjIyMU">Ben Shapiro</a> last week that everything is “harder than it should be” right now, but he believes rank-and-file Democrats will eventually break from leadership and reopen the government.
“I just think we ought to be able to do this the old fashioned way and that is open up the government by just having five more Democrats vote with us and that’s all it’s going to take,” Thune said.
“We don’t need to end the filibuster,&#8221; Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton <a href="https://x.com/SenTomCotton/status/1982925568929870208">said</a> on Oct. 27 on Fox News. &#8220;We need five more Democrats to come to their senses and open the government. Senate Republicans will not be baited by nonsensical Democrat demands.”
When asked about the filibuster Friday, Speaker Johnson said his opinion is “not relevant.”
“I don‘t have a say in this. It is a Senate chamber issue. We do not have that in the House. But, the filibuster has traditionally has been viewed as a very important safeguard,” Johnson said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NOW: <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerJohnson</a> on Trump calling on Republicans to nuke the filibuster:
&#8220;I don‘t have a say in this. It is a Senate chamber issue. We do not have that in the House. But, the filibuster has traditionally has been viewed as a very important safeguard&#8230;&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> <a href="https://t.co/FukEMWBYQD">pic.twitter.com/FukEMWBYQD</a>
— Amber Jo Cooper (@AmberJoCooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmberJoCooper/status/1984267886056329562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
With Senate Republican leaders united in support of the filibuster, the only way out of the shutdown appears to be for Senate Democrats to vote on the continuing resolution to reopen the government. The longer they delay, the more Republicans are ramping up their offense.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee launched a digital <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK9yJb4iTrcO6YUVTI9LmadUP3X3ZlnpS" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list%3DPLK9yJb4iTrcO6YUVTI9LmadUP3X3ZlnpS&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1762021378466000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2D5Rv15c9wp3Gcd8ligTUb">ad campaign</a> Friday targeting Senate Democrat incumbents and Democrat challengers for “fighting to give free healthcare to illegal aliens over feeding American families.&#8221;
The NRSC slammed Democrats for voting to keep the government closed 13 times. It said “Schumer’s Shutdown is threatening to end SNAP assistance this week for <a href="https://e.nrsc.org/t/j-i-ydojrjt-l-j/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://e.nrsc.org/t/j-i-ydojrjt-l-j/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1762021378466000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Bs2A-lJvmXANBJdM_H-mL">42 million Americans</a> who rely on it to feed their families,&#8221; the group <a href="https://www.nrsc.org/press-releases/nrsc-ad-blitz-targets-battleground-democrats-for-pushing-free-healthcare-for-illegals-over-feeding-american-families-2025-10-31/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nrsc.org/press-releases/nrsc-ad-blitz-targets-battleground-democrats-for-pushing-free-healthcare-for-illegals-over-feeding-american-families-2025-10-31/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1762021378466000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0P1608QsaYCM-9mO69D3SE">said</a> in a press release.
“Democrats are pandering to the far Left, and voters won’t forget it in 2026,” NRSC Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD)

Senate Leader’s Stance On Filibuster Remains ‘Unchanged’ As Trump Pushes ‘Nuclear Option’

Government Shutdown

John Thune

Senate Democrats

President Donald Trump on Thursday called for Senate Republicans to play their “Trump card” and get rid of the filibuster to end the government shutdown. 
While the House has passed a bill to temporarily fund the government, the Senate has repeatedly failed to reach the 60-vote threshold required to advance the same legislation. It is now the 31st day of the government shutdown, just four days short of the record. 
“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 fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 
Trump then praised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) before calling on them to get rid of the filibuster. 
“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! 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. “Never have the Democrats fought so hard to do something because they knew the tremendous strength that terminating the Filibuster would give them.”
Trump argued that Democrats would end the filibuster if they were in power and that Republicans should do it while they have the opportunity.
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
“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.’ If the Democrats ever came back into power, which would be made easier for them if the Republicans are not using the Great Strength and Policies made available to us by ending the Filibuster, the Democrats will exercise their rights, and it will be done in the first day they take office, regardless of whether or not we do it,” he wrote. 
“BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD ‘CRAZY,’ THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE &#8216;NUCLEAR OPTION,&#8217; GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added. 
When former Vice President Kamala Harris ran for president, she called for Democrats to end the filibuster to pass nationwide abortion legislation. That proposal was supported by many Democrats, but opposed by former Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-RETURN

Trump Wants Republicans To Hit ‘STONE COLD CRAZY’ Dems With Ultimate ‘TRUMP CARD’ In Shutdown Fight

Former President Joe Biden&#8217;s longtime communications director, Kate Bedingfield, tossed cold water on Senator Cory Booker&#8217;s (D-NJ) marathon speech on Tuesday, saying that it was unlikely to move the needle with regard to business as usual at the Capitol.
Bedingfield weighed in on Booker&#8217;s lengthy address — which, at 25 hours and five minutes, was the longest in U.S. Senate history — during an appearance on CNN shortly after the New Jersey senator passed the 24-hour mark, and she argued that the overall impact of the stunt was likely to be minimal at best.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Former Biden Comms Director Kate Bedingfield on Democrat Senator Booker&#39;s speech:
&quot;It may have a tangible impact on Senator Booker, but it won&#39;t have a tangible impact on business in Washington.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/djdAM8CUtb">pic.twitter.com/djdAM8CUtb</a>
&mdash; Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) <a href="https://twitter.com/WarMachineRR/status/1907216643761033471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bedingfield gave the good news first, saying that she believed Booker&#8217;s lengthy diatribe might actually pull some weight with the Democratic base and with donors, whom she said were simply waiting for someone within the party to show &#8220;signs of life.&#8221;
&#8220;The Democratic base, and Democratic donors, are looking for signs of life,&#8221; Bedingfield said. &#8220;And so what I think Senator Booker is giving them here are — some signs of life. Is it going to have a tangible impact on business in Washington? No, it&#8217;s not.&#8221;
&#8220;It may have a tangible impact on Senator Booker, but it won&#8217;t have a tangible impact on business in Washington,&#8221; Bedingfield repeated, laughing.
Bedingfield was far from the only one to mock Booker in the aftermath of his so-called &#8220;filibuster.&#8221;
Technically, Booker didn’t actually filibuster. There was no legislation under consideration for him to oppose, so he was just giving a floor speech — a record-breaking floor speech, sure, but not a filibuster. Still, that hasn’t stopped Democrats from celebrating Booker’s “filibuster,” a far cry from their condemnations of the tool.
The Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro noted, &#8220;Congrats on your official entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Congrats on your official entry into the Guinness Book of World Records <a href="https://t.co/fxnM702VGa">https://t.co/fxnM702VGa</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1907403810374389972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;They went on for YEARS about how the filibuster was a relic of our racist past and tool of minority rule and an assault on democracy,&#8221; David Harsanyi posted. &#8220;Shameless.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
They went on for YEARS about how the filibuster was a relic of our racist past and tool of minority rule and an assault on democracy. Shameless. <a href="https://t.co/5r2ODobQGe">https://t.co/5r2ODobQGe</a>
&mdash; David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidharsanyi/status/1907227940607140295?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Rebeccah Heinrichs from the Hudson Institute called it &#8220;The silliest participation trophy in U.S. history.&#8221;
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The silliest participation trophy in U.S. history. <a href="https://t.co/zKCTzCDNWU">https://t.co/zKCTzCDNWU</a>
&mdash; Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) <a href="https://twitter.com/RLHeinrichs/status/1907268304814649719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<a href="https://t.co/doDRYhlcB6">https://t.co/doDRYhlcB6</a> <a href="https://t.co/70gGgQyLvu">pic.twitter.com/70gGgQyLvu</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1907217503492649218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;He virtue signaled for 24 hours without actually accomplishing anything. Great illustration of the modern Democrat party,&#8221; Republican communications specialist Abigail Jackson posted.
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He virtue signaled for 24 hours without actually accomplishing anything. Great illustration of the modern Democrat party. <a href="https://t.co/NCKDtPmIr1">https://t.co/NCKDtPmIr1</a>
&mdash; Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) <a href="https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1907225960304230891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;&#8216;And so he spoketh, and yea, though no legislation was to be voted on, and though they once proclaimed such things an abomination, they did pretend it was a filibuster. And yea, the man who once was Spartacus became like Strom.&#8217; — Booker 24:19,&#8221; Christopher Scalia from the American Enterprise Institute added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“And so he spoketh, and yea, though no legislation was to be voted on, and though they once proclaimed such things an abomination, they did pretend it was a filibuster. And yea, the man who once was Spartacus became like Strom.” &#8211; Booker 24:19 <a href="https://t.co/pbyqbbRhxw">https://t.co/pbyqbbRhxw</a>
&mdash; Christopher J. Scalia (@cjscalia) <a href="https://twitter.com/cjscalia/status/1907260581712724143?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Sen. Booker Delivers Record Setting Floor Speech Protesting Trump

Even Democrat Operatives Are Throwing Cold Water On Booker’s Stunt

Even Democrat Operatives Are Throwing Cold Water On Booker's Stunt

Cory Booker

Joe Biden

Senator Cory Booker may have etched his name into the record books with the longest floor speech in Senate history — but it was former Senator Kyrsten Sinema who had the last laugh.
Sinema, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 while representing Arizona in the upper chamber, long disagreed with Democrats on the virtue of the filibuster. She argued that Democrats should not end the filibuster, because it would open the door for them to ram their agenda through, repeatedly pointing out to her colleagues that the time might come when they were not in power and needed it.
Meanwhile, Democrats — including Booker — insist that it was a &#8220;relic&#8221; of the Jim Crow era. In 2022, Booker said the filibuster &#8220;has been abused to stop reforms supported by the vast majority of Americans.&#8221;
But now, Booker and the Democrats are changing their tune, celebrating Booker for unseating the late segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond with the &#8220;LONGEST FILIBUSTER IN SENATE HISTORY!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
LONGEST FILIBUSTER IN U.S. SENATE HISTORY! 🔥 <a href="https://twitter.com/CoryBooker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoryBooker</a> <a href="https://t.co/6HnUcdKhjc">pic.twitter.com/6HnUcdKhjc</a>
&mdash; Democrats (@TheDemocrats) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/1907212150503813499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Technically, Booker didn&#8217;t actually filibuster. There was no legislation under consideration for him to oppose, so, he was just giving a floor speech — a record-breaking floor speech, sure, but not a filibuster. Still, that hasn&#8217;t stopped Democrats from celebrating Booker&#8217;s &#8220;filibuster,&#8221; a far cry from their condemnations of the tool.
Sinema jabbed at her former party, saying, &#8220;Maybe it isn’t an old Jim Crow relic, after all.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Maybe it isn’t an old Jim Crow relic, after all. <a href="https://t.co/ZHsgRkMd9Q">https://t.co/ZHsgRkMd9Q</a>
&mdash; Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1907245863489110159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Steve Guest weighed in afterward, sharing a few of Booker&#8217;s previous comments regarding the filibuster.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Booker’s receipts: <a href="https://t.co/ShQKamAFqo">pic.twitter.com/ShQKamAFqo</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1907248236017963264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The filibuster has been abused to stop reforms supported by the vast majority of Americans — from background checks to protecting the right to vote,&#8221; Booker said in 2022. &#8220;We must stop this abuse of power.&#8221;
&#8220;We have changed the filibuster before. We must change it again to preserve the right to vote in America,&#8221; he said a week later.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kyrsten-sinema-mocks-democrats-for-change-of-heart-on-filibuster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sinema</a> had a field day weeks earlier as many in her party who had called for the filibuster to be abolished suddenly found it invaluable, now that they were the minority party.
&#8220;Just surprised to see support for the &#8216;Jim Crow filibuster&#8217; here,&#8221; she said, mocking Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who was among those who had previously called for the filibuster to be abolished.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just surprised to see support for the “Jim Crow filibuster” here <a href="https://t.co/zohOh0E5st">https://t.co/zohOh0E5st</a> <a href="https://t.co/AWQKGHN9CG">pic.twitter.com/AWQKGHN9CG</a>
&mdash; Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1900851608394887477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Kyrsten Sinema At State Of The Union Address

Cory Booker May Have Talked The Longest, But Kyrsten Sinema Had The Last Laugh

Kyrsten Sinema

U.S. Senate

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) called out a &#8220;double dose of Democrat hypocrisy&#8221; when it came to a push to pass the GOP-backed stopgap bill that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-officially-sends-funding-bill-to-trumps-desk-after-dems-cave" target="_blank" rel="noopener">averted</a> a partial government shutdown earlier this month.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Thune alluded to how just nine Democrats and one independent helped the upper chamber <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-clears-key-hurdle-to-avert-shutdown-after-schumer-surrenders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overcome</a> the three-fifths filibuster threshold and proceed with a continuing resolution that provided funds to various federal agencies and programs through the end of September.
&#8220;The rest preferred to filibuster the bill and shut down the government. It was a double dose of Democrat hypocrisy,&#8221; Thune said. &#8220;Democrats who had campaigned to abolish the filibuster enthusiastically embraced it now that it served their purposes and Democrats who had decried the evils of government shutdowns now embraced shutting down the government.&#8221;
Illustrating how Democrats have changed their tune depending on the situation, Thune shared quotes from some of his colleagues from across the aisle who voted against invoking cloture on the latest funding patch after decrying shutdowns in a political fight last year over keeping the government open.
Without naming anyone, Thune appeared to read a <a href="https://x.com/MarkWarner/status/1771335406493020212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X from Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) in March 2024 that called shutdowns &#8220;as devastating as they are stupid&#8221; and <a href="https://x.com/maziehirono/status/1762485328789504444" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another</a> from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in February 2024 that said, &#8220;Even a partial shutdown could disrupt supply chains, hurt small businesses, risk travel delays, and increase food prices for millions of Americans.&#8221;
Thune quipped: &#8220;Democrats are changing their position so abruptly it could give you whiplash. The only thing that doesn&#8217;t look likely to change is the Democrats&#8217; willingness to change their principles when it suits their political purposes.&#8221;
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was one of the Democrats who voted in favor of moving forward with the continuing resolution last week. He warned that a shutdown would empower President Donald Trump to keep cutting programs as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort led by Elon Musk. However, some on the Left have argued that Schumer abdicated to Republicans and went as far as to call on him to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-lawmakers-begin-calling-schumer-step-aside" target="_blank" rel="noopener">step aside</a>.
Looking to what comes next, Thune said, &#8220;I hope the Democrats will manage to move past the fact that they weren&#8217;t able to shut down the government, but whether they accept their defeat or decide to throw a tantrum about it, we&#8217;re going continue to do the job that we were elected and sent here to do.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Thune: Senate Republicans Are on a Roll" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tjq83JkwNTo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Senate Majority Leader John Thune

Thune Calls Out ‘Double Dose Of Democrat Hypocrisy’ On Filibusters And Shutdowns

Spending Bill

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) mocked members of her former political party this week for reversing course on supporting the filibuster after calling for its elimination during the Biden era.
Sinema went as far as to create a spreadsheet so she could call out those who were being hypocrites on the issue, many of whom attacked her for protecting the filibuster while she served in the Senate.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Who has made the sprdsht showing: &#8211; senators/candidates on record to eliminate the filibuster &#8211; same senators who voted to filibuster today &#8211; bonus points for add’l column listing April 7, 2017 signers of letter to <a href="https://twitter.com/SenMcConnell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenMcConnell</a> saying preserve the filibuster 🍿🍿🍿
&mdash; Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1900715227240641014?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Turns out, someone HAS made the spreadsheet. Bless this platform. <a href="https://t.co/hfIMJDIubs">https://t.co/hfIMJDIubs</a> <a href="https://t.co/VI2mEN2mU1">pic.twitter.com/VI2mEN2mU1</a>
&mdash; Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1900916909195096146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sinema mocked far-Left Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) after Jayapal wrote on X: &#8220;Senate Democrats: Don’t betray working families. Don’t give Trump and Elon Musk a blank check. Don’t be complicit in the slashing of government programs. Vote NO on cloture and NO on final passage of Republicans’ bad bill.&#8221;
Sinema responded with a screenshot of a post from Jayapal where she wrote in September: &#8220;It&#8217;s the filibuster OR an assault weapons ban. It&#8217;s the filibuster OR codified abortion access. It&#8217;s the filibuster OR raising the minimum wage It&#8217;s the filibuster OR protecting voting rights. The choice is clear. Abolish the Jim Crow filibuster.&#8221;
Sinema wrote: &#8220;Just surprised to see support for the &#8216;Jim Crow filibuster&#8217; here.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just surprised to see support for the “Jim Crow filibuster” here <a href="https://t.co/zohOh0E5st">https://t.co/zohOh0E5st</a> <a href="https://t.co/AWQKGHN9CG">pic.twitter.com/AWQKGHN9CG</a>
&mdash; Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1900851608394887477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sinema also called out far-Left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for attacking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for voting to keep the government open.
AOC said that there was a &#8220;deep sense of outrage and betrayal&#8221; because of Schumer&#8217;s vote.
Sinema responded with a screenshot of AOC posting previously on X: &#8220;We could protect Roe tomorrow, but Sinema refuses to act on the filibuster. Until that changes she can take a seat talking about 
&#8216;women&#8217;s access to health care.&#8217; Hold everyone contributing to this disaster accountable, GOP &amp; Dem obstructionists included. She should be primaried.&#8221;
AOC responded to Sinema&#8217;s post: &#8220;Still no. In fact, the same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster &#8216;for when we need it&#8217; do not, in fact, use it when we need it. It’s only used to block Dem policies. Never to block harmful GOP ones. Could have proved us wrong. Instead they proved the point.&#8221;
Sinema fired back: &#8220;Literally zero Senate Democrats support the filibuster. 38 voted to filibuster the continuing resolution yesterday. 8 who previously voted to eliminate the filibuster (1/19/22) did not filibuster. 1 who previously campaigned against the filibuster did not filibuster.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Literally zero Senate Democrats support the filibuster.
38 voted to filibuster the continuing resolution yesterday. 
8 who previously voted to eliminate the filibuster (1/19/22) did not filibuster.
1 who previously campaigned against the filibuster did not filibuster. <a href="https://t.co/BujERDunOR">https://t.co/BujERDunOR</a>
&mdash; Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyrstensinema/status/1900952771458928846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Senate Aid Vote April 23

Kyrsten Sinema Mocks Democrats For Change Of Heart On Filibuster

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Pramila Jayapal

One of the things you&#8217;re generally not supposed to do when you&#8217;re in the commentary business is draw any sweeping conclusions about public sentiment based on reading YouTube comments. You can’t usually review YouTube comments and determine how people generally feel about something. But there&#8217;s been a trend across various YouTube comments sections lately that, at this point, I simply can&#8217;t ignore. 
If you pull up news reports about Republicans&#8217; efforts to ban men from competing in women&#8217;s sports, you will find — in every single instance, without exception — that the comments overwhelmingly support the Republicans. Even if you go to the channels of Left-wing news stations, the pattern remains the same. And not just on YouTube. Read the comments under any article on the topic. Read the comments on X or Facebook or Instagram. There is, everywhere, on every major platform, wide agreement on this issue. There just isn&#8217;t any debate among reasonable people about this issue. Everyone is tired of seeing men dominate women&#8217;s sports by pretending to be women.
Take for example this footage from NBC News&#8217; report last month. It&#8217;s about a bill that passed in the House, which would codify one of Donald Trump&#8217;s executive orders. The bill is called the &#8220;Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.&#8221; And the terms of the legislation are pretty simple. It would ban any school that receives federal funding from, &#8220;permitting a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.&#8221; And the bill goes on to define &#8220;sex&#8221; as &#8220;solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,&#8221; just in case there was any doubt about that.
This is the kind of legislation we need to see more of. It&#8217;s a meaningful step by Republicans in Congress to give some backbone to an executive order that&#8217;s extremely important. With that in mind, here&#8217;s how NBC News covered the House vote on this legislation back in January:
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Right away, you can see that they&#8217;re framing this legislation as a bill that would &#8220;ban transgender girls and women from competing in women&#8217;s sports.&#8221; They&#8217;re not reporting the truth, which is that &#8220;transgender girls and women&#8221; are men. They&#8217;re not going into any detail about how obviously unfair it is for men to compete against women in sports. Instead, they&#8217;re trying to portray this law as some kind of mean-spirited, bigoted effort by Republican lawmakers.
And even on NBC News&#8217; YouTube channel — which has a very Left-leaning audience — this framing didn&#8217;t fly. Instead of condemning the ban, pretty much every single comment supports it. For example, the top comment reads, &#8220;can&#8217;t believe this is even being discussed; common sense is underrated.&#8221; Then someone says, &#8220;Finally the nonsense ends.&#8221; Another user replies, &#8220;As a woman and mother of a girl, I&#8217;m happy and grateful.&#8221;
I could go through about a dozen other videos like this. Forbes, for example, has a similar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D01lcKNWSE0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a>. One of the top comments puts it this way: &#8220;As a former democrat, even if im liberal on certain subjects, it&#8217;s dumb s*** like this that has driven me and a lot of other folks away from this party. &#8230; Embarrassing.&#8221;
And again, every comment is like this.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1548-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
So the pattern is familiar: Left-wing media outlets try to portray the Republicans as the villain of the story. And despite that framing, the comments section revolts. None of this is surprising, when you take a look at the polling data on the topic. Just a couple of weeks ago, a New York Times poll <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/19/us-news/nyt-poll-finds-majority-of-democrats-oppose-transgender-athletes-in-womens-sports/">found</a> that, &#8220;the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports.&#8221; Roughly 80% of respondents said that &#8220;men who identify as women&#8221; should be banned from women&#8217;s sports. And among Democrats, the number was 67%.
Just to put these numbers in context, something like <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/analyzing-the-2024-presidential-vote-prris-post-election-survey/">4%</a> of Democrats voted for Donald Trump in the last election. This is a demographic that disagrees with Trump on pretty much everything. But when it comes to the farce of men competing in women&#8217;s sports, even these Democrats are forced to agree with him.
That&#8217;s why the vote that just took place in the Senate is so remarkable. Every single Democrat in the Senate — all 45 of them — just voted against the &#8220;Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.&#8221; In other words, 100% of the Democrat Party in the Senate still endorses the insanity of men competing against women. There was not one single defector. Despite the overwhelming number of voters — including Democrat voters — who are tired of this nonsense, Democrats in Washington are in complete lockstep on this issue. And they&#8217;re proud of it.
To give you some idea of how the day went, this is footage of Elizabeth Warren casting her vote. She makes sure everyone sees that she&#8217;s giving the big thumbs-down for the cameras:
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This was so confusing that I went looking through the floor debates on this bill. I wanted to know what, exactly, could motivate the &#8220;party of democracy&#8221; to flagrantly disregard the clear desires of its own voters. I wanted to see what arguments they put forward. And I came across this speech from Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. Here&#8217;s how it began. This is Dick Durbin&#8217;s argument for why the Senate should not pass a bill that bans men from competing against women in sports:
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What&#8217;s especially funny about this line of argument is that Durbin supported Democrats&#8217; &#8220;anti-lynching&#8221; law a few years back, even though lynching — and all other forms of murder — have been illegal for some time in this country. Somehow the fact that no black people have been lynched in several decades didn&#8217;t deter Durbin from supporting that law. But now we&#8217;re supposed to conclude that, because there aren&#8217;t thousands of men playing in women&#8217;s sports, the whole issue is moot.
This is the stock argument you hear all the time from trans activists. Of course, even assuming Durbin&#8217;s numbers are accurate — which of course, we should not assume that — this is still an argument that completely sidesteps two very important issues. The first is that women are indeed losing opportunities and being degraded in order to affirm the delusions of pathological narcissists. That&#8217;s not something we should allow, regardless of how many women are being affected. The other issue of course is that a functioning society has to be able to accept the reality of basic human biology. Even if you don&#8217;t care about the injustices that athletes like Riley Gaines have endured — and you obviously should care about those injustices — then you still have to explain some basic terms. You have to explain, for example, what a &#8220;woman&#8221; is. You have to explain what a &#8220;man&#8221; is. And as we all know, Democrats are incapable of doing this.
During the rest of Durbin&#8217;s speech he eventually gets around to making another argument, one that is even more revealing than the last one. Watch:
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I went back and read the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/28/text">legislation</a> he&#8217;s talking about. And contrary to what Durbin says, there&#8217;s nothing in there that permits a random adult — or any adult — to look at the private parts of a student athlete who&#8217;s accused of pretending to be a woman. So what he is saying is that Republicans are secretly obsessed with this kind of perversion, when in fact he&#8217;s the only one thinking along these lines. This is maybe a window into the sordid mental state of Dick Durbin and Democrats like him.
In reality, the bill simply bans men from competing against women. That&#8217;s it. And everyone understands exactly how that would be enforced, because it&#8217;s extremely, painfully obvious when men are playing in women&#8217;s sports. You don&#8217;t need any kind of examination. You don&#8217;t need to test their chromosomes. You can just look at them. In every single case involving a man playing in women&#8217;s sports, that&#8217;s been true. And it has never been a close call.
Of course Democrats like Dick Durbin have to pretend otherwise. They&#8217;ll watch a basketball game, and see one athlete towering over everyone else — with a gigantic Adam&#8217;s apple, twice the muscle mass and a James Earl Jones voice — and conclude that there&#8217;s just no way of knowing the athlete&#8217;s gender. They have to act like it&#8217;s a mystery, known only to perverted gender inspectors who are going around pants-ing student athletes at every opportunity.
But even though Durbin&#8217;s side of this argument was in the minority, Democrats have succeeded in killing the legislation. That&#8217;s because laws like this one have to overcome a filibuster, which requires 60 votes. And because the vote on this legislation was 51 in favor and 45 opposed, it won&#8217;t pass. Republicans have the majority, but they&#8217;re not able to pass a law like this one. It&#8217;s enough to make you wonder why Republicans don&#8217;t eliminate the filibuster entirely at this point. We all know Democrats will do the same thing the moment they have the opportunity — they&#8217;ve done it before, after all. And if Democrats are now so unhinged and so unreasonable that they&#8217;re willing to defend the idea of men playing in women&#8217;s sports, then it&#8217;s safe to say the filibuster has drifted very far from its original purpose. The point of the filibuster was to enable careful deliberation. Instead, at the moment, it&#8217;s enabling insanity.
Getting rid of the filibuster would also make it much easier to pass a federal ban on child castration and mutilation in the name of so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care,&#8221; which is something I&#8217;ve obviously been pushing for, especially since the beginning of the second Trump administration. A couple of days ago, one of the most prominent Republicans in the Senate, Josh Hawley, endorsed my proposal. <a href="https://x.com/HawleyMO/status/1895487068438180307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He wrote</a>: &#8220;And not just this — but when is Congress going to give VICTIMS of these transition surgeries &amp; treatments the right to SUE the people who carried them out? Needs to happen now.&#8221;
This is the kind of legislation that Republicans need to enact, as quickly as they possibly can. Whatever procedural roadblocks are in the way, they need to be cleared. When Democrats are using the filibuster to obstruct the will of the vast majority of Americans — including their own voters — then it&#8217;s a pretty clear sign that the filibuster needs to go. It has outlived whatever usefulness it had. And once the filibuster is gone, we need to start passing laws that affirm the reality of basic, fundamental human biology. For the benefit of all young people — and to restore some semblance of sanity in this country — we now have no other choice.

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