President Trump on Thursday urged Senate Republicans to invoke the “nuclear option” — a rules change that would allow legislation to pass with a simple majority vote — in order to bring an end to the 30-day government shutdown.
“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 long Truth Social post.
Trump wrote that during his whirlwind Asia trip this week, “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.
“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 also claimed that Democratic demands to reopen the government, such as $1.5 trillion in new spending that will include healthcare funds that will go to illegal aliens, “will hurt American citizens, and Republicans will not let it happen.”
The 60-vote threshold required to advance legislation in the Senate has blocked Republicans from moving forward with a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government at pre-shutdown levels. Since federal funding expired on Oct. 1, all but three Senate Democrats have voted against the Trump-backed measure more than a dozen times.
Republicans currently need five additional votes to move the bill ahead, the New York Post reported.
“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 Dem-led 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.”
Trump correctly observed that 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 by 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.
In addition to ending what has become known as the “Schumer Shutdown,” after Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, 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 added.
Then, in a separate Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “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-S.D.) reaffirmed his commitment to preserving the filibuster back in January, when Republicans assumed control of the Senate.
Earlier this month, Thune rejected the idea of invoking the nuclear option to end the shutdown, saying he had not held any discussions with the White House about pursuing that strategy.