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 reiterated 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’t, it’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 argued 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.”