President Donald Trump has renewed his demand that congressional Republicans use the ‘nuclear option’ and nuke the filibuster, warning that not only are the midterms at stake – but the Republican party’s ability to govern as well (lol).
The Senate requires at least 60 votes out of 100 to invoke “cloture” and begin the formal end of debate on a bill, however a senator can block this process by filibustering – the act of giving a continuous speech on the floor to prevent a vote, or to signal that they intend to do so.
Of note, the longest filibuster was delivered by Democrat Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes to prevent Republicans from giving black people civil rights in the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Then, when moderate Democrats repackaged the Civil Rights bill as their own in 1964, Thurmond and a bloc of Southern Democratic senators (remember who actually owned the slaves…) held the longest collective filibuster in US history, which included Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden mentor Robert Byrd (D-WV).
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
“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.”
🚨JUST POSTED🚨
President Donald Trump says its likely that Democrats will win midterms and the presidency because Republicans can’t get anything done.
President Trump again wants the Filibuster terminated. pic.twitter.com/if8Gsa08Xa
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) November 4, 2025
When Trump floated the idea late last week, House Majority Leader Mike Johnson warned that this would backfire – as Democrats would immediate abuse it.
“The filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard,” Johnson said. “If the shoe was on the other foot, I don’t think our team would like it.”
Where Things Stand
Senate negotiators cited by the chaps at Punchbowl News say Democrats are increasingly open to an offramp framework floated by Senate Majority Leader John Thune: reopen the government first, then schedule a guaranteed vote later on extending Obamacare’s expiring premium subsidies. The thinking inside the room is straightforward – Republicans won’t negotiate on Obamacare while the shutdown persists, and the political pain of the closure is starting to outweigh the leverage Democrats believed they had at the outset.
Senators and aides involved in negotiations tell us some Senate Democrats are warming to Thune’s offer to open the government and then hold a vote by a date-certain on extending the expiring Obamacare subsidies. Senators involved in these talks include Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
The shutdown has become too painful, many of these Democrats believe, and Republicans clearly aren’t going to cave by negotiating an Obamacare deal before the stalemate ends. A date-certain vote on Obamacare subsidies creates another new deadline and allows time to craft a bill that could win enough GOP support.
Now that open enrollment has begun, these Democrats say, they can blame Republicans for premium hikes — as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did during a floor speech Monday — and use that to pressure GOP senators on the issue.
A second piece of the emerging proposal would pair the short-term funding bill with a small appropriations “minibus,” covering Military Construction-VA, Legislative Branch and Agriculture, plus a formal process to finish the remaining bills later this year. For the senators involved, this is the real prize – avoiding a full-year continuing resolution that would lock in outdated spending levels and sideline months of bipartisan work on appropriations.
To be clear, this would still represent a meaningful concession for Democrats. They have insisted for weeks that any reopening must include concrete movement on Obamacare. The new structure only guarantees a vote, not passage, and progressives are already grumbling that this is too soft.
For Republicans, landing on the end date of the CR is becoming the biggest internal fight. Conservatives want it to stretch into 2026 to eliminate any chance of a December spending crunch. Collins, in contrast, is pushing December 19, arguing that a January deadline would all but guarantee the dreaded year-long CR. Senate Democrats agree with her – but House Republicans almost certainly won’t.
Attaching the minibus only complicates things further. If this proposal moves forward, Speaker Mike Johnson would essentially be forced to bring his members back into session for a bill many of them dislike. Senate Republicans involved in the talks say they can resolve objections inside their own conference, but they haven’t done it yet.
And hovering over the entire process is the White House.
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