The Wall Street Journal editorial board warned Republicans that following President Donald Trump’s calls to end the Senate filibuster would be “dumb.”
Since the start of the government shutdown, 79-year-old Trump has posted multiple times on Truth Social using all caps to call for the “NUCLEAR OPTION”—his term for ending the filibuster to break the impasse.
“You knew it would happen,” the editors of the Journal wrote on Monday. “Frustrated by Congress, President Trump is demanding that Republican Senators break the 60-vote filibuster rule to pass legislation,” they added.
“Republicans would be dumb and hurt the country by breaking the filibuster,” the editorial board continued.
Reports indicate that the president has become frustrated with Senate Democrats for not voting on the Republican-proposed budget bill, as they are requesting that the budget include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.
“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, NOT JUST FOR THE SHUTDOWN, BUT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE. WE WILL GET ALL OF OUR COMMON SENSE POLICIES APPROVED (VOTER ID, ANYONE?) AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump posted on Monday.
The filibuster is a Senate tool that requires a supermajority of 60 votes to end debate on legislation. On Tuesday, the Senate failed to pass the funding bill for the 14th time, with only 54 votes in favor. As a result, the shutdown will become the longest in U.S. history.
“Republicans could end the government shutdown on a partisan vote, but then what?” the Journal editorial board asks, warning that eliminating the filibuster would allow Democrats to pass legislation the next time they control Washington, adding that this could happen “perhaps as soon as 2029 when Mr. Trump is out of office.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed a similar view during a press conference on Monday, asking, “What would the Democrats do if they had not filibuster impediment, no speed bump at all?” Johnson also warned of “a lot of abuses” that could result from ending the filibuster and said he was discussing the issue with the president.
When asked for comment, the White House said that Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt “addressed the filibuster extensively in the briefing.”
On Tuesday, Leavitt told reporters that the president has been “strong and realistic” in his position on the filibuster and wants to see Republicans pass “as many good pieces of legislation… as they possibly can” during his administration.
Trump’s calls to end the filibuster to resolve the government shutdown come as polls show that the American public is more inclined to blame Republicans for the stalemate.
Some Trump supporters have turned away from the president after funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was halted in November, and only half was reinstated following a court ruling that the suspension of payments was unlawful.
“The filibuster rule is often frustrating, but its virtue is that it serves as a check on passing extreme laws with narrow majorities,” the Journal wrote, noting the legislation that could have passed under former President Joe Biden if the filibuster didn’t exist—such as Bernie Sanders’s proposed $17-an-hour national minimum wage—which Republicans would have opposed.
This isn’t the first time the Journal—owned by the Murdoch family-led company News Corp—has disputed Trump’s claims. In another editorial published Monday, the board warned the Supreme Court over its upcoming ruling on the constitutionality of Trump’s tariffs.
The paper’s hard stance on the president comes after Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against it over a report alleging that he sent a birthday note featuring a drawing of a naked woman to the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Trump denied the allegations, and the Journal later released a picture of the drawing, which allegedly included Trump’s signature.
To conclude Monday’s editorial, the Journal noted that most Republicans understand that ending the filibuster would be a bad decision.
“But some Senators, hoping to curry favor, may start to echo the President’s short-term opportunism,” the board wrote. “The Democratic left is quietly cheering them on,” they added.
