Trump Calls for McConnell to End the Filibuster Entirely
Trump Falsely Blames ‘8 Dems’ for Health Care Bill’s Failure
In the wake of yet another legislative failure, President Donald Trump has just called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the filibuster entirely. That move would drop the required number of votes on certain pieces of legislation and legislative actions to a simple majority, allowing Republicans to slam through many disastrous pieces of legislation, and for Trump to sign them. As it is, Republicans were forced to kill the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, which was the only way they could confirm now-Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The President, still fuming over Monday night’s stunning and unexpected death of the “Better Health Care Act,” the GOP’s latest attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare, Tuesday morning falsely claimed that just eight Democrats control the Senate.
“The Senate must go to a 51 vote majority instead of current 60 votes. Even parts of full Repeal need 60. 8 Dems control Senate. Crazy!” Trump tweeted.
What’s also “crazy” is Trump has no shame, no memory that in 2013 he held a radically different opinion, denouncing then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to end the filibuster on some Senate votes, due entirely to Republican obstructionism. GOP Senators for years had held up at that point dozens and dozens of Obama nominees. Here’s what Trump said in November of 2013:
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Senate filibuster rule. Harry Reid & Obama killed it yesterday. Rule was in effect for over 200 years.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2013
(Trump’s claim Jefferson wrote the Senate filibuster is highly questionable.)
“In the history of the United States, 168 presidential nominees have been filibustered, 82 blocked under President Obama, 86 blocked under all the other presidents,” Harry Reid said, offering this graphic:
But Trump’s tweet is misleading at best. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn’t even hammer together 50 Republicans to support his monstrosity of a bill. The fact that no Democrats would support it is what’s supposed to happen.Â
Your bill only needed 51 votes. Your party has 52 senators. You couldn’t win over your own party. This is nothing to do with the filibuster.
— Evan O’Connell (@evanoconnell) July 18, 2017
Trump’s tweet lamenting the (false) claim that “8 Dems control Senate” followed one about an hour earlier, in which he called for ObamaCare to “fail.” Were ObamaCare to actually fail, studies show tens of thousands of Americans would die each year with no equivalent replacement.
CBO scored repeal without a replacement – it’s a humanitarian disaster of incomprehensible scale. 32M lose insurance. Premiums go up 100%.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 18, 2017
But Trump Tuesday morning also made clear he doesn’t care about the health – or death – of Americans. Monday’s sudden death of the ObamaCare repeal and replace bill did not translate into the need for action to shore up the parts of ObamaCare that need repair. Instead, it was a catalyst for Trump to look for a “win,” of any type.
“With only a very small majority, the Republicans in the House & Senate need more victories next year since Dems totally obstruct, no votes!” the President also tweeted Tuesday morning.Â
The President still doesn’t grasp the fact that just 17 percent to 24 percent of Americans support the Republican bills to repeal and replace ObamaCare, and there’s even less support for a simple repeal.
But as always, Trump cares only about pleasing his base. He doesn’t care that millions will lose health care coverage, he doesn’t care that the majority of Americans want Congress to keep and improve ObamaCare. He doesn’t care thatÂ
All he cares about is “winning.”
The president is literally pushing for Americans to die so he can get a “win.”
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Image by US Dept. of Energy via Flickr

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