It’s Halloween – so is this a trick or a treat? President Trump is officially fed up with the government shutdown. As a result, he wants the filibuster to go.

The president was on Truth Social late last night, voicing his opinion on invoking the “nuclear option” to get rid of the filibuster.

Donald J. Trump Truth Social Post 10:36 PM EST 10/30/25

….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!

— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) October 31, 2025

Trump’s post came on the heels of a trip to Asia, where he said he faced questions about how Democrats shut down the government, “and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it?”

The president noted some Democratic senators during the Biden administration had called for an end to the filibuster. Then-President Biden and some senators called for altering the filibuster to protect voting rights and abortion access, though it did not garner unanimous support within the party.

Trump went on to argue that Democrats would eliminate the filibuster if given the opportunity to enact policies like statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

“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 posted. “If the Democrats ever came back into power, which would be made easier for them if the Republicans are not using the Great Strength and Policies made available to us by ending the Filibuster, the Democrats will exercise their rights, and it will be done in the first day they take office, regardless of whether or not we do it.”

Now, you would think Democrats would be all over the idea of getting rid of the filibuster – meaning there would be no way for the minority to block the passage of bills by invoking the need for 60 “cloture” votes in order to force a final vote on a bill. After all, Democrats pulled the pin on the nuclear option when it came to approving political nominees under the guidance of the late Senator Harry Reid back in 2013. Republicans, notable Mitch McConnell, warned the Democrats that they would regret doing this.

And they did, when Republicans invoked the nuclear option themselves in order to confirm Supreme Court nominees in 2017, which allowed every justice from Neil Gorsuch onward to be confirmed by simple majority. Ever since then, Democrats have been bitching and moaning about the filibuster, and seriously considering doing away with the whole thing for years now. Chuck Schumer almost had it killed off in 2022, only to be thwarted by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who realized that preserving the rights of the minority would protect Democrats later. Remember, the Democrats assumed after 2020 that they would never lose again. They were going to pass their voting rights act, they were going to pack the Supreme Court, they were going to steamroll Republicans by making Washington DC and Puerto Rico states and giving them each two Senate seats. And they certainly never saw the political resurrection of Donald Trump coming to pass.

Now that they are in the minority, Democrats are fully utilizing the filibuster to THEIR benefit, calling keeping the government closed with this procedural rule their “leverage.” Imagine that, the Democrats are raging hypocrites who campaigned on ending the filibuster, and are now hiding behind it. But even as they hide behind it, they can see the long game. They once thought they would never lose power. Now they are attempting to bait President Trump into the same trap.

Everyone understands what the strategy is here, right? pic.twitter.com/rtFqBcptud

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) October 13, 2025

After all, if the Republicans pull the pin on the nuclear option, then they won’t be able to complain later, right? The only sane Democrat in the Senate, John Fetterman, is attempting to split the proverbial baby – what if the filibuster was scrapped, but ONLY for continuing resolutions to keep the government open?

Asked if he would support Republicans “nuking” the filibuster to let a House-passed funding measure pass the Senate with a simple-majority vote, Fetterman replied affirmatively.

“Carve it out for that, absolutely,” he said of a proposal to create a carve-out in the 60-vote threshold for passing legislation through the Senate to allow the government to reopen.

“We ran on that. We ran on killing the filibuster, and now we love it. Carve it out so we can move on. I support it because it makes it more difficult to shut the government down in the future, and that’s where it’s entirely appropriate,” he said. “I don’t want to hear any Democrat clutching their pearls about the filibuster. We all ran on it.”

Fetterman, who has voted consistently to keep the government open, is frustrated beyond measure with his colleagues.

“It’s an absolute failure what occurred here for the last month, and now things are really going to land, and imagine being a parent with a couple kids, and how you’re going to fill their refrigerator and pack their lunches and get on with their lives when the things that they’ve depended on now is gone, because we can’t even agree to just open things up,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told CNN.

Fetterman said his wife helps distribute free food to the community and has already witnessed longer lines. He lamented that when he returns home this weekend, he’ll have to tell constituents who have lost their SNAP benefits, “I don’t have an explanation for them.”

Responding to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s prior suggestion that each day of the shutdown plays better politically for Democrats, Fetterman responded, “Ask the hungry people on Saturday.”

“Americans are not leverage. This is not, this is not some shitty game show about who’s winning or whatever. It’s just like we have to be better than this and just open this up,” he said.

The Democrats may be cheering President Trump’s comments, but Senate Republicans are not.

But many GOP senators have vocally defended the filibuster, including Majority Leader John Thune, calling the 60-vote rule a fundamental feature of the Senate and one that works to conservatives’ benefit in the long run.

Thune has defended the filibuster multiple times during the shutdown, calling it a “bad idea” to suggest eliminating it. “The 60-vote threshold has protected this country,” he said earlier this month.

Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for the South Dakota Republican, said in a statement on Friday that “Leader Thune’s position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged.”

Kate Noyes — a spokesperson for Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 GOP leader — said on Friday his position in support of the legislative filibuster also hasn’t changed.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who has no direct role in Senate affairs but occupies a key role in managing the shutdown, also struck a cautionary note in comments to reporters Friday.

He called the filibuster a “Senate chamber issue” but added that it “has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard.”

“If the shoe was on the other foot, I don’t think our team would like it,” Johnson said.

And it might not matter anyway.

To change the chamber’s rules, Republicans would need 50 votes plus a tiebreak from Vice President JD Vance — meaning they could lose no more than three senators.

Republicans do not currently have the votes within the conference to nix the filibuster, four people granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations told POLITICO Friday.

“I don’t think it changes anything,” said one GOP senator granted anonymity to speak candidly about Trump’s demands.

The Democrats, save Fetterman, would vote “no” on the nuclear option in order to make the Republicans own it. So at this point, Trump’s comments are fuel on the political bonfire, but will probably not move the votes in the direction of ending the filibuster.

Where does that currently leave everyone? Democrats are still trying to pin the shutdown on Republicans, while daring them to go nuclear. We may be about to see just how much fraud and waste are involved in SNAP benefits, along with the number of illegal immigrants who do receive those same benefits (claiming that a “smaller number” of illegals get SNAP and WIC is zero comfort when those same people should not be entitled to government assistance). If nothing else, this should be a moment for the American people to rise up and practice a little charity of their own by supporting food banks and other charitable organizations making sure that people have food.

While President Trump is understandably aggravated, his attention would be better spent appealing to Americans’ innate sense of wishing to help others on an individual level – especially as we are heading into November and the celebration of Thanksgiving – rather than putting out posts on Truth Social suggesting the filibuster should go. In the grand scheme of things, the government shutdown is short. Losing the filibuster would be a permanent problem with long-lasting consequences.

Featured image: President Donald Trump during the multilateral summit meeting on August 18, 2025, official White House photo by Daniel Torok via the White House Flickr page, cropped, public domain