That leaves the third possibility, one that Trump alluded to this week. We could use a “good shutdown,” he said, and we also need to get rid of the Senate filibuster.

Republicans are frightened of shutdowns, but shouldn’t be when they control the White House. Remember the last shutdown, which Obama used to deliver maximum pain, like the closure of the World War II Memorial? Now imagine Trump deciding what gets shut down — starting with funds for Planned Parenthood.

But we wouldn’t have to go there if the Senate abandoned the absurd and artificial 60-vote filibuster requirement. Gridlock is already built into our Constitution, and the filibuster ratchets that up to an intolerable degree.

It doesn’t give us better government. Just the opposite, it gives senators the power to extract wasteful earmarks, such as the obscene concessions individual senators extracted in return for giving Harry Reid the votes he needed to pass ObamaCare.