It's not the first time Trump has said it. Just four days ago he called for Senate Republicans to "INITIATE THE 'NUCLEAR OPTION.'" As Ed pointed out here, that was quickly batted down by Sen. Thune.
But this morning, Trump has put out two messages on Truth Social about it. The first one is pretty lengthy.
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. 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. We will have FAIR, FREE, and SAFE Elections, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everybody, Strong Borders, Major Tax and Energy Cuts, and will secure our Second Amendment, which the Democrats will also terminate, IMMEDIATELY. If we don’t do it, they are far more likely to do well in the upcoming Elections, which would mean a PACKED Supreme Court, 2 more States and 4 more Democrat Senators (D.C. and Puerto Rico), and 8 more Electoral Votes. Remember, Republicans, they are going to end the Filibuster as soon as they get the chance We know this because they already tried, and the only two people who didn’t go along are now out of office. But they have much less chance of WINNING if we have Great Policy Wins after Wins after Wins. IN FACT, THEY WILL LOSE BIG, AND FOR A VERY LONG TIME. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER NOW, END THE RIDICULOUS SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATELY, AND THEN, MOST IMPORTANTLY, PASS EVERY WONDERFUL REPUBLICAN POLICY THAT WE HAVE DREAMT OF, FOR YEARS, BUT NEVER GOTTEN. WE WILL BE THE PARTY THAT CANNOT BE BEATEN - THE SMART PARTY!!!
And a couple of hours later Trump tweeted this for emphasis.
I think whoever goes nuclear on this is going to live to regret it. But even putting aside the long-term argument, I think there's a good short term argument that Republicans shouldn't be doing it now.
Democrats spent a month openly preparing to climb out on this limb with no plan to accomplish anything besides make demands and hope the media would back them up. They've since spent another five weeks pretending their planned stunt is the GOP's fault. But in the past week or so we've started to see the pain of this shutdown finally bite some real people. On top of that, the media are starting to (finally) get a little tougher on Democrats and framing this as their choice, which of course it was all along.
The best outcome here for Republicans is that Democrats have to awkwardly climb off this limb on their own. Of course they'll claim it was a triumph of political strategy, but a lot of Americans won't buy it. Once it's clear they accomplished nothing, even some Democrats will start asking, what was the point of all that? And maybe a few media outlets will actually ask Chuck Schumer and other Dems that very question.
The alternative to that is the nuclear option, ending the filibuster. If the GOP does that, suddenly Dems are completely off the hook. They have been claiming that this was the GOP shutdown all along specifically because the GOP could, in theory, end it by taking this step. Ending the filibuster would vindicate that message.
See, we told you this was the GOP shutdown and the GOP finally decided to end it.
In that case, there will be no media attention on Democrats and no pressure on them to explain their role in all of this. All of the media attention would go to the GOP, asking if they are being too extreme.
Meanwhile, Democrats can sit back and claim they have achieved a result with their stunt. Instead of handing them an awkward, pointless defeat, the GOP would be handing them a short term excuse and a PR win.
Now, you can certainly argue that what follows will be something the Dems don't like very much. That may be true, but in the immediate term it's still saving Dems from themselves after two solid months of stupidity. So, again, why would the GOP want to come to their rescue when they need it most? Let them instead stand in front of the voters and stutter stupidly about the point of their shutdown when it accomplishes nothing and they wind up voting for the clear CR anyway.
Sen. Thune hasn't responded directly to Trump's calls to nuke the filibuster, but he did post this video a few minutes ago. He notes at the end of this that a 15th vote to end the shutdown will be held today.
“Every day gets better for us.”
— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) November 4, 2025
Those were the words of the Democrat leader one week into this shutdown, reflecting on the supposed benefits of the shutdown for Senate Democrats.
But thanks to Senate Democrats, every day is getting worse for the American people. pic.twitter.com/dL5IGFkXGh
Democrats are drowning. Don't hand them a life raft. Just make them own this absolute failure.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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