President Donald Trump knows he’s losing the politics of the government shutdown so far. But that’s not making him any more inclined to give ground on the Democratic demands that could bring the standoff to a swift end.
Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to unilaterally reopen the government by killing the filibuster, insisting in public and private that the so-called nuclear move is the simplest way to resolve the crisis — and put him back on offense following one of the toughest weeks of his second term.
The president’s push to bypass Democrats completely has intensified since the GOP’s electoral drubbing on Tuesday, even as party leaders on Capitol Hill oppose such drastic action, and despite a pickup in bipartisan talks that lawmakers hope can eventually end the shutdown.
“He’s pressing — which he’s not going to get — the elimination of the filibuster,” said one person with knowledge of the behind-the-scenes shutdown discussions. “That’s not going to happen and he just has to accept that.”
Yet Trump remains undeterred, arguing that the filibuster is enabling Democrats’ opposition, impeding his own ambitions and dampening Republicans’ chances of staying in power beyond next year’s midterm elections.
The filibuster rule allows a minority of senators to
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