The other day, when i wrote the article defending and explaining my reasons for wanting to ditch the filibuster, I knew that there was another great reason that I just couldn’t seem to pull out of the tapioca that fills my skull. Better late than never. I finally remembered it, and it’s a beauty. GOP Accountability.
One of the favorite reasons that people in the comments use in defending keeping the filibuster around to vex Democrats goes something like But look at all of the insane shit we stopped the GOP from passing when Trump was President! But did we? Did we really? Because, when you look at the past calmly and without emotion, just logic, that line starts to sound like the Democrats patting ourselves on the backs because the GOP scored an owner.
Clear your mind, and just look back at 2017-2018 with an open mind. The GOP held the House, the Senate, and the White House. McConnell could have followed through on his promise and killed the filibuster at any time. And if you remember honestly, it isn’t like there was no pressure on him to do so. Both Trump from the White House as well as McCarthy in the House were screaming at McConnell to ditch the filibuster to get the Trump agenda passed! But McConnell stood his ground and refused. Because the filibuster was literally saving his ass.
The minute those bills hit the Senate, the Democrats announced that they were filibustering them, which gave McConnell nocturnal emissions for a month. Because while those bills might have been cute and funny in the GOP House, they were death on two legs to vulnerable GOP Senators in swing states. Those Democratic filibusters may just have saved McConnell his leadership position.
Ask yourself this. Let’s just say that there was no filibuster in 2017-2018. McConnell had already gotten rid of it. What now? When these toxic bills come up from the House, the Democrats can’t stop them with the filibuster. Which would have left McConnell with two options, both politically suicidal. He could either pull up his big boy BVD’s, and protect his caucus by killing the bills by refusing to bring them up for a vote, earning Trump and McCarthy’s wrath, or he could have closed his eyes, whispered to his caucus to save themselves from these Mega Turds, and let them go down like the Hindenburg on a floor vote. Meaning Trump blames him for not holding his caucus together. It’s this simple. If the GOP had wanted those bills passed, they could have passed them at any time by ending the filibuster. Full stop.
I’m sure that Joe Manchin sits at the desk in his bedroom at night and writes love sonnets to bipartisanship. But Manchin only talks about one kind of bipartisanship, bringing people together to pass good legislation. But if there had been no filibuster in 2017-2018, Manchin would have had bipartisanship shooting out of his ass like fireworks. Because GOP Senators would have floated across the aisle on magic carpets to join Democrats in killing those toxic bills. And if that’s not bipartisanship, then I don’t knw what is.
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Make the filibuster a stand-up-and-talk thing again: no breaks for food, sleep, or using the euphemism.
To make it fair, you’d have to make sure all Congresswomen had the necessary equipment (which does exist) to tape bottles to their legs.
Murf, you wrote, “If the GOP had wanted those bills passed, they could have passed them at any time by ending the filibuster. Full stop.” That argument cuts both ways. Very likely McConnell failed to kill the filibuster for just a time as this when the Dems have the majority.
We cannot say that GOP senators would “have floated across the aisle on magic carpets to kill those toxic bills” of the Trump era. The ACA toxic bill was barely averted, and that by only three GOP senators including McCain’s dramatic thumb-down vote.