“If you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape,” he told them over breakfast in the State Dining Room.
It was classic Trump dominance theater, like many other occasions this year where he successfully muscled recalcitrant Republicans to confirm controversial nominees, support divisive policies and enact sweeping domestic policy legislation.
But upon returning to the Capitol, the senators made it very clear: They planned to blow Trump off. One GOP senator, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, laughed out loud when asked about the anti-filibuster push.
Welcome to the dawn of Trump’s lame duck era.
With Tuesday’s stunning election losses crystallizing the risks to downballot Republicans in 2026 and beyond, there are growing signs that lawmakers are contending with the facts of their political lives: He’ll be gone in just over three years, while they’ll still be around.
This is a nothing article. However, the premise is that usually a lame duck president is in their final year as they will be leaving, so it’s harder to do deals as you have little to offer in return. In trumps case, he is unable to negotiate or do deals anyway. He just bullies. So long as he has support, it’s worked. As the other Republicans see the drubbing in recent elections, they realise, for their own jobs, that if they don’t push back, they have no benefit and lose their jobs. If only they realised 10 years ago.
It’s the emperor has no clothes, but some are starting to see, purely as their own livelihood depends on it.