Trump Pushes Republicans to End Filibuster, as Government Shutdown Becomes Longest in U.S. History

TIME

Amid the U.S. government shutdown, which has stretched into its second month, President Donald Trump is ramping up the pressure on Republicans to abolish the Senate filibuster—an action commonly known as the “nuclear option” when it comes to changing Senate rules. This latest plea comes after the President's recent claim that Democrats “would do it immediately, as soon as they get a chance.” As such, he's imploring that the Republican Party, which currently holds the Senate majority, does it first.

Transcript

00:00We are in the midst of a disastrous, Democrat-created government shutdown.

00:04And it is Democrat-created, but I don't think they're getting really the blame that they should.

00:09That's now officially the longest shutdown in American history.

00:13The Democrat radicals in the Senate have shown zero interest in reopening the government.

00:19And I don't think they'll act so soon. A lot of people disagree.

00:23I've been saying for the last 30 days, we've had four or five different points.

00:27Yes, sir, they're going to get it right now. We should have it done in a day.

00:31I've heard that about four times. I heard it after King's.

00:33You know, they said I was a king. And I heard it after King's.

00:37I heard it after a couple of other moments in time.

00:40And I said, no, I don't believe so. And now I heard it's after the election.

00:44I don't believe so. I think they will. I think they're kamikaze pilots.

00:48I just got back from Japan. I talked about the kamikaze pilots.

00:51I think these guys are kamikaze. They'll take down the country if they have to.

00:55But countless public servants are now not being paid.

00:59And the air traffic control system is under increasing strain.

01:02We must get the government back open soon and really immediately.

01:07We have to get it up. We have the hottest economy we've ever had.

01:10And it's affecting the stock market now a little bit.

01:13These are not going to be productive people.

01:15These are going to be anti-productive people.

01:17And we can be all have big hearts.

01:19I have a bigger heart than anybody.

01:20But we can't let that happen.

01:22It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do.

01:25And that's terminate the filibuster.

01:26It's the only way you can do it.

01:28And if you don't terminate the filibuster, you'll be in bad shape.

01:32We won't pass any legislation.

01:34There'll be no legislation passed for three and a quarter.

01:36We have three and a quarter years.

01:37So that's a long time.

01:38But the biggest thing is the filibuster.

01:41We have to get the country going.

01:43We will pass legislation at levels you've never seen before.

01:47And it'll be impossible to beat us.

01:48By the way, if they do, they're going to do it anyway.

01:52And they are going to immediately do the filibuster.

01:54And when they do the filibuster, they're going to pack the court.

01:57They want five, at least five, just now I hear it's up to five.

02:01I actually heard up to seven and up to nine.

02:04Okay.

02:05They want new judges.

02:06They want to pack the court.

02:07And they will do it in the first day, maybe the week.

02:11If I thought that they weren't going to pass the filibuster, I wouldn't even bring it up.

02:15They're going to pass it within the first hour.

02:18If they take power, and it's more likely that they take power if we don't do it,

02:22because we're not going to be passing any legislation.

02:24They're not going to approve anything.

02:25We're going to go three and a quarter years.

02:27There won't be one bill that we're going to pass.

02:29Because the easiest thing to pass is exactly right now what they won't pass.

02:34And they'll do that.

02:35And they'll wreak havoc, but let's assume they get it.

02:38They're doing it anyway, so it wouldn't matter.

02:40They're doing it anyway.

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