After weeks of silence during a month-long government shutdown, US President Donald Trump stepped in — and upended his own party’s strategy. In a Truth Social post late Thursday, he urged US Senate Republicans to invoke the “nuclear option” and scrap the 60-vote filibuster rule. That would let them pass spending bills by simple majority, but GOP leaders have long resisted the move, fearing it would backfire if Democrats regained power, CNN reported.
A familiar pattern of disruption
Trump’s demand wasn’t new — he’s pushed to end the filibuster for years — but his timing was classic. Instead of helping Republicans find a deal, he reignited internal divisions and bolstered Democrats’ talking point that the GOP could end the shutdown anytime. The president’s late intervention, analysts say, “kneecapped” his party’s negotiating leverage just as public blame for the stalemate was starting to weigh on them.
Polls show the public blames Republicans
A Washington Post–ABC News poll released Thursday found 45% of Americans primarily blamed Trump and the GOP for the shutdown, compared with 33% who faulted Democrats. Republicans had been trying to shift the narrative by portraying Democrats as unreasonable over subsidy extensions, but Trump’s call for the nuclear option seemed to confirm that the solution lay within his own party’s hands — a point Democrats were quick to amplify.
Why GOP leaders refuse to ‘go nuclear’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the filibuster “a bulwark against really bad things happening to the country,” echoing long-held Republican fears that dismantling it would let Democrats push through sweeping changes — from statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. to expanding the Supreme Court. Even Speaker Mike Johnson warned it could remove “every safeguard against turning America into a communist country.” Trump’s post forced them to defend that stance publicly, exposing cracks in their messaging.
The history of Trump’s shutdown meddling
This isn’t the first time Trump has blindsided his own party. In 2018, he contradicted his aides over a temporary budget extension and later shifted demands mid-negotiation on immigration. Before his second term began, he and Elon Musk jointly derailed a bipartisan deal by suddenly insisting on a debt ceiling hike. Each time, GOP leaders were left scrambling. As Senator Kevin Cramer once quipped, “Maybe he hadn’t thought about it until today — but yeah, earlier would’ve been helpful.”
The fallout for Republicans
Trump’s latest outburst won’t end the shutdown, but it’s again left congressional Republicans explaining why they won’t follow his lead. Some, like Speaker Johnson, brushed it off as “an expression of the president’s anger.” Still, the episode underlines a recurring dilemma for the GOP — balancing loyalty to Trump with the need for coherent governance. As one strategist put it, “He’s the leader of the party, but not always of the plan.
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