Trump Urges Republicans to Nuke Filibuster Before Democrats Do

Trump warns that Democrats plan to end the Senate filibuster and expand the Supreme Court, and he presses Republicans to strike first or lose future elections.

First Published: July 27, 2026, 8:28 AM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump urged Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster before Democrats can, warning the party could otherwise lose every future election.

Trump framed the fight as existential, claiming Democrats would end the 60-vote rule, expand the Supreme Court to 21 justices, and add two new states in their first hour of power. He shared his warning after amplifying a post from Senator Mike Lee, the Utah Republican, who called nuking the filibuster the “Best Birthday Present For America.”

Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Republicans, look what I just found! The Dumocrats are openly stating that they plan to TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER if they ever take power, and EXPAND THE SUPREME COURT. In other words, they will add two Radical Left States, 4 Dumocrat Senators, many Congressmen/women, their dream of 21 Supreme Court Justices (Not just 13, an unlucky number!), an impossible to beat number of Electoral College Votes (and that’s the Ballgame!), ”Popular“ Vote Landslides, and so much else. The Republican Party will never win another Election. How much longer are you going to allow this to happen to you? They will TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER in their first hour, and I’ll be sitting home with tears in my eyes saying, ”I TOLD YOU SO!”” on July 27, 2026 at 12:06 PM ET.

This is the first message released by Trump today on this subject. On average, Trump produces about 15 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. In the last 30 days, 12 of 462 Trump posts touched on Government Reform, according to Zenger analysis.

The filibuster requires 60 votes to end debate on most legislation, a threshold that forces the majority party to seek support from the minority. Eliminating it would let a simple 51-vote majority pass partisan bills. That change would benefit whichever party controls the chamber and shut out the party in the minority. Democrats could pass statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, add Supreme Court seats, and federalize election law, according to ksl.com.

Mike Lee, the senator whose post Trump amplified, has argued the opposite of the position Trump now presses. Nuking the filibuster would be a disaster for both parties, Lee said at a Heritage Foundation forum, according to ksl.com. “While nuking the filibuster might be tempting for both sides, I think ultimately it would be bad for the Senate and it would be bad for the country,” Lee said.

47th President Donald J. Trump posted a message on Truth Social at Washington D.C.

Lee laid out his reasoning in a written essay. He wrote that federal law should reflect national consensus and that a divided Senate signals the absence of such consensus, according to senate.gov. He argued that ending the rule would let a majority pass partisan bills that lack the popularity to attract 60 votes, according to senate.gov.

For the average American, the outcome would reshape which laws pass and how fast. A filibuster-free Senate could push through sweeping changes on immigration, spending, health care, and voting after a single election, with each new majority able to reverse the last. Legislation that once stalled for lack of broad support could become law within weeks.

This has happened before, at least in part. Senate Democrats eliminated the 60-vote threshold for most presidential nominees in 2013, a move that later helped confirm Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, according to senate.gov. Republicans extended the change to Supreme Court nominees in 2017, leaving the legislative filibuster as the last supermajority barrier.

Any change to the rule rests with the sitting Senate majority, which can alter the cloture threshold by a simple-majority vote. No vote on eliminating the legislative filibuster has been scheduled, and a date for such a decision has not been announced.

The filibuster fight isn’t the first time senators have weaponized their own rules against each other. Democrats first triggered the so-called nuclear option in November 2013 under Majority Leader Harry Reid, ending the 60-vote standard for lower-court and executive nominees on a 52-48 vote. Republicans, then in the minority, warned they would regret it. Four years later, a Republican majority used the same precedent to seat three Supreme Court justices, and Reid’s party spent the next decade contesting the very court his maneuver helped build.