GOP Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell knows that the only thing between him and total Republican victory right now is the filibuster. Without it, the GOP could pass every bill they wanted to, with zero Democratic votes, and Trump would sign it. No surprise then that this level of responsibility is the last thing he wants.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is shooting down President Trump's push for Republicans to change the Senate's rules for blocking legislation.
Asked if Republicans would nix the 60-vote filibuster to allow legislation to pass by a simple majority, McConnell told reporters, "That will not happen."
"There is an overwhelming majority on a bipartisan basis not interested in changing the way the Senate operates on the legislative calendar" on legislation, McConnell said during a weekly press conference.
Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning that voters should either elect more Republicans or get rid of the 60-vote requirement needed for ending debate on legislation.
"The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good 'shutdown' in September to fix mess!" he wrote in a series of tweets.
But McConnell — who pledged last month to keep the filibuster — said the move would "fundamentally change the way the Senate has worked for a very long time. We're not going to do that."
Again, why not? What's Mitch afraid of?
Unless of course he realizes that Trump and the House GOP would absolutely wreck the country and that the Senate would be blamed for helping them, and that it would empower the Democrats for a decade or more. Mitch is a lot of things: vile, odious, greedy, possibly even a criminal depending on who you ask, but he's not stupid. He knows what's coming.
And he doesn't want any part of it.
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