“if you try to pass legislation i’ll make it so you can’t pas legislation!”
https://twitter.com/lindsaywise/status/1371831601370427395
why would anyone take this seriously?
this is less a threat than it sounds like. mcconnell is essentially threatening to saddle his caucus with the most unpopular items in its agenda, which gets to how the filibuster is advantageous to the party that wants to hold power without doing anything.
https://twitter.com/jakesherman/status/1371832237294039065
mcconnell’s strategy when democrats are in the majority is to withhold all support for legislation and then ride the backlash to a do-nothing congress back to power. the filibuster is key in that it a) helps keep his caucus together and b) helps avoid unpopular votes
on the first point, 60 votes for legislation is an almost impossible threshold to meet in this age of partisanship. when there is little chance a bill will pass, there’s no reason for a republican member to risk crossing the aisle for an amendment or anything else.
and on the second point, when you are in the majority, you can just point to the filibuster to explain to donors and affiliated interest groups why you aren’t doing what you promised.
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