I think something has been missing from the debate over the filibuster and the future so here is a note on the filibuster and whether we should be worried about a GOP Senate eliminating it if they retake the chamber:
In 2017, when Leader McConnell eliminated the filibuster to confirm Gorsuch then 2 more Justices, the analysis at the time, correctly, said that now the GOP could do everything they wanted with a simple majority: cutting taxes for rich people and confirming judges.
If Republicans take back the Senate in 2023, they will once again prioritize corporate welfare and judges, but there will be a mandate to do something about election security. It has become the totem around which the base has wrapped itself around.
Just as Democrats cannot protect voting rights in the Senate without 60 votes or eliminating the filibuster, Republicans can't pass the kind of "election integrity" legislation many of them are running on.
With Trump on the ballot in 2024, Senate Republicans are going to hear every single day about the stolen election in 2020 and how there needs to be something done about it, and I have a feeling that Trump, when faced with the filibuster will not shrug and walk away.
So Republicans did not eliminate the filibuster in the 115th Congress. But next time they hold the Senate, Trump and the base will not be content to chip away at elections through the courts.
They're going to demand action and something tells me if an armed insurrection at the Capitol didn't stop them, they won't let the filibuster stop them.
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