Trump Calls for ‘Nuclear Option’: Kill the Filibuster to End Schumer Shutdown

President Donald J. Trump is once again calling on Washington to confront its own dysfunction. The problem is, this time he’s calling for something that many in his base don’t want to happen: the removal of the filibuster.

With the federal government now in its fifth week of shutdown and hundreds of thousands of Americans furloughed or working without pay, Trump is calling on Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster—what he calls “the Nuclear Option”—to end the “the Schumer Shutdown.”

Trump’s demand came Thursday in a fiery Truth Social post, where he urged Senate leaders to “play their Trump Card” and stop allowing Democrats to paralyze the government. “It is now time for Republicans to get tough,” he wrote. “End the filibuster. End the shutdown. Get it done now.”

Here’s his post, mildly edited with line breaks:

I just got back from Asia where I met the Leaders of many Countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and others. It was a Great Honor to meet them but, more particularly, to see that America is respected again — RESPECTED LIKE NEVER BEFORE!

Great Trade Deals were made, Long Term relationships now exist, and money is pouring into our Country because of Tariffs and, frankly, the Landslide Results of the 2024 Presidential Election. The one question that kept coming up, however, was how did the Democrats SHUT DOWN the United States of America, and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it? The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?

Majority Leader John Thune, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, are doing a GREAT job, but the Democrats are Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY. It is a sick form of the now “legendary” Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) that only comes from losing too much. They want Trillions of Dollars to be taken from our Healthcare System and given to others, who are not deserving — People who have come into our Country illegally, many from prisons and mental institutions. This will hurt American citizens, and Republicans will not let it happen.

It is now time for the Republicans to play their “TRUMP CARD,” and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW! Just a short while ago, the Democrats, while in power, fought for three years to do this, but were unable to pull it off because of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Never have the Democrats fought so hard to do something because they knew the tremendous strength that terminating the Filibuster would give them. They want to substantially expand (PACK!) the United States Supreme Court, make Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico States (Thereby automatically picking up 4 Senate seats, many House seats, and at least 8 Electoral Votes!), and many other highly destructive things. Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous, Country destroying “SHUT DOWN.”

If the Democrats ever came back into power, which would be made easier for them if the Republicans are not using the Great Strength and Policies made available to us by ending the Filibuster, the Democrats will exercise their rights, and it will be done in the first day they take office, regardless of whether or not we do it. In addition to all of the other things we would get, such as the best Judges, the best U.S. Attorneys, the best of everything, this was a concept from years ago of then President Barack Hussein Obama and former Majority Leader Harry Reid in order to take advantage of the Republicans. Now I want to do it in order to take advantage of the Democrats….

….BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD “CRAZY,” THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE “NUCLEAR OPTION,” GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

The shutdown began on October 1, 2025, after Democrats in the Senate refused to advance a Republican funding bill that excluded their latest spending demands. As the impasse drags on, nearly 900,000 federal workers have been impacted, air travel has been strained, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the shutdown could shave up to 2 percent off the fourth-quarter GDP. What began as a budget dispute has now escalated into a constitutional and moral battle over how the Senate governs itself.

For Trump, the issue is straightforward: Washington’s rules are protecting political gamesmanship instead of the American people. The former president argues that the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold has become a tool of obstruction for Democrats like Chuck Schumer, who he says would rather see the country suffer than allow Trump-aligned Republicans to govern effectively. To Trump’s supporters, the demand reflects his signature style—decisive, direct, and unapologetically results-driven.

But even among the MAGA faithful, this latest move has divided opinion. Many conservatives remember 2013, when then–Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the same “nuclear option” to confirm Obama’s judicial nominees. That decision later enabled Republicans to confirm Trump’s own Supreme Court picks, but it also set a precedent that weakened institutional safeguards. The fear now is that if Republicans eliminate the legislative filibuster, it could backfire spectacularly the next time Democrats regain control of Congress.

“This isn’t just about ending a shutdown,” one conservative strategist noted. “It’s about whether we want a Senate that can still restrain the mob when the other side takes power.”

Others argue that the Founders designed the Senate to slow down rash policymaking—not to enable permanent paralysis at the hands of career politicians.

Inside the Senate, Republicans are split. Populist voices like Josh Hawley have expressed openness to Trump’s idea, saying the country needs decisive leadership to end Schumer’s blockade. Meanwhile, constitutional conservatives like Mike Lee and Rand Paul are warning that abolishing the filibuster would permanently damage the balance of power and erase one of the last procedural brakes on tyranny of the majority.

Trump’s call is as much about moral clarity as it is political urgency. The Democrats, led by Schumer, have turned the shutdown into a weapon. They are using the suffering of everyday Americans—families without paychecks, veterans without benefits, small businesses without government contracts—as leverage to force Republicans into submission. Trump, however, appears determined to turn the tables, painting Democrats as the ones prolonging the pain for political gain.

The broader question is what kind of Republican Party will emerge from this test. Trump is betting that voters want action more than preservation of parliamentary niceties. His critics, including some within his movement, warn that “going nuclear” would strip conservatives of their ability to resist the Left when the balance of power shifts. Both sides are right to fear what comes next.

The Senate was once known as the world’s greatest deliberative body. Today, it resembles a barricade—a place where ideas go to die and leadership goes to hide. Trump’s challenge to the filibuster is not just a procedural gambit. It’s a symbolic stand against a system designed to protect itself rather than the people it serves.

Whether Republicans heed that call will determine more than the fate of a shutdown. It will test whether the America First movement still has the courage to confront Washington’s dysfunction head-on—or whether it, too, will be swallowed by the swamp it set out to drain.