Because institutional restraints prevent them from doing as they want, Senate Democrats have been chewing at the bit to abolish the legislative filibuster for the past few years. This comes before the next anticipated attempt at a power grab by Senate Democrats to load the Supreme Court, which comes after they abolished the filibuster for judicial appointments.
However, the Senate Democrats had a very narrow majority, thus, in order to achieve their aim, they required everyone’s support. The lack of support from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) cost them two votes, leaving only 48 Senate Democrats prepared to break the filibuster.
The next time Democrats take control of the Senate, it won’t happen. Seeing the writing on the wall for a 2024 defeat, Manchin allowed President Joe Biden to ruin his reputation in West Virginia and chose not to seek reelection. Sinema declared on Tuesday that she will not be seeking reelection, adding to her expulsion from the party at the hands of Democrats. The Democrat vying to succeed her, Rep. Ruben Gallego, is already in favor of ending the filibuster, outperforming GOP contender Kari Lake.
There are no Democrats in the upper chamber who understand how this might backfire without Sinema or Manchin. In order to fulfill the party’s goal of imposing its harmful progressive policies on the nation without having to make concessions or engage in meaningful negotiations, a Democratic Senate majority will, therefore, destroy the legislative filibuster and subject the nation to broad, constantly shifting policies for the foreseeable future. This will happen whether or not it happens in this election cycle.
Recall that Democrats and their media supporters do not give a damn about norms, so keep that in mind the next time they complain about how a potential reelection of Donald Trump will jeopardize norms. The plain truth is that, should voters restore their power over the Senate, they would once again seek to be the ones to dismantle these traditions, just as they did when they first destroyed the filibuster.
