Senate Democrats are still threatening to end the legislative filibuster, even though they apparently lack the simple majority they would need to invoke the so-called “nuclear option.” But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s threat of a “scorched-earth” Senate should remind them how this played out last time. Democrats are acting like they think they will never lose another election, much as they did after 2012.
Democrats have used legislative filibusters over 350 times since 2014. Many Democrats signed a letter in support of keeping the filibuster while they were in the minority. Now that they have been in the majority (barely) for two months, they have decided that the filibuster is overused and even racist, depending on which Democrat you ask.
There are only a few holdouts left. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema haven’t broken their opposition yet. But it’s California Sen. Dianne Feinstein who most recognizes the danger of Democrats crossing yet another Rubicon. “I am concerned. That is a factor,” Feinstein said of the idea of the GOP winning back the Senate. “One of the reasons why I’m hesitant.”
So, how is it that the only Senate Democrat looking even just a few years into the future is 87 years old? Democrats, who spent the last six years in the Senate minority, somehow can’t see themselves ever losing control of the Senate again.
The last time Democrats weakened the filibuster by excluding Senate confirmations, McConnell promised they would regret it sooner than they thought. Three Supreme Court justices and 226 Trump-appointed federal judges later, it’s safe to say that prediction has been vindicated.
Now, McConnell is promising that the end of the legislative filibuster would give a Republican majority the ability to pass national abortion restrictions and concealed carry reciprocity, among other things. Democrats ought to listen to him this time — not that they will.
Try as they might to rig the system in their favor by gifting themselves two Senate seats with statehood for Washington D.C., Democrats will lose the Senate again at some point, just as they will with the House of Representatives and the White House. It was just four years ago that Republicans had unified control of Congress and the White House. That time will come again.
If Democrats abolish the legislative filibuster and move forward with their more destructive progressive policies, voters might well make sure that time comes sooner than they expect. If Feinstein is the only Democrat who can see that, then the party is in danger of repeating former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s mistake all over again.
