After nearly a month-long government shutdown, former President Donald Trump finally broke his silence, but his intervention may have created more headaches for Republican leaders than solutions.
Late Thursday night, Trump took to Truth Social to urge Republicans to end the shutdown by invoking the so-called “nuclear option” — eliminating the filibuster and the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Such a move would allow the GOP-controlled Senate to pass legislation on party-line votes.
“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!” Trump wrote.
While Trump has long suggested scrapping the filibuster, GOP leaders have consistently rejected the idea. In practice, his suggestion is unlikely to resolve the shutdown, as it’s unclear whether enough senators would vote for such a change, even if the leadership agreed.
Still, the timing and nature of Trump’s message matter. By calling for the nuclear option, he has once again inserted himself into intra-party negotiations in a way that complicates the GOP’s position. Democrats could use this to reinforce a key talking point: Republicans could end the shutdown anytime but choose not to, potentially keeping blame focused on the party.
Polling data seems to support this. A Washington Post-ABC News survey released Thursday showed 45% of Americans blamed Trump and the GOP for the shutdown, compared to 33% holding Democrats responsible, despite Democrats seeking concessions on enhanced Obamacare subsidies.
Republican leaders have repeatedly explained why the nuclear option carries risks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune described the filibuster as “a bulwark against a lot of really bad things happening to the country.” Fellow GOP leader John Barrasso warned that eliminating the filibuster could open the door for Democratic efforts to grant statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., or even reshape the Supreme Court. House Speaker Mike Johnson added that it could remove obstacles “in the way of turning us into a communist country.”
Trump’s late-night social media push puts congressional Republicans in an awkward position: they must explain why they won’t act on a move that is technically available to them.
This is far from the first time Trump has complicated GOP negotiations. During early 2018 shutdown debates, he contradicted his own spokeswoman’s support for a continuing resolution and later demanded last-minute changes to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. In December 2024, just before the second term of the Biden administration, Trump and Elon Musk disrupted bipartisan talks over a shutdown deal, demanding debt ceiling increases that weren’t previously part of negotiations.
Even Republican leaders have acknowledged their frustrations with Trump’s late interventions. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2018 noted that understanding Trump’s position early would have helped avoid “spinning our wheels.” Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota described similar experiences dryly, saying, “Maybe he hadn’t thought about it until just today. But yeah, that would have been very helpful.”
For now, Trump’s latest entreaty seems unlikely to change the shutdown’s trajectory. GOP leaders appear poised to resist calls to scrap the filibuster, and Trump may eventually drop the idea. But his social media intervention has already forced Republicans to defend their decision not to use the “nuclear option,” highlighting how one former president can still shape party politics from outside the White House.
House Speaker Johnson attempted to downplay the issue Friday, saying, “What you’re seeing is an expression of the president’s anger at the situation.” Yet, as political observers note, most presidents don’t publicly undermine their own party’s negotiating leverage just out of frustration.