'Nuclear option': GOP senators threaten to cross 'red line' they warned Dems against

When Arizona centrist Kyrsten Sinema (a former Democrat turned independent) was serving in the U.S. Senate, she was a vigorous defender of the filibuster — arguing that progressive Democrats who wanted to eliminate the filibuster would miss it dearly if Republicans retook the Senate. Meanwhile, Democrats who agreed with Sinema's defense of the filibuster warned that socially conservative Republicans wouldn't be above eliminating the filibuster if that's what it took to get a national abortion ban passed.

Republicans flipped the U.S. Senate in the 2024 election, and Donald Trump narrowly won the presidential race — which was exactly the type of scenario Sinema was worried about during the Joe Biden years. And Sinema feels validated.

In a Wednesday, May 21 post on X, formerly Twitter, the former Arizona senator argued, "I remember when (Sen. Chuck) Schumer and all the Senate Democrats voted to eliminate the filibuster. (Hint: Jan 19, 2022) Weird how times change in a completely, totally, predictably, 100% absolutely expected way."

READ MORE: 'Couldn't care less if he's upset': Critical number of GOP senators now oppose Trump bill

Sinema's tweet comes at a time when, according to The New Republic's Grace Segers, some Senate Republicans are making moves to tank — or at least undermine — the filibuster.

Segers in an article published on May 23, explains, "It’s a tale as old as time — or, rather, roughly as old as a seventh grader: The party controlling the Senate takes action to weaken the filibuster, and the minority party warns of a tyrannical majoritarian upper chamber that will undermine its perhaps outdated reputation as the 'cooling saucer' of Congress. The latest salvo in this long-running conflict occurred on Wednesday, when Senate Republicans pressed forward with a simple-majority vote to overturn California's electric vehicle mandate, despite an assessment by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, or GAO, that it should be subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold."

Segers continues, "Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who advises the upper chamber on proper procedure, has sided with the GAO on this issue, and Democrats warn that moving forward would set a dangerous precedent in weakening the filibuster."

GOP moves to undermine the filibuster are generating a lot of discussion on X.

READ MORE: 'Crazy to run against me': Republican who voted against megabill defies Trump's threats

Attorney Norm Eisen tweeted, "Overruling the parliamentarian guts the filibuster — plain & simple Rs swore they’d never go there but now some would kill a Senate guardrail to kill the environment."

Senate Democrats, on their X account, posted, "Senate Republicans are about to go nuclear and blow up the Senate rules. They should listen to their past advice and remember that what goes around comes around."

@SenateDems tweeted video of that "past advice," including comments from GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Kennedy of Louisiana defending the filibuster."

Senate Democrats, using the Senate EPW Democrats account, also tweeted, "Republicans are pushing a plan to overrule the Senate Parliamentarian & effectively kill the filibuster. @SenWhitehouse , @SenSchumer , & @SenAlexPadilla press the Presiding Officer to make clear Republicans are going nuclear. Democrats won't forget this."

Activist Larisa Mănescu posted, "@LeaderJohnThune @SenJohnCurtis @SenatorCollins said overruling the Parliamentarian would be a red line. But now @SenateGOP is planning to take this 'nuclear option' on the CRA for the first time in history, bulldozing bipartisan norms & destabilizing the integrity of Congress."

READ MORE: 'Opposite of apartheid': Here are 5 bombshell moments from Trump’s meeting with SA president

Read Grace Segers' full article for The New Republic at this link.