Tensions are running high in the Republican Party following a special election Tuesday that did not go the way they had hoped.
In the aftermath, President Donald Trump sees one, clear-cut solution to these newfound GOP woes: Ending the filibuster.
And any Republican who wants to get in the way of that is now facing Trump’s unbridled ire.
According to Axios, Trump held an “eerily silent” and “uncomfortable” meeting with Republican senators Wednesday morning.
Trump reportedly laid into his party, noting that the GOP was losing the PR battle over the ongoing government shutdown.
The president also warned that Republicans would “get killed” and be viewed as “do-nothing Republicans” if they don’t end the filibuster (Senate rules currently call for 60 votes for most legislation).
“If you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape,” Trump told GOP senators during the public portion of this meeting.
According to Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio, things got more intense once reporters were asked to leave:
NEWS — INSIDE THE ROOM per multiple GOP senators…
After reporters were kicked out, Trump said the election results showed that the shutdown has been “worse for us than for them” & that R’s “are getting killed.”
Trump said the GOP will become a “dead party” if they don’t nuke…
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) November 5, 2025
Should Republicans end the filibuster?
“Trump said the GOP will become a ‘dead party’ if they don’t nuke the filibuster,” Desiderio posted.
He added: “Trump got into it with Lindsey Graham after Graham tried to make the point that they can still use reconciliation to pass legislation with a simple majority.
“Trump snapped at Graham: ‘Lindsey, you and I both know that there’s so much you can’t do with reconciliation …’”
For his part, Trump’s not messing around, nor is he looking to waste any more time on the shutdown.
As Axios noted, Trump suggested that the quickest way to end the damaging shutdown would be to kill the filibuster by Wednesday afternoon.
Trump clearly believes in ending the filibuster as soon as possible and he isn’t willing to hear other possibilities from his GOP senators.
That being said, ending the filibuster still seems unlikely, simply due to the numbers.
“I know where math is on this issue in the Senate. It’s just not happening,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.
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