In a Switch From His 1st Term, Trump Says He Wants Filibuster to Stay

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Meant to encourage compromise in the Senate, the filibuster requires most legislation to pass a 60-vote threshold to proceed to a final vote.

President-elect Donald Trump said that the Senate should not abolish the filibuster amid the GOP having control of both houses of Congress starting in January 2025—a reversal from his call during his presidency for it to be gone.

The filibuster requires most legislation to pass a 60-vote threshold to proceed to a final vote. The aim is to encourage bipartisanship.

“I want to leave the Supreme Court the way it is, most importantly,” he told TIME in an interview published on Dec. 12.

Democrats have called for eliminating the filibuster to allow for numerous legislative initiatives, including expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court. This has been in response to rulings from the court—such as overturning the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade—that the party has decried.

“The filibuster is a mechanism that you’re not going to totally overturn every single thing that was ever done,” said Trump.

“You know, it makes it very difficult in the Senate. It makes it very, very difficult to overturn things. Now, in one way, that’s good. In another way, maybe you’d say it’s bad.

“So I have respect for the filibuster.”

When asked again if he would want it to remain in place, Trump said, “Yes.”

During his first two years in office, when the GOP had control of both houses of Congress, Trump called for Republicans to abolish the filibuster. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to follow suit.

“The very outdated filibuster rule must go,” Trump wrote on X in July 2017 following the GOP’s failed attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare.

In March 2021, however, Trump warned against Democrats wanting to end the filibuster.

“If they get rid of the filibuster, if they knock it out, it will be catastrophic for the Republican Party,” he told conservative personality Lisa Boothe.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who will become Senate majority leader starting Jan. 3, said on Nov. 13 that the filibuster will remain intact.

“This essential tool encourages compromise and helps ensure that all Americans, not just those whose party is in the majority, have a voice in legislation,” he said.

“The filibuster in the Senate is safe for now.

“And while I don’t have high hopes for Democrats’ changing their tune on the Supreme Court, perhaps being in the minority in this next Congress will at least remind Democrats of the importance of protecting minority rights no matter what party is in power—and ensure that the next time Democrats are in charge, they’re not quite so eager to tear down this important safeguard.

Over the past few years, Democrats have called for the filibuster to be a thing of the past.

President Joe Biden has called for a carve-out in the mechanism to allow for the passage of legislation pertaining to abortion and voting. But Biden has stopped short of calling for its complete elimination.

In 2020, former President Barack Obama called the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic” that should be abolished if necessary to pass voting rights legislation.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) agreed.

“If I have to choose between voting to protect people’s right to vote versus protecting the filibuster for 100 senators, I’m going to vote for Americans’ right to go to the polls. I would rather that we didn’t have to end it, but at this stage, if that’s what we need to do in order to safeguard the sanctity of Americans’ voting rights, then that’s—I’m willing to do that,” she told SiriusXM in June 2021.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told the Times Union in March 2021, “I’m of the view that we should eliminate the filibuster despite all the risks.”

In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ended the filibuster for executive branch nominees and nominees for the federal bench except the Supreme Court.

Four years later, McConnell, as majority leader, nuked it for Supreme Court nominees when he failed to get enough Democrats to advance Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the nation’s highest court. Gorsuch was confirmed, 54–45.