Donald Trump went on the rampage against Republican Senators on Saturday. Trump claimed that Republicans need to get rid of the 60 vote rule, and reconciliation. The President also claimed that 8 Democrats, not 52 Republicans, control the Senate.
Trump tweeted:
Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW! It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country. 200 Bills sit in Senate. A JOKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
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Republican Senate must get rid of 60 vote NOW! It is killing the R Party, allows 8 Dems to control country. 200 Bills sit in Senate. A JOKE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don't go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
….8 Dems totally control the U.S. Senate. Many great Republican bills will never pass, like Kate's Law and complete Healthcare. Get smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
If the Senate Democrats ever got the chance, they would switch to a 51 majority vote in first minute. They are laughing at R's. MAKE CHANGE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
The problem wasn’t reconciliation on the health care vote. The problem isn’t that the 60 vote rule didn’t apply. The problem is that Trump couldn’t get a majority of Republican Senators to support the health care bill. It doesn’t matter if 60 votes were needed or 51. Trump only had 49. The President’s point about 8 Democratic Senators controlling the Senate is not only factually inaccurate, but also mathematically incorrect.
The downside of using reconciliation when a majority can only afford to lose three votes and starts off by losing two is that any of the remaining 49 Republicans control the fate of the legislation. The issue once again is that Donald Trump didn’t get a majority of Republicans to support a health care bill.
As far as dumping the 60 vote rule is concerned, Democrats had multiple chances over the past decade and refused to do it, so the President is also wrong that a Democratic majority would go to 51 votes.
McConnell isn’t going to go to 51 votes and empower his entire caucus to kill any bill. The Trump temper tantrum is happening because he is enraged over losing on health care. This is what the White House meant by Trump declaring war on the Republican Congress.
The real strategy is that Trump is going to blame the Republican Congress for everything that goes wrong while hoping that his supporters never notice that he is a failed president.
There aren’t enough angry tantrums in the world to hide the fact that Donald Trump is terrible at being president.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
