Trump Rages About Senate Rules In Saturday Morning Tirade

In a series of caps-lock ridden tweets early Saturday, President Trump appeared to blame the GOP’s recent failure to pass a health-care bill on the Senate’s filibuster rules—despite the fact that those rules had nothing to do with the bill’s collapse. “The very outdated filibuster rule must go. Budget reconciliation is killing R's in Senate. Mitch M, go to 51 Votes NOW and WIN. IT'S TIME!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “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!” he wrote. The Senate’s filibuster rule requires 60 votes to end a filibuster—an extended debate meant to delay or block a vote. But even as Trump warned that Senate Republicans “look like fools” if “they don’t go to a 51 vote majority,” many were quick to point out that the filibuster rule was not to blame for the health-care bill’s failure. The bill needed only a 51-vote majority to pass, but it still failed.