2021: Filibusters are evil and a hinderance to progress.
2025: Filibusters are a great way to stop the GOP agenda.
Both those sentiments sums up the wildly varying attitude of New York magazine columnist Ed Kilgore. Although he hated Senate filibusters in 2021 he now loves them as a way to slow down or halt Trump's legislative program. To get an idea of just how much Kilgore hated filibusters when the Democrats held the Senate, let us look look at his February 6, 2021 article, "What the Filibuster Has Cost America."
There’s no way to add up all the costs associated with the filibuster over the decades, and it’s obviously harder to assess the bad legislation the dilatory tactic and its theoretical availability has prevented from enactment. Had Republicans been able to repeal Obamacare in 2017 via a straightforward piece of legislation rather than jumping through the hoops required by reconciliation, they might have succeeded.
But all in all, the filibuster has been used to halt progress more often that it has been useful to facilitate it or defend it from attacks. And it remains incontestable that limited reforms — such as restrictions on the measures subject to the filibuster, or a return to the days when “talking filibusters” were required — are available short of its outright abolition which could preserve minority rights in the Senate without thwarting majority rule. Filibuster reform should remain at the top of every progressive legislative agenda. Those center-left or center-right politicians who always find excuses to oppose reform need to be regularly asked: How much damage to America and Americans are you willing to accept to maintain this terrible tradition?
And now flash forward four years to March 20, 2025 and the very same Ed Kilgore, because the Republicans now control the Senate and White House, has a very very different attitude towards the filibuster as you can see in "All Is Not Lost for Democrats in 2025."
Keep up the filibuster threat
Republicans were able to enact their spending bill because Senate Democrats (or at least ten of them) decided not to filibuster it to death at the expense of triggering a government shutdown. This sheathing of the filibuster sword was significant because the spending bill was the one clearly identifiable major point of leverage for Democrats, at least until late September (when that spending bill expires). Why? Because most of Trump’s agenda will be advanced through a giant budget-reconciliation bill that cannot be filibustered and can pass both Houses on a strict party-line vote.
...Potentially, a lot of Trump’s agenda items that don’t involve spending or revenues could be ruled out of a reconciliation bill by the Senate parliamentarian (who referees these things) and would thus have to pass through the regular legislative process, which includes the Senate filibuster. Reasserting their willingness to use this weapon where they can is important for Democrats.
Voila! All it takes for Ed Kilgore to completely change his attitude towards the filibuster is a change in the composition of the Senate.
