Trump’s Nuclear-Option Test

Donald Trump
The president was fixated on one of the only issues where he doesn’t have the support of the entire Republican conference: ditching the filibuster. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Leigh Ann Caldwell
November 5, 2025

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Last night, Democrats swept races across the country by margins that exceeded their own expectations and Republicans’ private fears, in what was widely interpreted as a blunt-force rejection of Trump 2.0 from liberal New York City and California to purplish Virginia and MAGA-curious Pennsylvania. Even the White House seemed to get the message that a president who ran on affordability hadn’t delivered it: The following day, Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz posted that the president is “laser focused” on lowering housing costs and called on Republicans to “join this critical fight.”