In a wide-ranging exchange on Senate leadership and legislative tactics, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he “may be the last Republican president” if Democrats regain power and eliminate the Senate filibuster.
Pushing Senate Republicans to dismantle the 60-vote threshold immediately to pass conservative priorities like the SAVE America Act, Trump argued that failing to act aggressively risks leaving the GOP permanently out of power.
Watch the interview.
Transcript:
INTERVIEWER: “You want Thune to serve another term as leader? Do you think — would you support him?”
Trump: “Well, I don’t want to get into that necessarily.”
INTERVIEWER: “Why? A lot of people are thinking about it. This is a big issue.”
Trump: “Look, I get along with him. It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t have the vote.”
INTERVIEWER: “You actually get along with him?”
Trump: “I do.”
INTERVIEWER: “But you clearly — I mean, you have big disagreements with him.”
Trump: “I do. I do have disagreements. I believe strongly in terminating the filibuster, and,. by the way, getting Save AmericaAct approved immediately and about 400 other things in every hour of every day, boom, boom, boom, you get whatever you want. You get — “
INTERVIEWER: “Democrats would do it too, though, right, they’D get a lot of stuff — “
Trump: “They’re gonna do that. They’re gonna do that. If they get in, they’re gonna do it very quickly. I mean, you’re wrong on that one.”
INTERVIEWER: “(Laughs) We’ll see.”
Trump: “They’re going to do that so fast. And I say, as long as we all know that they’re gonna do it, I am so shocked to hear you, but as long as I know that they’re gonna do that — I would do it whether they did it or not. I would — we would get, in the next two and a half years, we would get things that nobody ever dreamed of. We would be in office for the next 100 years. And I’ll tell you what, if they get in, I may be the last Republican president.”
INTERVIEWER: “Let’s talk about the House — “
Trump: “If they don’t get smart, if the Senate doesn’t get smart, I may be the last Republican president. That’s a big statement.”
INTERVIEWER: “Yeah, I’m not sure it’s right, but who knows? We’ll see.”
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