Quote:
Originally Posted by kane
Kind of.
they only need 51 votes to approve a nominee so as long as all the Republicans vote for the nominee they don't need any Democrats. However, if the Democrats filibuster a nominee it takes 60 votes to overcome the filibuster so they would need Democrats for that. There is another option, which the Democrats used when the Republicans filibustered every Obama nominee, which is known as the "nuclear option." This would allow them to basically bypass the filibuster with just 51 votes. The good side of it is that you can overcome obstructionist. The bad side is that it will likely anger the opposition and eventually that opposition may come to power and then use it against you.
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The bad side is the part that smart people like McConnell doesn't want to mess with - no matter what Trump says. He knows that eventually this could be used in reverse, and pretty much knows that the Democrats' base has already threatened sitting senators with their reelections... I would imagine that the Democrats will eventually give this guy a hearing like they did with Bork... and then force the nuclear option. This will hurt the Republican party a lot and McConnell knows it.