‘Laid a trap’: Ex-GOP operative outlines Dems’ ‘breathtaking’ plan to bait Republicans

Former Republican Party operative Richard Porter outlined Monday what he called Senate Democrats’ “breathtaking” strategy to bait Republicans amid the ongoing government shutdown, a plan he suggested could both end the shutdown and hand Democrats a long-sought victory on eliminating a key Senate procedure.

“You think that the Democrats have laid a trap for Republicans, essentially, and want [them] to do the Democrats' dirty work?” asked Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of RealClearPolitics, speaking with Porter on the polling aggregator’s podcast.

Porter said the the Democrats’ “shutdown strategy,” which he noted “seemed to come out of nowhere,” was a natural outgrowth of past efforts to eliminate what’s known as the filibuster, a Senate procedural tactic that can be used to block a bill, nomination or other measure from advancing without receiving 60 votes, significantly larger than the standard simple majority threshold of 50.

“The Democrats have said, 'Why don't we lay out some things that our base really wants to see us stand and fight for, and then we just hang in there?'” Porter said. “And either the Republicans cave and give [Democrats] what [they] want, or, eventually [Republicans] will blow up the filibuster again – for us – and they'll move their legislation.”

Porter noted how under the Biden administration, Democratic senators pushed to eliminate the filibuster, though they were ultimately unsuccessful due in large part to two Democratic senators, then-Sens. Joe Manchin (D-VA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

Now, as Republicans grow frustrated over Democrats’ refusal to support a temporary spending bill to reopen the government without the extension of Obamacare subsidies, Porter suggests that Senate Democrats are baiting Republicans to “do the dirty work of nuking the filibuster for them.”