Late on Oct. 30, President Donald Trump called for Republicans to end the government shutdown by eliminating the filibuster.

“BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD 'CRAZY,' THE CHOICE IS CLEAR ‒ INITIATE THE 'NUCLEAR OPTION,' GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

No, you’re not crazy. Yes, Republicans defended the filibuster during President Joe Biden’s four years. While the filibuster is likely not in serious danger, thanks to a few senators who still have their spine, it is just another step in Trump trying to tear down guardrails.

It's also another reason why our political norms and rules must be protected. We need more vigilance in making our republic tyrant-proof. Trump’s continued disruptions are evidence of just that.

Nuking the filibuster is just as dumb as it was in 2022

When Senate Democrats came extremely close to curtailing the filibuster to pass “voting rights” legislation in 2022, Republicans made many of the arguments I will outline here. Odds are, these are the arguments that establishment Democrats will make in the coming days.

America doesn’t like one-party rule, and it certainly doesn’t lately. This is evidenced enough by the fact that the minority party routinely claws back seats in the midterm elections.

The filibuster is the only thing standing between our republic and a radically shifting policy landscape. Much of the volatility of modern presidents stems from the fact that on Day 1 of their successor, every single executive action can be overturned with the stroke of a pen. Legislation, on the other hand, is far more entrenched once passed.

Without the filibuster, legislation becomes nearly as expendable as executive orders and will change rapidly at the whim of whoever is in power at any given moment.

Democrats will surely make varying forms of this appeal in the coming days, but funny enough, they don’t even have to. They can simply play clips of Republicans from just three years ago that defended the filibuster tooth and nail.

We cannot depend on our political norms anymore

If you think Trump acts like a king now, just wait until he can accomplish whatever he wants if he simply persuades enough Senate Republicans to stand with him once the filibuster is gone.

We saw a tyrant violate the norms of our republic when President Franklin Roosevelt refused to step aside following his second term in office. Until that point, the limit of two terms was a norm, started by President George Washington and ended by the power-hungry FDR. It took the 22nd Amendment to codify the two-term limit and protect that norm.

Congress did this recently when it passed the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act after the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, delayed certification of the 2020 vote. Congress addressed ambiguities that Trump and his allies attempted to exploit to overturn an election by clarifying that the vice president's role in electoral vote counting is nothing more than ministerial, among other reforms. Until then, proper behavior on certification day was a given, but Trump’s repulsive behavior was a wake-up call for us to correct the process.

It's time for our elected leaders to act again. And it's not just to further protect the filibuster.

The 22nd Amendment limits a president to two terms in office. Trump allies have been advancing for months, if not years, that Trump exploit ambiguities in the language of that amendment in order to attain a third term. Congress should close the “loopholes” that his allies see in the two-term limit.

Unfortunately, all of this is Congress' job to address, but the lawmakers will undoubtedly sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing.

Some will insist that the way to police presidential behavior is the threat of impeachment, to which I will laugh. Is there anybody who believes that the GOP-led legislative branch would actually impeach Trump at this point? He certainly doesn’t seem to think so, given his recent brazen activity.

We have become complacent in tyrant-proofing our republic. Protecting the filibuster is a step toward erasing that complacency.

Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump wants to end the filibuster. Congress must tyrant-proof our government. | Opinion

Reporting by Dace Potas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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