President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to press Senate Republicans to override the filibuster and adopt the so-called “nuclear option” in order to reopen the government more swiftly. In his post, he declared: “It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!”

The president said that while on his recent trip to Asia, he kept hearing the same question: how could Democrats shut down the U.S. government and how did engaged Republicans allow it to happen? “The one question that kept coming up, however, was how did the Democrats SHUT DOWN the United States of America, and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it?” he wrote. He added that during the flight home, he found himself pondering the same question — “WHY?”

Trump lauded Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for doing “a GREAT job,” yet he sharply criticized Democrats, calling them “Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY.” He asserted this was a manifestation of what he dubbed “legendary Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)” — a condition, in his view, that only arises from repeated losses.

Turning to the core of his demand, the president said that Democratic proposals to reopen the government — including $1.5 trillion in new spending that he claimed would provide healthcare benefits to illegal aliens — were harmful to American citizens. He insisted that Republicans must not allow such a deal to go through.

Under current Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to move legislation forward — a threshold that has blocked Republican efforts to pass a short-term continuing resolution (a CR) to keep the government funded at pre-shutdown levels. Since funding expired on October 1, only three Senate Democrats have voted in favor of the Trump-backed CR in its repeated attempts. Republicans still need to win over five more votes to advance the measure, according to reporting from the New York Post.

Trump noted that Democrats had pushed for the nuclear option when they controlled the Senate, but were thwarted by Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. He argued that Democrats knew full well how powerful major-ity rule would be: it would enable them to expand the Supreme Court of the United States, grant statehood to Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico (thereby adding Senate and electoral seats), and wreck institutions in the process.

“Never have the Democrats fought so hard to do something because they knew the tremendous strength that terminating the Filibuster would give them,” the ex-president wrote. Now, Trump argued, Republicans are in power — and if they want to end the “ridiculous, Country destroying ‘SHUT DOWN’” immediately, they should do what is necessary. The reward, he said, would be the “best Judges, the best US Attorneys, the best of everything.”

He recounted how the concept of eliminating the filibuster originated years ago with Barack Obama and then–Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who sought to tilt Senate rules in the Democrats’ favour — and now, Trump said, he wants to return the tactic in order to gain leverage over Democrats.

Later in a separate post, Trump stated: “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!”

Despite Trump’s push, Majority Leader John Thune reaffirmed his earlier commitment to preserving the filibuster. Back in January, when Republicans assumed control of the Senate, Thune indicated he had no intention of scrapping the 60-vote threshold. And most recently, he said he has held no discussions with the White House about adopting the nuclear option to end the shutdown.

Thus the party finds itself in a bind: with the government shut down and no bipartisan resolution in sight, Trump is urging his party to jettison Senate norms to force a resolution — but the Senate leadership remains unpersuaded. Whether the push will succeed remains to be seen, but Republicans are undeniably under pressure to reopen the government without conceding to what Trump views as excessive Democratic demands.

In short: Trump is demanding immediate action, calling on Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, force through government-funding legislation by a simple majority and thereby bring the shutdown to an end — even if the Senate leadership currently resists that strategy.