[Hoot Gibson]

You are going off the rails. I asked you if you thought the filibuster could be defeated in the Senate. I don't need no stinkin' cloture. Let Dems filibuster the wall 'til the cows come home. Let them explain with TV cameras on them why they want drug cartels, gang members, unlimited kinds of other criminals, and everyone else to be able to walk across our borders. They will give up after a short time and the the vote will be taken. I don't know how I can make the question any more clear. It's not 60 votes to vote, it's 60 votes to end debate. Let them "debate" for months. They will give up.

Either way, Trump failed to use the bully pulpit to pressure McConnell into doing his job. Harry Reid changed the cloture rules when he was Senate Majority Leader through a simple majority vote so that a simple majority vote is enough to bring most presidential appointees to the Senate floor for a vote without a three-fifth's majority vote.

Cloture votes do more than cut off debate, they ensure that there will be a simple majority vote on an issue and force Senators to debate the bill that has been brought forward for a vote.

All I am saying is that Trump should have taken action on the biggest threat facing this country when he was in the strongest negotiating position that he will ever have as president. Using a national emergency to divert defense funding to build a wall would be justified, but it should have been a last resort. If Trump follows through on that threat, then a future Democrat president who cannot get funding for some socialist pet project will have another avenue to bypass the legislative process.