In March, The Gateway Pundit reported that a driver plowed a vehicle into Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, with more than 100 children in the building, and opened fire.
The synagogue attacker was identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese national who first entered the U.S. in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen.
Ghazali was born in Lebanon in 1985 and entered the US in 2011. He became a naturalized US citizen in February 2016 under the Obama Administration.
Where was National Public Radio (NPR) reporter Hadeel al-Shalchi following the attack? Not at the synagogue.
Instead, two days later, al-Shalchi was 6,000 miles away in the Ghazali family’s hometown of Mashghara, Lebanon, interviewing the terrorist’s relatives for a March 14 segment touting the headline, ‘In a small Lebanese town, grief and fear follow Michigan synagogue attack.’
Journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon noted, “NPR found the real victim of an attack on 140 Jewish American babies—and it’s the Hezbollah-infested town in Lebanon that raised a family of terrorists.”
After reviewing the coverage, public editor Sarah McBride noted that she did not find NPR stories quoting rabbis, congregation members, or families of children who fled the building in the liberal outlet’s coverage.
In all of that coverage, voices from Temple Israel are absent.
I couldn’t find any stories that quote rabbis, congregation members or the families of the children who had to flee the building. This story quoted a rabbi from a nearby congregation. A story on NPR’s website linked to a Facebook post from Temple Israel declaring that all the children and staff were safe. The Detroit News attended Shabbat services the next day, which had to be held in another location.
A story like that would have been the perfect opportunity to examine to community’s response to the terrifying attack. NPR or Michigan Public Radio pulled away from the story at Temple Israel too soon.
When important voices are missing from coverage, it distorts the audience’s perception of everything else.
The biased coverage is a prime example of why President Trump signed a sweeping executive order defunding National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which continue to be an apparatus of the Democrats’ taxpayer-funded leftist propaganda machines.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, the president previously called on Congress to defund the absurdly dishonest “news” organizations following a House Oversight DOGE subcommittee hearing, which exposed the stations’ already well-known bias and radical content.
The U.S. Supreme Court slammed the door on Joe Exotic’s latest bid for freedom, declining Monday to hear his appeal and leaving the Tiger King star with a presidential pardon as his only remaining path out of federal prison.
The Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal from the exotic animal breeder known as “Joe Exotic” and “Tiger King,” leaving intact his federal conviction and 21-year prison sentence in a murder-for-hire case. https://t.co/JgnNa0rJAt
Joseph Maldonado-Passage, serving 21 years for a murder-for-hire plot against animal rights activist Carole Baskin, filed his petition February 4 arguing newly discovered evidence undermines the government’s case. The Netflix docuseries star has maintained his conviction resulted from a setup and flawed investigation. The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his case closes off his final judicial avenue for release after lower courts repeatedly rejected his appeals.
The former Oklahoma zoo owner received his original 22-year sentence before a judge reduced it by one year. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld rejection of his new trial request despite his lawyers highlighting significant flaws in the prosecution’s case. His legal team pointed to multiple witnesses who recanted their trial testimony and alleged the prosecution concealed evidence regarding immunity agreements with witnesses.
Defense Claims Major Prosecution Problems
Attorney Levi McCathern raised fundamental questions about the conviction. Joe Exotic did not hire anyone to murder anyone, McCathern stated, noting no one was killed, no one received payment, and no one except Maldonado-Passage faced charges. These red flags convince supporters their client was railroaded through a compromised legal process. The case against the Tiger King relied heavily on witness testimony that later fell apart when those same witnesses reversed their statements.
Presidential Pardon Remains Only Hope
Maldonado-Passage launched a campaign seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump, who indicated in April 2020 he would look into the matter. Trump has not commented recently on the case, leaving Joe Exotic’s fate uncertain. With all judicial options exhausted, only presidential clemency can free the reality television personality whose wild story captivated millions during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns. The Tiger King phenomenon brought unprecedented attention to big cat ownership and conflicts within the exotic animal community.
President Trump on Monday attended the White House briefing to update the public on the Iran conflict and the amazing and miraculous rescue of the missing fighter pilot.
Trump said that ‘somebody’ leaked information about the missing fighter pilot and ultimately put hundreds of US service members in danger.
A fighter pilot went missing last week after Iran shot down an F-15E fighter jet.
The fighter jet went down in a remote part of Iran on Friday. One pilot was rescued, and the other pilot, the ‘gunner,’ went missing.
The missing fighter pilot was rescued early Sunday morning local time.
In an incredible act of valor, the seriously wounded pilot evaded capture by scaling a 7,000-foot mountain ridge in Southern Iran and hiding out in a crevice.
President Trump said someone leaked information about the downed jet and missing pilot.
The president also vowed to jail the reporter who wrote the story on the downed jet if they don’t give up information about the leaker.
It is unclear which media outlet President Trump was referring to, but The New York Times, Washington Post, Axios, and Fox News all reported on the downed fighter jet.
“As you probably know, we didn’t talk about the first one for an hour, and then somebody leaked something, which we’ll hopefully find that leaker; we’re looking very hard to find that leaker, and talked about there’s somebody missing,” Trump said to reporters on Monday.
“They basically said that we have one, and there’s somebody missing. Well, they didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information!” Trump said.
“So whoever it is, we think we’ll be able to find it out, because we’re going to go to the media company that released it. And we’re going to say, national security, give it up or go to jail.”
“There’s some things you can’t do. When they did that, all of a sudden, the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life!” Trump said.
He continued, “Because a leaker leaked – because we have one – we rescued one, but there’s another one out there that we’re trying to get, actually, the country, Iran, put out.. offering a very big award for anybody that captures the pilot.”
“They put this mission, that man at great risk, and hundreds of people looking for him!” he added.
“The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say!” Trump said.
Nineteen Republican House members, led by Rep. Paul Gosar and including GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, have sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging the complete elimination of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for transgender animal testing in the fiscal year 2027 spending bill.
The letter cites investigations by the White Coat Waste Project, which recently revealed that the NIH allocated $584,117 in new taxpayer funding in January to a University of California–San Diego grant, according to a new report from Red Press Wire.
“Investigations by the non-profit White Coat Waste…have uncovered dozens of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants issued under the Biden Administration by Dr. Anthony Fauci. These grants have funded disturbing experiments to create ‘transfeminine’ and ‘transmasculine’ lab mice, rats, and monkeys to mimic transgender human children and adults. The animals subjected to invasive surgeries and hormone therapies were subsequently wounded, shocked, injected with street drugs and vaccinations, and endured other disturbing procedures,” the letter states.
The project involves thousands of female mice subjected to invasive surgeries, including ovary removal and testosterone injections, to “model transgender men.”
The experiments are expected to impact nearly 10,000 mice and include additional procedures such as skull drilling, brain toxin injections, and eventual decapitation.
BREAKING:
Based on our investigations, 19 House Republicans just demanded to BAN the NIH from funding transgender animal experiments.
You might have thought that RFK Jr. already shut this insanity down …
White Coat Waste exposed this new funding earlier this week, noting it revives a Biden-era grant first uncovered by the group in December 2024.
WCW’s Justin Goodman revealed that “records obtained by White Coat Waste show this project will subject nearly 10,000 mice to horrific taxpayer-funded abuse.”
“Invasive surgeries and hormone injections meant to mimic transgender treatments, drilling into their skulls, injecting toxins into their brains, and ultimately decapitating them.”
WATCH:
“WHAT’S THE OBJECTIVE HERE?” @LisaMarieBoothe and @RichEdson sound off on taxpayer dollars being used to fund cross-sex hormone treatments for mice. Is this really what our country should be funding? pic.twitter.com/JGupWxhhgl
— The Big Weekend Show (@BigWeekendShow) April 5, 2026
The grant was among dozens identified by White Coat Waste that funded experiments under the Biden Administration to create “transfeminine” and “transmasculine” lab mice, rats, and monkeys mimicking transgender humans.
These procedures included hormone therapies, invasive surgeries, wounding, electric shocks, and injections of street drugs and vaccines.
This latest revelation comes despite previous assurances from HHS officials that such funding had ended.
The HHS official stated, “None of the funds from these grants are currently funding transgender animal experiments, and no other NIH grants still fund transgender animal experiments.”
The move by the 19 lawmakers also follows The Gateway Pundit’s 2025 reporting on how WCW uncovered that NIH taxpayer dollars were used to create “transgender monkeys” by administering estrogen to male rhesus macaques and injecting them with mRNA vaccines to study feminizing hormone therapy effects.
Rep. Paul Gosar told Red Press Wire, “Tax dollars shouldn’t be funding the Biden Administration’s sickening transgender animal tests. That’s why I’ve been working with White Coat Waste to stop the NIH and other federal agencies from wasting money on this woke pseudoscience ever again.”
Goodman told the outlet:
“After White Coat Waste exposed millions in taxpayer-funded transgender animal tests, President Trump quickly put them on the chopping block—and cut them. Now, we’ve exposed that defiant NIH bureaucrats are bringing them back. Even though it didn’t have to, the NIH just doled out another half-million in taxpayer cash for a Biden-era experiment that crudely creates ‘female mice to model transgender men’ by cutting out their ovaries and pumping them with testosterone. Records obtained by White Coat Waste show this project will subject nearly 10,000 mice to horrific taxpayer-funded abuse—invasive surgeries and hormone injections meant to mimic transgender treatments, drilling into their skulls, injecting toxins into their brains, and ultimately decapitating them. White Coat Waste’s exposé of the NIH’s renewed funding to create ‘female mice to model transgender men’ proves that Rep. Gosar’s effort is vital to ensure taxpayers aren’t forced to bankroll these barbaric animal tests. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”
Christians in the beleaguered nation of Myanmar are facing renewed bouts of persecution at the hands of the country’s military regime.
Myanmar experienced a military coup in 2021, and while the military only controls a portion of the nation’s land area, it holds almost 90 percent of seats in parliament following a sham election earlier this month.
The military has a reputation of war crimes against civilians, especially if they happen to be Christians, according to a report from Premier Christian News.
Dr. Salai Maung Taing San — a leading Christian politician often known as just Dr. Sasa — said in an interview with the outlet that persecution is ramping up against Christians and members of the Chin ethnic group.
“They raped women. They torture our parents. They destroyed crosses,” he described.
“If you are Chin and Christian… you don’t get education, you don’t get healthcare,” he continued. “We are like second-class citizens.”
Dr. Sasa added that many attacks are not even tracked since churches are not officially registered in Myanmar.
“They destroy it… and there’s no record of that church,” he said.
Dr. Sasa was named a senior government official on Feb. 1, 2021 — the day of the military coup.
“I looked outside the window around 5 am. I saw the armed forces. They had weapons, destroying our buildings and our streets. I wish it were a dream,” he recounted.
“I had to escape the valley of death, as I call it. Since then, almost 8,000 civilians have been killed by the military regime, and more than 22,000 political prisoners have been arrested, including Aung San Suu Kyi, our leader.”
Dr. Sasa said there are now 5 million “homeless and displaced” people in his nation, while another 22 million “need lifesaving assistance.”
He now serves in the National Unity Government, which operates in exile and is broadly considered the legitimate government of Myanmar, according to Premier Christian News.
Myanmar ranks 14th in the world with respect to persecution of Christians, according to Christian ministry Open Doors.
The persecution has indeed worsened since the coup.
“Many Christians have been caught in the crossfire, particularly in ethnic minority areas, with believers killed, churches bombed and villages destroyed,” Open Doors said.
“Thousands have been displaced, and an earthquake in March killed more than 3,600 people and forced even more from their homes.”
Fellow citizens of Myanmar also view Buddhism as crucial to their national identity, resulting in further difficulties for the Christian minority.
They are often forced to participate in Buddhist rituals, denied ID cards, refused access to basic services like water, and banned from sharing the gospel.
Iran has officially rejected a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire proposal and instead delivered a defiant 10-point counteroffer outlining sweeping demands to end the war.
Iran transmitted its response to the United States through Pakistani intermediaries, dismissing calls for a temporary truce and insisting instead on a “permanent end to the war” on its own terms.
According to Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the matter, both Washington and Tehran have now received the proposal, which calls for an immediate ceasefire, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a short window to hammer out a permanent settlement.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has reportedly been in round-the-clock meetings with US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
The proposed agreement follows a two-phase structure:
Phase 1: Immediate ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Phase 2: 15–20 days of negotiations toward a broader peace deal
But the terror regime flat-out rejected the idea.
According to Reuters, Iranian officials outlined a 10-point counterproposal that reportedly includes:
A full and permanent end to all “hostilities” (read: no more accountability for attacking U.S. interests or choking global oil supplies)
Immediate lifting of all crippling U.S. economic sanctions
Establishment of a new “security framework” in the region that would neuter America’s allies and legitimize Iran’s terror proxies
Ironclad guarantees for “safe passage” through the Strait of Hormuz — under Iranian terms, of course
Massive Western-funded reconstruction commitments to repair the damage from their own provocations
No restrictions whatsoever on Iran’s nuclear weapons program
An end to any curbs on its ballistic missile development
U.S. withdrawal of forces from key areas of the Persian Gulf
Reparations payments for “damages” caused by Trump’s targeted strikes
Formal recognition of Iran’s “legitimate” influence across the Middle East (including its Hezbollah, Houthis, and Hamas terror networks)
Meanwhile, U.S. leadership has already indicated that Iran’s counteroffer falls far short of expectations.
Reports indicate that Iran also rejected key U.S. demands, including curbs on its nuclear program and missile capabilities, calling them “excessive” and refusing to comply, the New York Post reported.
It can be recalled that President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday to deliver a final, bone-chilling warning to the radical mullahs in Tehran: Open the Strait of Hormuz now, or face total annihilation.
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!” Trump wrote.
In a series of Truth Social posts this Easter Sunday, the Commander-in-Chief set a definitive drop-dead deadline for the Islamic Republic to cease its hostilities or face a military response.
Trump wrote:
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
In a follow-up post, Trump wrote: “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!”
On Monday, Trump told reporters:
“We are obliterating that country. And I hate to do it, but we’re obliterating it—and they just don’t want to say ‘uncle.’ They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle,’ but they will. And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges, they’ll have no power plants, they’ll have nothing. I won’t go further, because there are other things that are worse than those two.”
WATCH:
JUST IN: President Trump sends MAJOR warning after Iran rejects ceasefire offer
“We’re OBLITERATING that country. I hate to do it. They don’t want to cry ‘UNCLE,’ but they will!
If they don’t, they will have NO bridges, NO power plants, they will have no ANYTHING” pic.twitter.com/zO68Y9EVEQ
President Trump will hold a press conference in the White House Press Briefing Room this afternoon, following the operation to rescue an American flight crew in Iran over the weekend.
President Trump announced on Sunday that he would hold the news conference “with the military.”
“We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran,” the President said, noting that Iranian forces were “looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close.”
“This type of raid is seldom attempted because of the danger to ‘man and equipment.’ It just doesn’t happen! The second raid came after the first one, where we rescued the pilot in broad daylight, also unusual, spending seven hours over Iran,” he said.
The news conference will be held at 1 pm ET.
We have rescued the seriously wounded, and really brave, F-15 Crew Member/Officer, from deep inside the mountains of Iran. The Iranian Military was looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close. He is a highly respected Colonel. This type of raid is seldom attempted because of the danger to “man and equipment.” It just doesn’t happen! The second raid came after the first one, where we rescued the pilot in broad daylight, also unusual, spending seven hours over Iran. An AMAZING show of bravery and talent by all! I will be having a News Conference, with the Military, at the Oval Office, on Monday, at 1:00 P.M. God Bless our great MILITARY WARRIORS! President DONALD J. TRUMP
As The Gateway Pundit reported, after a nearly 48-hour search and rescue effort, the pilot of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle was rescued from inside Iran.
One crew member was initially rescued on Friday after the crash, US officials say.
“WE GOT HIM!” President Trump announced on Saturday night, describing the mission as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History.”
“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue,” Trump said.
“WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND! The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies.”
General George, who was fired this past week by Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, slams Hegseth as a potential war criminal. This wacked-out General George shows all the evidence needed to … Read more
President Trump and First Lady Melania on Monday participated in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
“As America celebrates its 250th birthday, this year’s Easter Egg Roll will take on a special patriotic spirit—bringing families together to celebrate both the joy of Easter and the enduring blessings of liberty that define the American story,” the White House said.
“Alongside the traditional Egg Roll and Egg Hunt there will also be a sensory-friendly Egg Hunt—all featuring real eggs generously provided by the American Egg Board, the event’s leading partner,” the White House said.
“As families exit the South Lawn they will each receive an egg from the Official 2026 White House Easter Egg Set courtesy of the White House Historical Association.”
“Each egg is imprinted with the signatures of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.”
President Trump praises Jesus Christ in remarks from the balcony.
“Today is a very special day. It’s a day where we celebrate Jesus. It’s a day where we celebrate religion. And it’s an honor to be the President of the United States,” Trump said.
“Today is a very special day. It’s a day where we celebrate Jesus. It’s a day where we celebrate religion. And it’s an honor to be the President of the United States.”
President Trump and the First Lady participate in the Easter Egg Roll, a longstanding tradition at the White… pic.twitter.com/zhlWq8ns9b
A reporter tried to get Trump with a gotcha question.
“Are you committing a war crime….?” a reporter asked President Trump.
President Trump wasn’t having it.
“What else?” Trump said.
WATCH:
Second Lady Usha Vance, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Pete Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Hegseth and others attended the Easter Egg Roll on Monday.
The Senate filibuster is often romanticized as a noble safeguard of minority rights, a procedural guardrail that forces consensus and slows the passions of majorities.
Yet the actual history of the filibuster—its accidental creation, its use by factional minorities, and its long record of blocking popular and essential legislation—tells a very different story.
From the beginning, the filibuster has been less a principled protection of deliberation than a tool for thwarting the democratic process, empowering small groups of senators to override the will of the electorate and frustrate the functioning of representative government.
Its history demonstrates not a tradition worth preserving, but a procedural mistake that has repeatedly distorted the Senate’s constitutional role.
Born by Accident, Not Design
Unlike constitutional features such as bicameralism or the presidential veto, the filibuster was never conceived by the Founders. In fact, the Framers expressly warned against requiring supermajorities for ordinary legislation because such requirements paralyze government and transfer power to narrow factions.
In Federalist No. 22, Alexander Hamilton wrote that supermajority rules “reverse the fundamental principle of free government” because they give “a small number… a negative upon the majority.”
Yet in 1806, during a routine update of Senate rules, Vice President Aaron Burr recommended eliminating several rarely used procedural mechanisms, including the “previous question” motion—a simple tool to end debate.
The Senate agreed, unaware that it had removed the only means to cut off obstruction.
This did not reflect constitutional theory or an intentional commitment to minority protection. It was an oversight. A mistake. And that mistake laid the foundation for what later became the filibuster.
For the next several decades, filibusters remained rare only because norms discouraged abuse, not because the rules provided guardrails. Once senators realized unlimited debate could thwart a vote, they began using it.
Thus, from its earliest use, the filibuster existed solely as a weapon to block majority action, not as an institution grounded in constitutional philosophy.
A Record of Obstruction, Not Deliberation
As the 19th century progressed, filibusters grew more common and more disruptive. They were used not to improve legislation but to defeat it outright.
It quickly became clear that the filibuster rewarded intransigence. The longest debates were rarely the most thoughtful; they were the most stubborn.
By the early 20th century, the consequences became intolerable. In 1917, a small group of senators filibustered legislation authorizing President Woodrow Wilson to arm merchant ships to defend against German U-boats.
This was not a case of protecting minority rights or improving democratic deliberation—it was a procedural chokehold during wartime.
Wilson condemned the obstructionists as a “little group of willful men,” and the Senate responded by creating the first cloture rule, allowing two-thirds of senators to end debate.
But cloture did not cure the underlying problem. It merely confirmed that the filibuster’s existence had become incompatible with democratic governance.
Even with a supermajority requirement to end debate, obstruction persisted. The filibuster continued to empower a minority to control the agenda and grind the lawmaking process to a halt.
The Filibuster and the Defeat of Civil Rights
The most infamous chapter in the filibuster’s history illustrates its true purpose: to prevent democratic government from acting decisively when entrenched interests are threatened.
From the 1920s through the 1960s, southern segregationists used the filibuster to block or cripple every major civil-rights proposal brought before Congress.
Anti-lynching bills—supported by overwhelming public opinion and passed repeatedly by the House—were killed in the Senate by filibusters. Measures to outlaw poll taxes and protect Black voting rights failed for the same reason.
For decades, the filibuster served as the institutional backbone of Jim Crow, preventing national legislative majorities from enforcing constitutional rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 faced a 60-day filibuster—the longest in Senate history.
It ultimately passed only because national pressure had grown overwhelming and Senate leadership constructed a rare bipartisan coalition strong enough to invoke cloture. Yet even this historic victory demonstrated the anti-democratic nature of the filibuster.
A clear national majority supported civil rights. The House had passed similar legislation before. The Senate majority wanted it. The president demanded it.
And yet a determined minority nearly defeated it—all because Senate rules allowed obstruction to substitute for representation.
This pattern makes plain that the filibuster’s most consequential uses were not moments of wise restraint but moments of profound injustice. When democratic action was needed most—when citizens’ rights were at stake—the filibuster protected the minority that sought to deny those rights.
The Modern Filibuster: A Minority Veto in All But Name
After 1975, the Senate reduced the cloture threshold from two-thirds (67) to three-fifths (60 votes). Around the same time, it adopted the “two-track system,” allowing multiple bills to be pending simultaneously.
Senators no longer needed to speak for hours on end; they merely had to announce their intent to obstruct.
This change converted the filibuster into what scholars call the silent filibuster—a procedural veto that requires no effort from the minority and no physical presence on the Senate floor.
As a result, filibuster use exploded. What had once been rare became routine. Majorities of both parties found themselves unable to pass legislation they campaigned on, enjoyed public support for, and had the constitutional authority to enact.
Instead of slowing legislation for reflection, the modern filibuster prevents legislation altogether. Instead of fostering consensus, it encourages gridlock. And instead of promoting deliberation, it rewards the politically strategic threat of obstruction.
Today, the Senate cannot pass most laws unless they meet a 60-vote supermajority. That is not how representative democracy is supposed to work. It is, in Hamilton’s words, “a poison” that transforms majority rule into minority rule.
A Procedure Without Principle
Defenders of the filibuster often claim that it forces compromise and ensures stability. But its history demonstrates the opposite. The filibuster has rarely produced better legislation.
It has regularly produced no legislation. Its primary effect has been to protect special interests, ideological obstructionists, and regional power blocs from democratic accountability.
It also serves as an excuse for the majority party to do nothing. They can hide behind the filibuster, strut about feeling important, while lining their pockets.
Nor is the filibuster necessary to preserve the Senate’s traditional role as a slower, more deliberative body.
The Senate already differs from the House by design: longer terms, statewide constituencies, staggered elections, and equal representation for each state. Nothing in the Constitution suggests or implies that ordinary legislation should require a supermajority.
The filibuster is not a constitutional principle. It is not a Founding ideal. It is a procedural accident that evolved into a veto point enabling paralysis.
Conclusion: Why It Should Not Be Preserved
The filibuster’s history reveals a consistent truth: it has been used disproportionately to frustrate democracy, block justice, and shield minority factions from democratic accountability.
What began as an unintended oversight became a weapon used to halt progress, obstruct majorities, and prevent the federal government from carrying out its constitutional duties.
If the purpose of government is to translate the will of the people into action within the limits of the Constitution, the filibuster stands directly in the way.
It undermines representative democracy, empowers factional minorities, and renders Congress unable to meet the nation’s needs.
No democratic republic, including the one envisioned by the Framers, should tolerate such a structural veto. The filibuster is neither tradition nor principle. It is an error—and one that should be corrected.
Steve Wolfer is a retired software designer and psychotherapist who has been a constitutional conservative and libertarian for over half a century.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of this publication.
JUST IN: President Trump sends MAJOR warning after Iran rejects ceasefire offer
