Bill Clinton Claims Getting Rid Of The Filibuster Would Be ‘Preserving Democracy’

Former President Bill Clinton went on NBC’s “Late Night” with host Seth Meyers on Wednesday night to claim that suspending the Senate filibuster would be an act of “preserving democracy” in the United States.

“It does seem to be the discussion du jour in American politics is: what would you do about the filibuster if it was up to you?” Meyers asked.

“The filibuster was set up to ensure for a long debate, it was used in the civil rights era to try to kill civil rights bills and starting in about 1993 or 94, it started to be used all the time,” he continued. “And it was used on President Obama. It’s being used to try to prevent a repeat of 2020, when we had enormous voter participation.”

“So all the states that are in the hands of people that don’t like that and want to maintain a racial income differential are trying to make it harder to vote,” Clinton added. “I understand the president’s reluctance to get rid of it all together and I sympathize with Joe Manchin, who is trying to stand up for the right thing and represent people who voted two-to-one for President Trump.”

“But I think when it comes to preserving democracy, you know I would suspend the filibuster because I think it’s essential. I don’t think that we should be in the business of going backwards in trying to drive down voting rights,” he stated. “I think we need to expand it. And I think that every time we’ve done it before it’s made us a better country, it’s made us a stronger country. And it would do both parties good to have to get out and compete for these new voters.”

This comes after Clinton claimed he had “nightmares” about what would happen to America after he left office.

“After I left office when I had more free time I had more nightmares thinking about what else could go wrong in our country,” he said this week, according to Fox News.

“By and large I think I have been really happy,” he added. “I think it’s a foolish thing to spend a day wishing you could do something you can’t do anymore. I made a promise to myself when I was president I wouldn’t do that. It’s been an eventful 20 years since I left office. I’ve been very fortunate because under President Bush and President Obama I was given a lot of chances to help.”

Clinton also claimed that it was Republicans who started cancel culture.

“The first canceling I ever went through throughout my life was the canceling that people on the right tried to do to people who weren’t,” Clinton said. “Then it became tempting when the demographics changed just to go the other way, but I think if you listen to our book, criticism works better than canceling because I always listen to my critics.”