1) Just before Mitch McConnell caved and allowed Dems to assume the majority, @SenSchumer gave an important interview to @maddow.

Schumer said some things that have been overlooked. They suggest a crucial shift in thinking among Democrats about power. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/

2) Schumer vowed that this time, Dems won't get snookered by GOP bad faith.

But Schumer also framed the stakes in a good way. He said Dems are united behind the idea that *delivering in a big way* is key to restoring faith in government and democracy:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/

3) Schumer also said a failure to go big will risk disillusionment and another Trumpist demagogue.

If so, restoring faith in government/democracy isn't about achieving bipartisanship for its own sake. It's about the scale of the program Dems deliver on:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/

4) The possibilities for civic renewal after Trump appear real, as @lkatfield has argued.

But by the lights of Schumer's own analysis, the stakes *require* being prepared to *genuinely* reform or end the filibuster if McConnell stymies Biden's agenda:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/

5) A big item Dems will pursue is a package of major pro-democracy reforms, broadening voting access and limiting counter-majoritarian tactics.

Republicans will filibuster *that,* too. You'd think the consequences of this would be intolerable to Dems:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/

6) Here's the bad news. If Democrats believe all this, that makes the risks of Manchin and Sinema taking filibuster reform off the table and depriving Dems of leverage against McConnell obstructionism a lot worse -- by the lights of Democrats themselves:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/

7) Bottom line: If Democrats believe delivering in a big way, rather than achieving bipartisan unity for its own sake, is the route to avoiding a resurgence of Trumpism, then they have to be genuinely prepared to end the filibuster.

Full argument here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/26/mitch-mcconnell-caves-power-sharing-filibuster/