"The Dark Deed Is Done," a Dismal Democrat Declares Dramatically

Running on no more than 9 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) delivered some pretty intense political commentary on his official Twitter account.

Referencing today's successful push by Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) to change Senate rules to allow the confirmation of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, by 50 votes instead of 60, Merkley sounded almost like an ancient Roman senator delivering a melodramatic oratory as barbarian hordes sacked and pillaged the imperial capital.

"The dark deed is done," Merkley wrote. "McConnell has just put a knife into the heart of our We the People republic."

The party-line vote in favor of McConnell's rule change means that Gorsuch will likely be approved by the Senate sometime tomorrow, giving Republicans what is essentially a bonus Supreme Court seat. Last year Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, refused to even give a hearing to Merrick Garland, then-President Barack Obama's nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

It's unclear what the rule change will mean for Trump administration's legislative agenda, to the extent that there is one.

After Merkley's dramatic remarks, Republicans jumped at the chance to point out that Oregon's junior U.S. senator was among the loudest advocates for weakening the filibuster when the other side was in charge.

Indeed, he campaigned on the issue.

Merkley addressed his change in position at a press conference this morning, when asked if he regretted his support for filibuster reform in 2013, at a time when Republicans were using the filibuster rule to block dozens of lower-level Obama nominees. He said:

McConnell wasn't the only target of Merkley's increasingly blunt derision today. Tweeting at President Trump, Merkley denounced the administration's decision to cut two Environmental Protection Agency programs designed to reduce lead poisoning in children.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," Merkley wrote.