There have been some interesting developments recently in the ongoing raging debate in the Senate on whether or not to do away with the filibuster.

Most notably was the one we reported on today involving a leaked Zoom call that revealed Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) – contra to prior statements noting he wouldn’t budge on his position on keeping the filibuster – was indeed quite open to at the very least reforming it, even floating using his position as leverage against retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) in hopes of getting him to switch his “no” vote on the creation of a Capitol riots commission.

While not as significant as the revelation about Manchin, his colleague Dick Durbin took to the floor of the U.S. Senate earlier and made one of the most idiotic comparisons in modern history during a speech in which he essentially called Republicans cowards for supposedly “abusing the filibuster.”

“I’m willing to consider any reasonable plan that promotes genuine bipartisan cooperation, and ends the tyranny of the minority,” the Illinois Senator stated. “What we can’t do, what we cannot do is nothing.”

In an attempt to make himself sound like he was taking a stand because of patriotism, Durbin said that “after a minority of Senators used the filibuster to prevent, for now, the creation of the January 6th commission, we all went home for a long Memorial Day weekend.”

Durbin claimed that during his flight home and throughout that weekend, he “thought of the young men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, running straight into enemy fire knowing well that they might die to preserve democracy. And many of them did.”

So apparently hypocritical politicians posturing on the Senate floor about the supposed merits of reforming or abolishing the filibuster are supposed to be the modern-day equivalent of putting your life on the line to save the world or something.

“Now,” Durbin continued, “we see members of the Senate routinely abusing the filibuster because they’re afraid to face an unpleasant vote or an angry insult from Donald Trump. Surely we are better and braver than this.”

Yes, this was actually said on the floor of the Senate. Watch:

Democrat Senator Dick Durbin compares Democrats pushing to end the filibuster to the “young men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day running straight into enemy fire knowing well that they might die” pic.twitter.com/qlZ5ioufxO

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 16, 2021

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) got wind of what Durbin said, and all it took was one little screengrab of comments Durbin made in 2018 against abolishing the filibuster to finish the debate, at least for now:

https://t.co/oKZkNPyC3P pic.twitter.com/HnExxkVCme

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 16, 2021

What makes the tweet especially cutting is that the remarks in question were specifically made in response to a question Durbin was asked at the time about then-President Trump calling on GOP Senators to abolish the filibuster. As you’ll recall, Republicans could have ended it at Trump’s request, but they didn’t:

Durbin on Trump calling on Republicans to end the filibuster: “That would be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised and created going back to our Founding Fathers.” (via ABC) pic.twitter.com/SazNujALdp

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 21, 2018

Also, as far as “abusing the filibuster” goes, abusing it the way Democrats in the minority did was exactly why Trump wanted it gone. Then-Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wisely declined.

And the rest, as they say, is history, as inconvenient as that may be for the likes of Democrats like Sen. Durbin.

Related: NYT Reporter’s Frank Admission About Wuhan Lab Leak Reporting Further Vindicates Tom Cotton