The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act is expected to hit the Senate floor for a vote today, but without the support of rogue senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), it’s unlikely that the measure will pass without being filibustered by Republicans. The whole thing is all very tedious and exhausting and infuriating, and Stevie Wonder spoke for all of us when he told Senators to “cut the bull-tish” in a video message on Tuesday.
The 71-year-old recording artist posted the 33-second video to Twitter. “Any senator who cannot support the protection of voting rights in the United States of America cannot say that they support the Constitution,” Wonder said, from behind a piano. “Stop the hypocrisy. Cut the bull-tish.”
“If you care and support our rights, do the hard work. You can’t please everybody, but you can protect all of us,” he added. “And to keep it all the way real: The filibuster is not working for democracy. Why won’t you?”
After the video began to go viral, Stephen Colbert gave Wonder a shoutout during his Late Show monologue later that evening.
“People are frustrated, naturally, people like music legend Stevie Wonder, who released this statement on YouTube,” Colbert said, before playing the first half of the clip.
“Did you hear that? Oh, tish!” Colbert exclaimed, at Wonder’s clean profanity. “I want to thank Stevie Wonder for standing up for democracy — and swearing in a way that I can air on my CBS television show. You, sir, are one bad mother-trucker.”
“Senators, do you know how hard it is to make Stevie Wonder that angry?” he added. “The meanest thing he’s ever said up until now is ‘You’re just my part-time lover.'”
“You tell ’em, Stephen T. Wonder,” Colbert said after playing the second half of the clip, quipping that Wonder had also set his feelings to music on his new album, “Songs in the Key of Kuf You.”
But sadly, it seems that even Stevie Wonder won’t be able to convince Manchin, Sinema, and Senate Republicans to do the right thing. If the vote fails, Democrats will likely attempt to change the rules of the filibuster so that Republicans can’t demand a super majority to pass measures.
Changing the filibuster is a slippery slope, as Democrats often used it during former President Obama’s tenure to pass bills when Republicans controlled the Senate. But with American voting rights and democracy hanging by a precipice, it seems as though there are few other options.