Read some Roman history.
The end game maybe the end of the Republic.
I’m not that versed in Senate intrigue but see this as a corollary to ‘if you go after the king you better get the king’. If you use the nuke, it better be a high-value target.
Some are speculating, and I could definitely see it, that Reid is using this as a feint to retreat and circle the wagons to protect vulnerable Senators.
The upside is that this will go down in flames in the House, and Zero will say ‘the GOP blocked our bill’. We can simply retort that the bill was so bad that Reid had to use the nuke option to protect his own people.
Reid just cut Zero loose.