I don't think the electorate really understands how extreme a lot of the most influential figures in the Conservative movement are. These people want to end no fault divorce, reverse Griswold V Connecticut (protecting a married couple's right to use contraception in the privacy of their own home), ban porn completely, etc. This is not an agenda that is palatable to the American public.
The difference between the right and the left is that we don't actually have any lunatics in public office (at least not that I can think of). If you think Bernie and AOC are extreme, you probably haven't looked at the number of Americans that actually agree with their policy proposals. Our lunatics posts online and on social media. Mike Lee, US Senator from Utah, is pushing a bill to ban porn this year.
If you don't think the judiciary would save us then (if the filibuster is eliminated), there is no reason to think it will save us now. There are still constitutional amendments in place that protect the rights of minorities even if laws are passed to contradict those rights. The Republicans in the Senate could eliminate the filibuster today if they wanted, and there's not a thing any of us could do about it.
Again, it needs to be reinforced over and over again that the filibuster is a senate fiction. They don't have to abide by any of the rules of the Parliamentarian, the parliamentarian works for them. We are not the ones being protected by the filibuster, politicians are the ones who love the filibuster (both Repubs and Dems) because it saves them from having to take unpopular votes. So, for instances, if you don't actually want the minimum wage needs to be raised but you're a Democrat, you can vote for the wage increase (while still maintaining your populist bona fides) knowing it will never actually pass.
I understand the fears of eliminating the filibuster during Trump's Presidency, those fears are reasonable, but if you support ending the filibuster, the threat of an extremist Republican administration will always be around. The same reason why one might support not doing it now would support never doing it at all.
