The Dictatorship
Chuck Schumer still has plentiful options for stalling Trump
As the Trump administration continues to smash a metaphorical wrecking ball into the federal government, many congressional Democrats seem to have embraced the role of passive observers. In response to a vocal base wondering why they aren’t doing more, Democrats, who have minority representation in both chambers of Congress, have at times complained that they lack power and leverage to act forcefully. There’s some truth to that sentiment — but it illustrates a lack of tactical creativity and a strategic certainty.
It’s true, as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., lamented last week, that the House’s rules are set up to benefit whoever can muster a majority, even if it’s only by one vote. The most leverage House Democrats can use then depends on peeling off support from a Republican caucus that is largely in lockstep. In the Senate, though, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has more plentiful options for stalling President Donald Trump’s agenda — and he’s barely used any.
There is another option for, if not totally stopping things, at least slowing things to a crawl.
For better or for worse, the Senate’s rules are designed to empower individual senators and those members who find themselves in the minority on an issue. In general, those rules are meant to keep the debate flowing among the Senate’s members, but there are two mechanisms on opposite ends of the spectrum that are designed to either speed things up or slow them down. Most of the focus in recent years has been on the filibusterwhich requires a vote of 60 senators to end debate and force a vote on almost any substantive matter.
It remains my belief that the filibuster is an antidemocratic tool that doesn’t serve as the bulwark against extremism its defenders say it does, as much as it’s used to shelter abuses of Americans’ rights and prevent positive change. But there is another option for, if not totally stopping things, at least slowing things to a crawl. Much of the Senate’s work is measured in floor hours, the amount of time a bit of business must be debated before a vote can be held on it. If the filibuster is the spanner in the works, meant to grind things to a halt in the Senate, “unanimous consent” is the grease that keeps the gears turning smoothly.
Here’s how I previously described unanimous consent agreementswhich generally involve a senator telling the chair, “I ask unanimous consent for” whatever they are proposing: “Such agreements basically operate on the assumption that all 100 senators are totally fine with whatever action is being proposed, no vote needed. The most basic unanimous consent agreement can be used to insert items into the Congressional Record; the most complicated can line up weeks’ worth of legislative action in the time it takes to read out the agreement.” It only takes one senator’s disagreement to nip those agreements in the bud though making it a primed weapon for obstruction, especially when it comes to speedily working through a raft of nominations.
In 2022, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was threatening to all but shut down the Senate if Democrats overturned the legislative filibuster to pass a voting rights bill. If he’d followed through with his threat, it would have been a massive headache for Democrats, but also for Republicans. Rejecting a unanimous consent agreement can add hours of debate time from the calendar, as the majority leader often uses lengthy requests to set up even short recesses, general administrative business like approving the Senate Journal’s records and other parliamentary necessities. If each of the mundane tasks usually covered by unanimous consent required a vote, it would also require a majority of the Senate to be present which, if you ever watch C-SPAN 2, you know is a rarity.
Schumer has been reluctant to encourage his members to oppose every unanimous consent request. That’s led though to moments like we saw last week during the leadup to the Senate voting on Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., was positively giddy last Tuesday night as he read out the text of a request that allowed for Gabbard’s vote to take place the next morning and cut the post-cloture debate time for Kennedy’s nomination. There was no objection from Senate Democrats, prompting major frustration from supporters who want Democrats to act more like an opposition party.
Schumer has been reluctant to encourage his members to oppose every unanimous consent request.
Tactically speaking, there would be a clear benefit in Schumer pulling every lever possible to make the process of legislating more difficult for his counterpart, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. Forcing votes on even the little things and requiring Republicans to stay on the Senate floor to keep processes moving would at least be something in the face of Trump’s threatened usurpation of congressional powers. It would also require some sacrifice from his members, who have gotten used to heading home on Thursday afternoons, and some of whom still hope to maintain a measure of comity with their GOP colleagues.
I can see, though, the risk of placing too much emphasis on tactics over a broader strategy. The decision to hold all-night debates arguing against Russel Vought’s confirmation as the head of the Office of Management and Budget makes sense tactically. But it’s impossible to promote such a delay as a victory when the GOP is still able to run out the clock and vote on whatever they want. The same would apply to Schumer pulling the ripcord and rotating in a senator to disapprove of any and all unanimous consent requests. It would be frustrating for Republicans in the short run, potentially even limit some of the damage done in the long run, but can still be overcome with little more than patience from Republicans.
Moreover, the internal debate over tactics is only possible because Democrats still lack an overall strategic goal. When the year began, Schumer argued that allowing some nominations to proceed and making a fuss about the more controversial ones would show that Democrats were being reasonable. As the chaos has grown, that idea has been abandonedbut there’s still reluctance to be seen as an obstacle versus putting forward a more focused economic message.
In contrast, the Senate GOP under McConnell had a simple strategy: Regain and maintain power — period. During the Obama era, that looked like Republicans making sure the Senate became the “graveyard of legislation.” There is no similar agreement as to what that should look for Democrats like under the Trump regime, even as it becomes clear that there’s little that he could do that will cause his legislative allies to cross the aisle in defense of the country. It’s up to Democrats then to decide — and fast — what they want to do over the next two years: hope that Trump will fail and rebuild later, or work to ensure that he fails and preserve as much as possible.
Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for BLN Daily, where he helps frame the news of the day for readers. He was previously at BuzzFeed News and holds a degree in international relations from Michigan State University.
In an explosive interview with NBC aired Sunday, President Donald Trump cut the grilling short and left the set after peppering “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker with insults.
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” Trump told Welker, who kept a cool demeanor despite the president’s barrage of disparaging slurs.
Moments before he attacked her, Trump — without providing any evidence — said he believes elections in the U.S. are rigged. Then he lambasted television news networks, singling out NBC, CBS and ABC.
“They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked,” Trump said.
“To be fair, I’m not crooked,” Welker shot back. “But let’s continue.”
“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” the president told Welker, who is the second woman and first Black journalist to helm the network’s flagship program.
Trump added, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”
It was not the first time Trump has berated a female journalist on the job covering his presidency.
In November 2025, he told Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey to stop talking, saying, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.” One month later, he told ABC’s Rachel Scott she was “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place.” Last month, he called MS NOW White House reporter Akayla Gardner “a dumb person” for pointing out that the cost of his White House ballroom project had doubled since it was first announced.
He has also repeatedly lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collinscriticizing her for not smiling enough.
The wide-ranging interview, which was taped last week on a farm in Wisconsin, was interrupted by the loud sound of heavy rain on the metal roof of the barn where they met. Welker questioned Trump on his war with Iran, his “anti-weaponization” fund and the upcoming midterm elections.
On his nearly $1.8 billion fund aimed at compensating people who say they were wrongly prosecuted, including Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, Trump said “people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated.”
He described the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as people who were “being ushered into the building” by law enforcement.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the fund last month and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week the administration would not be moving forward with the fundwhich faced bipartisan backlash.
When asked if the administration would pursue other avenues to revive it, Trump said he does not know what will ultimately happen and called Welker and her network “the fake dirty press.”
Despite campaigning on a promise to end foreign wars, Trump denied that he made such statements. He characterized the Iran war, launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, as necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
When asked about the rising cost of living as a result of the war, specifically gas and fertilizer, Trump chastised Welker.
“Are you ready? Am I allowed to talk? You keep asking questions and you don’t listen to the answers,” he said.
“I love the farmers and the farmers love me,” Trump said, adding that prices will come down after the war.
Welker suggested to her viewers Sunday that she and the president had a cordial conversation Saturday, saying they both “acknowledged the complications” posed by the rain. “He agreed to sit down with me for another ‘Meet the Press’ interview,” she said.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
Iran said visas were denied to key members of its national soccer team ahead of the World Cupwhich a U.S. official insisted was necessary so that Iran does not try to “sneak terrorists into the United States.”
In a post on Xthe Iranian embassy in Turkey said “visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers, and others” on its team.
“You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level,” the embassy said, accusing the U.S. of the “worst possible form of politically biased interference in sport” and “depriving Iran’s national team of its right to play in the World Cup under normal conditions.”
Iranian officials are accusing the U.S. government of violating FIFA regulations and breaching its obligations as one of the host countries of what is widely regarded to be the biggest sporting event in the world. The diplomatic standoff between the two countries comes just days before the World Cup is set to kick off and more than three months after the U.S. and Israel waged war against Iran.
A Trump administration official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the subject told MS NOW in a statement that the visas “necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff, have been issued.”
The official added, however, “We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses.”
The statement from the Iranian Embassy in Turkey came in response to a post on X by U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack praising embassy staff for processing visas for the Iranian national team.
According to The Associated Presssome of the team’s officials have not received visas to enter the U.S., which is co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada. Games are set to begin Thursday.
Problems with getting U.S. visas had already led Iran to move its World Cup training base from the U.S. to Mexico. But Iran is still listed on the official World Cup schedule to play its first two games in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand, and against Belgium six days later before heading to Seattle to face Egypt.
The Iran Football Federation’s secretary-general and its vice president were among 14 staff and officials without U.S. visas, AP said, citing Iranian state television. The federation reportedly accused the U.S. of “vindictive behavior.”
Emily Hung contributed to this report.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
A shooting near a community festival in Toledo, Ohio, wounded at least 12 people, and police said a search for the suspects was ongoing following an outbreak of gunfire that sent crowds scrambling for cover.
Two of the wounded were in critical condition, Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe Heffernan said. He said it appeared there were at least two people firing weapons who were “probably shooting at each other.”
The Toledo Police Department said the shooting happened near the Old West End Festival, an annual gathering of live music and home tours in a historic district of the city.
The department said an active search was underway for those responsible.
“I am deeply concerned about the situation in Toledo tonight. Summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement.
Multiple videos posted to social media showed people running over the sound of gunshots and emergency officials tending to others who appeared wounded.
Kevin Berry said he was sitting in the neighborhood arboretum listening to live music with his friends when he heard a handful of gunshots ring out.
“Everybody hit the deck,” he said.
When he looked back up, he saw a gun being tossed to the ground less than 50 feet (15 meters) away from him. Police officers who were already on-site for the festival immediately responded to the scene.
Berry, who has medical training and served in the U.S. Navy, said he walked around the area looking for potential victims who might need help.
He said he saw at least five people with gunshot wounds.
“The folks who were hit were spread out around the arboretum area,” he said.
The Old West End Festival is a two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district that includes live music, food vendors, home tours and shopping.
Berry described it as the “kick-off to Toledo’s summer festival season.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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