{"id":7270,"date":"2025-03-14T02:33:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T02:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-left-seethes-at-the-schumer-surrender\/"},"modified":"2025-03-14T02:33:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T02:33:46","slug":"the-left-seethes-at-the-schumer-surrender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-left-seethes-at-the-schumer-surrender\/","title":{"rendered":"The left seethes at the \u2018Schumer surrender\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Democratic base wants a fight. Chuck Schumer<\/a> won\u2019t give it to them.<\/p>\n

The Senate minority leader on Thursday backed away from the shutdown confrontation<\/a> that many liberal voters and activist leaders had been pushing for \u2014 arguing that closing the government would only empower President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk in their bureaucracy-slashing campaign.<\/p>\n

That decision sent shockwaves through the left and had many in their ranks seething at a top party leader who had sought to win them over in recent years.<\/p>\n

Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of the liberal grassroots organization Indivisible, quickly dubbed it the \u201cSchumer surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess we’ll find out to what extent Schumer is leading the party into irrelevance,\u201d he said in an interview, adding that his decision \u201ctells me maybe he’s lost a step.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news that the top Senate Democrat would be backing down dejected scores of House members who were gathered at a resort about 25 miles outside of Washington for the Democratic Caucus\u2019 annual policy retreat.<\/p>\n

They had stuck together behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a>, who had wrangled all but one of his members to oppose Republicans\u2019 seven-month funding patch earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtremely disappointed,\u201d Rep. Jim McGovern<\/a> (D-Mass.) said after he heard the news. \u201cIt gives them the ability, Elon Musk the ability, to go through and continue to do the shit he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And further outside Washington, longtime party activists and high-dollar donors fumed about Schumer: \u201cHe sucks,\u201d one state party chair who was granted anonymity to respond candidly, adding that the cave constituted \u201cpolitical malpractice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In anticipation of the criticism he was certain to receive, Schumer delivered a 10-minute speech on the Senate floor defending his decision, later holding a question-and-answer session with Capitol Hill reporters and publishing a New York Times op-ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His points were two-fold: First, a shutdown would play into Trump and Musk\u2019s hands, he argued, allowing them to continue with their slash-and-burn campaign overdrive. His second argument was more political \u2014 and in keeping with his long history as a leading strategist counseling his party to pay heed to the concerns of America\u2019s middle class above all else.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Donald Trump, a shutdown would be a gift,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cIt would be the best distraction he could ask for from his awful agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, Donald Trump owns the chaos in the government. He owns the chaos in the stock market,\u201d he added. \u201cIn a shutdown, we would be busy fighting with Republicans over which agencies to reopen, which to keep closed, instead of debating the damage Donald Trump’s agenda is causing the American people.”<\/p>\n

Some Democrats offered some sympathy, given the dilemma he and other senators faced. The GOP-written stopgap cuts some $12 billion in domestic funding while adding money for migrant deportations and some other programs Democrats oppose. It also contains no language that would stop the Trump administration from continuing to hold back congressionally approved spending.<\/p>\n

But Schumer argued there was no telling what Trump and Musk would do in a shutdown, where the White House would \u201chave full authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he had a choice,\u201d Democratic National Committee member Joseph Paulino Jr. said, adding that Democrats \u201cdon\u2019t have any cohesive plan. They don\u2019t have a strategy. They don\u2019t have any clear direction where they want their \u2026 opposition to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, called it a \u201cchallenging\u201d choice for Schumer even as she called a temporary shutdown \u201ca better option than passing a bad bill.” She predicted blowback from grassroots activists but demurred on how lasting it might be.<\/p>\n

“There will be strong reactions,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the exact consequences, I think it’s too soon to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to Schumer\u2019s remarks, progressive groups were encouraged by the succession of Senate Democrats who had publicly announced opposition to the GOP funding measure. More than a dozen did so Thursday, many of them echoing the language used by activists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want a shutdown but I can’t vote for this overreach of power, giving Trump and Musk unchecked power to line their pockets,\u201d said Sen. Andy Kim<\/a> of New Jersey in an online post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joel Payne, the chief communications director at MoveOn, called the moment \u201cpretty disappointing,\u201d adding that it crystallized for many in Democratic activists that Schumer and other Democratic leaders may not be equipped for fighting a more brazen, second-term Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it does say a little something about whether or not these folks truly understand the fight that we’re in right now,\u201d Payne said. \u201cAnd I think that’s a question that a lot of folks are asking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The irony is that Schumer had spent much of the past five years patching up his relationship with the Democratic Party\u2019s left flank. Once known as a friend of Wall Street interests and an ally of moderates, he faced similar criticism as minority leader during the first Trump term, then retooled his reputation after becoming Senate majority leader in 2021 \u2014 embracing the expansive pandemic-era spending plans<\/a> of President Joe Biden and winning converts among liberals.<\/p>\n

Now Schumer is facing sharp backlash from some of Biden\u2019s top advisers. His former top domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, told Schumer<\/a> to \u201cplease grow a spine. And quickly.\u201d Neera Tanden, who held the same top policy job, expressed exasperation after Schumer told reporters Trump would be more unpopular \u2014 and Democrats would be better positioned to fight \u2014 in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cHE’S UNPOPULAR NOW,\u201d she responded on X<\/a>. \u201cLORD!\u201d<\/p>\n

Schumer did not take any incoming fire from his fellow Democratic leader and Brooklyn native, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Speaking to his members at the retreat, Jeffries told them that their votes were \u201csomething they can be proud of now and tomorrow and years from now\u201d but did not criticize Schumer directly, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stood up against Donald Trump. We stood up against Elon Musk. We stood up against the extreme MAGA Republicans,\u201d Jeffries said in a statement. \u201cWe can defend that vote because we stood on the side of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A leader of the Democratic left in the House was not as oblique. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> of New York \u2014 often mentioned as a potential primary rival for Schumer \u2014 said on BLN Thursday that Schumer had made a \u201ctremendous mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

“To me, it is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to hand [one of] the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Asked Thursday to respond in advance to possible calls for new Democratic leadership in the Senate, Schumer said he made a \u201ctough choice \u2026 based on what I thought were the merits.\u201d (None of his Senate colleagues, notably, joined in the firestorm of criticism.)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to make these decisions based on what is best for not only your party but your country, and I firmly believe and always have that I’ve made the right decision,\u201d he continued. \u201cI believe that my members understand that \u2026 conclusion and respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia McCarthy and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Democratic base wants a fight. Chuck Schumer won\u2019t give it to them. The Senate minority leader on Thursday backed away from the shutdown confrontation that many liberal voters and activist leaders had been pushing for \u2014 arguing that closing the government would only empower President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}