Chuck Schumer's surrender to Trump is just another example of why we are where we are
Cowardice, all around
Chuck Schumer's announcement yesterday that he, the Democratic Leader in the Senate, would vote for the GOP's budget resolution was the epitome of the cowardice and political stupidity of the official Democratic resistance to Donald Trump and his destruction of American constitutional democracy.
In a New York Times opinion essay, Senator Schumer stated that a government shutdown would " give Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk permission to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now. Under a shutdown, the Trump administration would have wide-ranging authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel nonessential, furloughing staff members with no promise they would ever be rehired." Which is a good argument, until you remember that, first, Musk and Trump are already destroying vital government services and shuttering entire agencies and programs; and second, that the crystallization of these decisions to dismantle our government under an unnecessary and damaging shutdown driven by the GOP's inability to pass a budget would not ultimately rebound on Democrats in voter's minds. Trump is in charge; he owns the government, and the narrative coming out of what is going on with government. If the government shuts down, and millions of workers doing vital work are furloughed and government agencies providing key services to constituents are shut down, affected citizens are not going to conduct a detailed exploration of who did what on which vote on what day. They are going to turn to the continued message coming from Washington DC that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a blowtorch to government services, and they are going to ultimately hold his administration responsible for what is. Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. They literally have all the power. And yet, Chuck Schumer is out here strategizing like he has the levers of power and is the one trying to hold together a governing coalition. Its asinine and its an exemplification of the particular politics of cowardice that have gotten Democrats where they are
Voters are angry. The share of the public that wants massive, disruptive cuts to vital government programs is tiny. Democrats job is not to insulate voters from the effects of the Trump administration's decisions. Its to present the alternative. Its to let the democratic chips lay where voters play them, and respond accordingly.
Instead, Democrats - exemplified by Schumer's sleepy retiree affect - have been meekly trotting out to the press conferences in the Capitol, and using the same messages that have failed time and time again over the last decade, and in doing so, have completely failed to meet this moment. Instead of fighting rhetorically in the vein of Bernie Sanders or Chris Murphy - two senators whose messaging has struck a chord since January - they have instead taken the route of retreat and political expediency, using lame excuses and weak language and failing to present any coherent or unified or effective response. Just look at the Democrats last week during Trump's speech to Congress. Special outfits. Auction paddles. Cringey outbursts from senior citizen legislators who should have retired a decade ago. A politics of opposition that thinks it's still fighting the political wars of the second Bush administration. Its pathetic and infuriating. Its why I've lost faith in and left the party, and why so many others my age have done so as well.
Unnamed Democratic politicians conceded today that Schumer’s decision was the right one because he was doing his job of “protecting his members from a tough vote and making a politically painful decision.” Which is bullshit. Schumer’s job and the job of all 535 members of Congress - is to legislate for the good of the American people. Somebody should remind our elected leaders: “Tough votes and politically painful decisions” are part of the job they signed up for. If you can’t handle that, go home and let someone else have the job. Have some political courage. Take a stand. GOP members have already shown they won’t do so, as their president undoes every conservative priority of the last fifty years. I hope Democrats would be different, but I knew I’d probably be disappointed.
The fight we are having is over what government does and doesn't do. Make Trump own that! Instead of backing down and softening the blow of what Trump wants to do here, instead letting him spread the pain out in a piecemeal, flood-the-court way like he's been doing, use the specter of a government shutdown to concentrate the effects into one moment. Let Trump own it. Yeah, their might be some short term political pain for Democrats as a result. Polls over the next few months may look bad. But there is no election for almost two years! This pain will fade, but Trump will still be president the whole time, and the anti-incumbent mood of American politics that has been ruling American politics for two decades will work its magic. Take a stand now. Make it known what you stand for now. And fight the election when it comes, on the ground of continued chaos and debauchery and incompetence from this Administration. Don't give away one of the few negotiating points you have, in the of living to fight another day - because we know you won't have that fight either.
That's what I hope happens. What I know will happen is Schumer will peel off enough scared, spineless Democratic senators who can't see past tomorrow and provide Trump and Thune and Johnson with the votes they need to keep enacting their plans to let Elon Musk drown essential services in a golden bathtub. And, in the end, they won't even get the thank you they want from Trump. And so, it will continue to be up to us, to fight back where our elected leaders won't.