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Democrats Divided? Not On This, They All Hate Schumer [1]
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Date: 2025-03-15
This week Politico ran a story about U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger, who had stopped coming to work after developing dementia, and how the Washington press corps never noticed she was missing.
They were probably too busy following around celebrity politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to give much thought to Granger. They probably figured that would get them a lot more on-line clicks and sharing of their stories. Sometimes the press seems more interested in following its own agenda as opposed to the agenda that’s developing right in front of them.
This necessitates a warning to Democrats after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, eight other members of their party, and one independent caved and provided Republicans the votes they needed to overcome that chamber’s 60-vote filibuster rule for their proposed continuing resolution, effectively allowing it to then pass on a simple majority vote.
This latest development has inspired at least one publication – The New York Times – to revive the issue of divisions among Democrats. Do they exist? Of course, that’s to be expected in any large organization, especially one that encompasses such a wide range of politic beliefs, personalities, and demographics.
The Times ran a story titled, “Young Democrats’ Anger Boils Over as Schumer Retreats on Shutdown.” The writer used the Schumer controversy to take a deep dive into the relationship between younger Democratic lawmakers and their older counterparts.
Spoiler alert: It does the older folks few favors in the way they’re portrayed. In that way, it’s kind of a hit piece.
My warning is this: While the media may see this as a chance to continue their “What’s wrong with the Democrats” theme, it doesn’t apply here. Instead, anger about Schumer seems to be coming from a wide array of Democrats.
In this case, you can ask what’s wrong with Schumer and the nine senators who went along with him, and you can make a great case that Schumer should no longer be the Senate minority leader, but don’t paint all the older Democrats with the same brush.
All but one Democratic member of the House voted against the continuing resolution. Thirty-six of the 45 Democratic senators didn’t go along with Schumer on this.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s 83, has been traveling to different locations on his “Fight Oligarchy” tour, and Ocasio-Cortez, who’s 35, will be joining him. Minnesota governor and former vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, who’s 60, is going to launch a series of town halls in Republican districts.
Democrats are pretty well united in their hatred of four-time indicted, twice impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, insurrection inspirer, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon, Russian puppet Donald Trump.
And that union hasn’t been harmed – maybe it’s even been strengthened – by their hatred for the man who appeased him when more backbone was called for: Schumer.
Ordinarily a great newspaper, the Times and other media outlets have been propping up younger, more attractive, more quotable members of Congress for a while now. They’ve made some of them real celebrities. I guess they sometimes feel the need to justify their points of emphasis.
Look, I’m biased. I’m 69 years old. I know many younger folks see people like me as useless relics who can’t possibly know as much as them, perform as well as them, or contribute to any effort as well as them, unless it’s something like eating oatmeal or wearing adult diapers.
To them I say, fuck you.
You’re pretty much always going to have some friction between young and old members of any entity. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I’m hoping the actions of Schumer and his gang of nine give Democrats a rallying cry.
I’m hoping it’ll make some other members of Congress – regardless of age – speak up more and push harder to oppose this corrupt administration. I’m hoping it’ll cause citizens around the country to do even more to help in the fight against Trump and the GOP.
Democrats have plenty to disagree about. That’s what primaries are for. Bitching to a newspaper that some of your old colleagues don’t know enough about tech and social media – things that didn’t exist when they were growing up – is petty, self-serving, and self-defeating.
Waiting for the midterms with the assumption that things will start turning around then -- with Republicans holding all the levers of power and knowing voter suppression is one of their key programs – is foolish.
We’ve seen the enemy. It’s Trump. It’s Elon Musk. It’s the incompetent cabinet. It’s the corrupt Republican Party. It’s the lying right-wing media. The vast majority of Democrats understand that. They can’t waste their time with media-fueled speculation.
The most glaring issue now is the party’s lack of leadership. Schumer’s age makes it easy to condemn older members, but that’s stupid. Nancy Pelosi is 84, and she has more spunk than a lot of people half her age.
On the issue of Trump, the party is as united as it can be. Democrats need to rally around their best leaders, play to their individual strengths, and understand their individual weaknesses. Not to minimize this with a sports analogy, but that’s what good teams do.
And seldom have Democrats more needed to be a team than right now.
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