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If Dems Can't Deal With Schumer, Can They Handle Trump? [1]

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Date: 2025-03-17

The president of the United States, his administration, the Republican lawmakers who control both houses of Congress, and the right-wing media echo chamber that supports them all don’t care whose lives they destroy to get what they want.

They don’t care if you’re an elected official, a businessperson, a judge, a media member, a private citizen, an obscure blogger (yikes), a veteran, a hungry child, an ailing senior citizen, an immigrant, whoever. They will without hesitation threaten you, intimidate you, crush you.

That’s the America we live in today because millions of voters decided to give power to four-time indicted, twice-impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, insurrection inspirer, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon, Russian puppet, President Donald Trump and the corrupt criminal operation known as the Republican Party.

The hatred, the cruelty, the corruption, I’m convinced many honest, decent people have no earthly ability to understand it. To comprehend its force. To gauge the destruction that it will so willingly inflict on anyone or anything that stands in its way.

I’m not even sure that many Democratic elected officials understand. This is where the theory of politics is torn up and thrown out the window. It’s where everything they ever thought or hoped existed in their chosen profession has to be questioned. Do we still do that? Will that still work? What do we do now?

And it’s why it’s so obvious that the aged, weak, cowardly Chuck Schumer can no longer be the party’s Senate minority leader. Why he must be replaced immediately with someone younger, smarter, tougher, meaner.

The days of dealmaking are over. Schumer’s specialty is no longer applicable. He wants to bring a scalpel to the table when, at least for the next two years, the other side will bring a sledgehammer and the will to use it.

Will Democrats make the move that must be made? We’ll see. They sure didn’t mind shoving Joe Biden out the door. Why Schumer deserves any more leeway is beyond me.

This is going to tell us a lot – not only what they do with Schumer but how they go about it. Democrats have long embarrassed themselves when it comes to the game of politics. Now they face their most important test in a long time.

Two tests, really. Pass-fail, with tens of millions of worried Americans and history watching.

There’re 45 Democrats in the Senate. Their first test will be if they’re able to summon the will and wherewithal to shove Schumer out the door. This is the easy one: If Democrats fail to remove Schumer, they’ll show us that they are unquestionably unfit to meet the moment we have before us. If you don’t even have the guts to make the obvious move to a new leader when our democracy and rule of law are in such danger then you’re worthless. Just get the hell out of the way.

What happens then? Well, we’ll be forced to look for leaders outside Washington. Maybe governors or other state officials can step up. It’ll be harder because they aren’t the insiders with the bully pulpit right in the middle of things like members of Congress, but I have to believe there’re capable ones out there. There has to be.

What’s the second test? That’ll be how Democrats go about replacing Schumer and deputizing new voices in a party so desperate for them.

One knee-jerk reaction is how some people are calling for a “new generation” of leaders. I agree that Schumer is past his prime, but my concern is what folks mean when they say “new generation.” How new?

A lot of people point to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s not the answer. Ocasio-Cortez is a media darling. That’s not an insult – I think she’s great and an important voice – but the media has been boosting her since before she was even sworn in for her first term.

I don’t know what an algorithm is or how it works, but I do know that when I look on Facebook, I see Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett so much that you’d think they’re the only two Democrats in the House of Representatives.

We’re a center-right country, at best. Far left, with possible rare exceptions, won’t work on a nationwide basis, and right now there’re no rare exceptions in sight.

If Democrats push too far to the left, as Progressives seem to always call for whenever an election cycle doesn’t go well, they’ll ruin their chances of connecting with the swing voters and disgruntled Trump voters they’ll need to win over.

And you have to be careful. Old voters are important, so the anti-old-guy stuff should be kept to a minimum.

Democrats are at a crossroads. I realize it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and tell them what to do, but they’re the ones who chose to seek public office and the responsibilities and challenges that go with it.

The other side is the enemy. There’s no place for anyone who thinks otherwise, because to do so will limit the herculean effort needed to confront it and even slow it down, let alone stop it.

They say never get in a fight with a guy who doesn’t care if he lives or dies because nothing will hold him back. In a figurative sense, the sooner the Democratic Party develops that mindset, the better.

Let ‘er rip is the only course forward. We all know that. We’ll see if the Democrats do, too.

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Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page.

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