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Schumer's failure to lead is leading to failure [1]
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Date: 2025-03-20
Several diarists are now coming to the defense of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, saying his decision to “checks notes” imply that the Senate Democrats were prepared to stand together on the Republican budget proposal, and then do a 180 the next day, leading to a split of votes among Democrats, was the right course of action.
He didn’t negotiate any concessions prior to changing his vote. It’s not clear to me that he even tried.
I am trying to figure out what Schumer could have done to look any weaker. To me it seems like Schumer maxed out on flailing, spineless wishy-washiness here.
Here were Schumer’s other options as I see them:
He could have let the Congressional Democrats know, in advance of their vote, that he had not united the Senate Democrats behind the shutdown.
He could have brought the Senate Democrats together and told them that they needed to come up with some sort of joint statement in advance of the vote—preferably a statement that tied their choice to the choice of the House Democrats.
He could have tried to gain concessions from Republicans and publicized the concessions they wouldn’t make.
Basically the Democrats have little power in Congress right now, beyond the power to obstruct. But (in theory at least) they do have the power to craft a coherent message of moral strength and unity. If there was a real leader in charge of either the House or the Senate, that message would have been sent.
You may not always agree with Nancy Pelosi’s politics (God knows I don’t) but she can get stuff done. Like most Democrats, I believe that it was (past) time for Nancy Pelosi to step down, before age and infirmity forced her hand, but if Nancy was still leader, she would have managed to send a coherent message to rally at least some rank and file Democrats.
I don’t know if Leader Jeffries is ever going to become the sort of skilled operative Nancy Pelosi is. He has handled himself well on some occasions, including this one. Perhaps he will grow into the role.
Schumer, on the other hand...without Nancy, he’s nothing. And I can easily think of half a dozen Senate Dems who would have handled the messaging on this better than Schumer.
How Chuck voted on the shutdown is not the issue. It’s more like a symptom of the real problem. The issue is that Chuck Schumer is endangering the 2026 prospects for Democrats because of his weakness and passivity. For the good of the party Chuck Schumer should allow a real leader to become the Senate Minority leader, and for good measure he should retire at the end of his term.
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