Author’s Note:
I originally posted this article last march. Though the players are (slightly) different, the circumstances that led to the shutdown and the subsequent Democratic capitulation remain the same. What happened on Sunday has its roots in years of unwillingness to confront difficult truths, adhere to a coherent belief system, and stand tall despite the risks. -Reed
Republicans are laughing. Independents are rolling their eyes. Democrats are in open revolt. This, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-1997) and nine of his Democratic caucus chose to forgo a filibuster that would have blocked or delayed the Republican majority’s short-term spending plan.
News outlets and pundits alike have noted that Schumer was in a no-win situation. Shut down the government and take the blame. Allow the budget band-aid to go through and look like a collaborator. What was he to do?
My dad worked on Capitol Hill for many years. Whenever I complained about something in my own political career, he’d look at me with not one hint of sympathy and say, “Welcome to the NFL.”
Mr. Schumer might have been an okay quarterback for a team in the 1990s, maybe even the 2000s. Not for 2025, though. The game is too fast for a slow-footed pocket passer.
Let’s break down Chuck Schumer’s Pentagon of Failure.
Side 1: No Goals, Objectives, Strategy, or Tactics
On the evening of November 5th, 2024, Democratic leaders knew they would control neither the US House nor the US Senate. Instead of using the interregnum between the election and Trump’s second inauguration to strategize and prepare, they did nothing.
Among their other oversights, they didn’t look at a calendar, which would have laid out the various dates of things such as the swearing in, when cabinet nominees were to face hearings, and like this week, when the ‘Short Term CR’ (Washington-ese for begging your landlord for a couple of extra weeks to pay the rent) would expire.
Despite their protestations, the Trump campaign and his Republican allies ran on Project 2025. We all knew this. So did Democratic leaders. Yet they did nothig but complain, “He’s lying!” He always lies, that’s not news, nor do many Americans appear to care.
As Allied Supreme Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Plans are useless but planning is essential.”
No play ever goes the way we drew it up. Unless you have an opponent, in this case Chuck Schumer, who chooses not to practice, or as this week proved, even field a team. If he was unable to use three or so months to design roadblocks to the Republican agenda, why would we be surprised he folded without a fight?
Side 2: Too Out of Touch, Too Entrenched, Too Old, Too Little Belief
Schumer is the perfect avatar for the Democratic Party. Legislative maneuvering has given way to feet of clay. Too many years in the cloisters have seperated him from the country (not that he spent much time there anyway, being from New York City as he is.)
Speeches on the floor of the US Senate are not action. They are not leadership, either. They are just more words, devoid of meaning, that will consign millions of Americans to a tougher road ahead, as Schumer heads back to the Leader’s Office complaining about how little appreciation he gets for all he’s done.
Modern Congressional leadership is predicated on the ability to raise money. Full stop. According to Open Secrets, Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC spent $311,285,447 in the 2024 election cycle.
Maybe spending all that money to lose most of everything should have been a red flag.
Let’s rip a couple of bandaids off, shall we?
First, Schumer voted to keep the government running because his main benefactors (Wall Street, banks, large financial institutions) leaned on him. After Trump’s tariff insanity poked a hole in equity markets, the bankers didn’t want to chance a shut down driving the S&P, Dow, or Nasdaq any further. Who to say if this is true, but he wasn’t willing to take that chance. Once again, an out-of-time Democrat but money, power, and personal privledge about principle.
Second, politics is often a family business (as it was for me.) However, we cannot and should not overlook the fact that Schumer’s children work for Amazon and Meta, respectively. In a 2022 article, Schumer’s office rejected the idea that there was any funny business at work. Even if not, the appearance of impropriety on Schumer’s part allows Republicans to say, “See, we told you they’re just as bad as we are.”
Side 3: Still Playing the Game He Knows, Not the One We’re In
On Monday, Schumer will embark on a tour for his new book, Antisemitism in America. As Daily Kos points out, there’s no small amount of irony in hitting the road on this subject after kowtowing to Herr Elon and company.
As I’ve written previously, in a decade of the Trumposcene Era, Democrats have refused to understand that the game we’re playing is fundamentally different than any we’ve experienced in American history. This Republican Party will not compromise. They don’t care about poll numbers or public outrage. They look at Democrats with barely-veiled contempt for their unwillingness to fight.
Schumer still thinks there are ‘norms.’ There are not. All the norms died the day Trump’s troops stormed the Capitol four years ago. The refusal to understand what Trump’s return to power meant for the country is a signal failure of Democrats, but Schumer, in particular.
What little power he did have, Schumer refused to use. He either couldn’t or wouldn’t keep his caucus unified, because he probably didn’t think cabinet officials were worth the trouble. When he did leave his cave, he looked ridiculous screaming and carrying on.
There are no elected Republicans with ‘good intentions’ or concerned with ‘the better angels of our nature.’ They’ve all fallen line, either from fear, expedience, or belief. Schumer can’t convince his own caucus on what to have for dinner.
Side 4: Assumed a Fight Would Hurt Democrats
At the heart of Schumer’s capitulation wasn’t a belief in the necessity to keep the government open. No, at its core, his decision came down to polling, algorthmic analysis, and a bunch of consultants who need to keep in the Leader’s chair at least one more cycle before they shove off for Rehoboth Beach for good.
As with Side 3, this analysis misunderstands the moment we’re in. It’s conventional, old-fashioned, and built on the back of metrics, data, and machines, rather than humanity and heart. Chuck, this rollercoaster has left the station and we’re all heading down the tracks.
Democrat voters, donors, and leaders were looking for a fight (finally!) They needed to see that the bosses could bring the fire when needed. The fight over what is in the budget plan is secondary to the necessity to show some, any, backbone in the face of people who are already doing bad things to individual Americans, the fabric of the country, and the entire world.
“Reed, what if the Republicans blame Democrats for the shutdown?”
Who do they blame all day everyday now? They just blamed Joe Biden for two astronauts being stuck in space for nine months (because Boeing built one more sub-par machine.) All Republicans do is blame Democrats, and why wouldn’t they? You never fight back! Despite Schumer’s entire constituency begging for someone to ‘stand athwart history and say “no,”’ he refused to do so.
We’ll replay this game in September when this bill expires. As sure as I am the sun will come up in the East tomorrow, Schumer will decide that’s when he wants to fight. By then, it will be too late. Trump and Elon will have had six more months to run around like meth-addled baboons tearing at America’s fusebox.
If Schumer had stood up and filibustered, there was a chance the whole deal would collapse. That would have been bad in the short term, but it would have probably made it more difficult for Speaker Mike Johnson to keep his own goons in line. Without the House putting forward an alternative, Democrats could go on offense, in those vulnerable districts, taking a hammer to the bad guys.
Instead, we get nothing. No fight. No delay. Just defeat. Again.
Side Five: Another Nail in the Party
We should hand it to Chuck Schumer, his actions this week were enough to bring Moderate and Progressive Democrats together, if only for a moment.
His surrender yesterday was the culmination of years of arrogance, disconnectedness, and refusal to listen to their own voters. Democrats lost in 2024 because their own voters stayed home. After this week, why should we have any expectation they’ll want more to do with the party in the coming months and years.
What do Democrats believe in? What do they care about? Whom do they care about? These are all questions that Chuck Schumer and his nine fellow Chamberlains provided the exact wrong answers to in their unwillingness to take on the Republicans.
At this point you could call Senate Democrats fellow travellers, the controlled opposition, or useful idiots. Whatever the name, their actions this week allowed for the Republican agenda to move forward unimpeded and allowed Trump to crow, “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing! Took “guts” and courage!”
If there is a silver lining to his failure, Schumer might have opened the door to what the Democratic Party needs: A loud, out in the open, ugly, bloody fight for what the ‘opposition’ will represent.
This process should be unpleasant but it is crucial to not only the Democratic Party, but to the entire pro-democracy movement, that they figure out who the hell they are, what they believe, and who they represent.
You All May Go to Hell, I’m Going to Texas
So said Davy Crockett. I’m not going to Texas (I’ve already lived there) but I am going forward. In my decade of fighting Donald Trump, and five years fighting alongside Democrats, I’ve met hundreds of incredible leaders, activists, and citizens, who care about America and their fellow Americans. Those are the people with whom I will spend my time and energy.
We always knew Washington, DC wasn’t going to save us. Chuck Schumer’s cowardice this week should provide the last example we need. If ‘leaders’ like him won’t strike out in a new direction, there are many of us who will put this mission on our back and carry it forward.
News and Notes:
Please check out my terrific conversation with Run for Something’s Amanda Litman on the latest edition of The Home Front Podcast.
Please read my latest commentary for Project Syndicate, that reflects many of my same opinions on the Democrats’ woes.
What a tangled web we weave…as always Reed your contributions are worthy.