'Looks Like He Rolled Over': Democratic Strategist Reacts To Schumer Backing CR

2 days ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," Democratic Strategist Don Calloway responded to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) backing the CR.

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Transcript

00:00Ever since November 5th, you've been seeing the headlines, Democrats in disarray, there's

00:05an identity crisis within the Democratic Party, and Democrats really seemingly struggled to

00:11find their footing since they lost the White House, the House, and the Senate in November.

00:16And there seems to be a disagreement with the messaging and how to go forward.

00:20And I feel that this really played out last week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's

00:24180 on supporting the continuing resolution that averted a government shutdown.

00:29To start off the conversation, what do you think of his decision?

00:34Chuck Schumer was in an almost impossible position, let's be clear about that.

00:39He felt, as leader of the Democrats in the Senate, you have to remember that his primary

00:43job is to reclaim the majority two years from now.

00:46And his vote was based on the notion that he was genuinely concerned that Democrats

00:50would be blamed for shutting down the government at a time when Democrats' approval rating

00:54is already at an all-time low.

00:56I get that.

00:57But let's be clear, whether or not he voted for the continuing resolution, Republicans

01:01are always going to blame Democrats for shutting down the government if he did that, right?

01:05And so there's no real way of getting around that.

01:08I would also say that I understand his vote, because his vote saved $1 billion from being

01:13cut from Washington, D.C.'s public funding.

01:16I mean, that's schools, that's trash collection, basic civil services for the almost 1 million

01:22residents of Washington, D.C., who are taxed without representation in this country.

01:26And so he did save Washington, D.C. from an extraordinarily detrimental potential budget

01:32cut.

01:33That said, Democrats around the country, as well as those interested in democracy globally,

01:38were looking for the Democratic Party to put up some kind of fight, to show that they have

01:42some relevance in what's happening right now in congressional processes.

01:46And I think Chuck Schumer didn't meet that moment.

01:48What I think is that this provides an incredible opportunity for new leadership to emerge under

01:54the mantle of the Democratic Party.

01:55There's an internal opportunity for a true liberal champion to step up, somebody like

01:59a Raphael Warnock or maybe even a Cory Booker.

02:02But I also think there's an external opportunity, both for somebody to primary Chuck Schumer

02:07from the left, but also really just for the next generation of Democratic Party leadership

02:12to emerge.

02:13And I suspect that that leadership will emerge from someone who is outside of contemporary

02:18or even traditional American politics in general.

02:21The former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly said something along the lines of, well, I

02:27never give away anything for free.

02:29And that is what it looks like Chuck Schumer did.

02:32Chuck Schumer defended his position, just like you did, by saying he had two choices

02:37and they were nearly impossible.

02:38But averting the government shutdown was the better option.

02:42In your opinion, you're saying he didn't meet the moment.

02:45What could he have done?

02:46What do you think Democrats, with their approval rating really in the gutter right now, should

02:50have just went through and shut down the government?

02:54You know, I am no fan of President Trump and all the things we're seeing out of his administration.

02:58But if you observe from the last 10 years of the Trump administration, particularly

03:03this two months of 2.0, he is a dealmaker.

03:07This was Chuck Schumer's opportunity to try to wheel and deal.

03:10Nancy Pelosi is right.

03:11And it's easy, let's be clear, it's easy for Nancy Pelosi to say because she wasn't in

03:15the decision-making seat at the time.

03:16But it does feel like Democrats, particularly Senate Democrats, who is the all-powerful

03:21body, extracted pretty much nothing out of this.

03:24Let's be clear, you don't want the government to shut down because you don't want the Trump

03:28administration and DOJ doing whatever they do without Congress and governmental bodies

03:32being in session to be able to watch and at least report.

03:36But it does feel like Chuck Schumer really extracted nothing for a vote that effectively

03:41looks like he rolled over.

'Looks Like He Rolled Over': Democratic Strategist Reacts To Schumer Backing CR

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