Checkpoint: I’m Sorry Chuck, it’s You…
In recent weeks the political pot has not only boiled over but the scorched remnants of American democracy have proceeded to catch fire, all with limited opposition from the leaders of the Democratic Party.
Trump has sent US forces to invade Venezuela and force a regime change that breaks international law. ICE agents have shot and killed an American mother of two in Minneapolis and then smeared her a ‘domestic terrorist’.
Event after event happens while the remaining Epstein files have also not been published, despite congressional orders. This is not to mention the President’s threats of military action against Greenland, Colombia, Iran and Cuba that have continued unabated. Oh, and of course in a recent interview, Trump declared the only limit to his power should be his “morality”.
The man who is meant to be one of the leaders against this authoritarian expansion is unfortunately … Chuck Schumer.
Even the high point of his resistance during the government shutdown ended in abject failure. So Trump’s onslaught of cuts to social services, education, support for the green transition and more, is coming to pass, if only a little watered down.
Last month, the senate vote predictably failed to extend ACA subsidies, meaning, barring deals in the new year, 22 million Americans will be left poorer or without insurance at all. The end of the last government shutdown resulted in no major concessions to the Democrats with just a limp promise on a vote in the upper house, a place where Democrats do not hold a majority, let alone a veto-proof one.
It's clear to say that even before recent horrors, the Democratic Party under Schumer remained weak despite Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, public corruption via cryptocurrency, and his own chief of staff describing the administration in scathing terms.
Even to democratic voters, the party looks leaderless in the face of Trump. A recent poll said that 21% of Harris voters answered that they ‘didn’t know’ who is considered the leader of their party. Harris herself achieved a meagre 16% of responses. Chuck himself, of the theoretically powerful Jeffries-Pelosi-Schumer troika, achieved only 7.7%. This was behind ‘nobody’ at 10.5% and barely more than the retired Barack Obama and Hakeem Jeffries with 7.4%.
Favourability of Senator Chuck Schumer
RealCleaPolitics, which aggregates polling data puts Schumer’s net favourability at -22.6!
In no demographic or voter group does his favorability break 46%, even amongst self-identified Democrats or Harris 2024 voters!
Additionally, a lot of recent political energy that has infused the Democratic party has been sourced from figures Schumer has been resistant to collaborating with.
Did he make attempts to incorporate younger progressives like Zohran Mamdani?
No, Schumer declined to endorse him.
It is also hard to find any condemnation of fellow New York Democratic heavyweight Andrew Cuomo’s acceptance of Republican money , nor response to accusations of racism in his campaign, including political advertising. The Cuomo campaign even created an AI-generated ad that showed then candidate Mamdani shovelling rice into his mouth with his hands, and images of African American pimps trafficking white women claiming that Mamdani is the ‘candidate for criminals’ .
Now approaches an even more dangerous moment where Trump’s presidency continues to lead a resurgence of American aggression both at home and abroad. One might think it would be a key moment to castigate the administration in fiery terms, to attempt to rouse the populace into action against unchecked authority. Schumer could highlight the horrendous possibility of causing a new Iraq war with all the death, chaos and destruction that such a collapse in stability could entail for Venezuelans and Americans.
What was Chuck Schumer’s statement on the use of the American forces to “take the oil” in Venezuela?
He objected to the operation by disparaging how Trump did it “without getting the authorization of congress” and that it may create an “endless war…with no barriers and no discussion”.
With such high stakes, it should be shocking that the Senate Minority Leader’s public statements were centered on railing against the ‘bad procedure’ of this coup, rather than the violation of another country’s sovereignty.
But it is not.
Again and again, as American institutions undergo political dynamiting by Trump, Chuck can be found in a forgotten corner crossing his arms, brow furrowed in concern and preparing ‘strongly worded letters’.
Even Schumer’s attempt to restore the War Powers Act and give congress back control over military operations feels weak. Most obviously, it must pass through the House and Senate, BOTH of which have Republican majorities, making it far from guaranteed to pass. While in that case congress should get a say on escalations and military deployments, the Republicans STILL would have a majority in the house and senate for the foreseeable future and thus how effective a bridle it would be, remains in doubt.
Schumer’s ineffectiveness has repeated with the recent shooting of Renee Good. The event, which was captured from multiple angles, makes for horrifying watching, and to be blunt it looks like the definition of murder.
Schumer himself characterized the killing as a gut-punch and called for an investigation. Yet those statements seemed about the limit of his resistance.
But it gets worse.
Trump’s FBI has now taken control of the case which means local police will lose access to materials they might use to investigate the agent or ICE for the killing. A federal defanging of a murder investigation might lead some to assume this is a blatant attempt to cover up a crime.
It might lead some to act.
Senator Chris Murphy of Illinois is one such person. Senator Murphy has proposed sweeping reforms that would ban the wearing of masks by ICE’s armed agents, require an actual warrant for their arrests and it would force Border Patrol agents to remain at the border. This is to be done by using the threat of federal funding lapses that will begin before the end of January.
While it is not enough, it seems like a good idea to begin restraining an organization that has seen so many accusations of human rights abuses and now is killing Americans in the street.
Except Chuck Schumer has already taken another shutdown off the table, so there goes the leverage.
Even when other members of his party try to resist, Schumer will sweep their legs out from under them.
Schumer’s failed resistance during the shutdown also means that ICE’s abuses will continue with triple the funding they had before, and blood will be on Schumer’s hands and upon those of the gerontocracy that let this all happen.
It’s hard to see any reason why such weak leadership should be tolerated as the course of the US continues to spin ever more out of control.
Schumer is weak at resisting Trump and goes so far as to undermine others who do. He has no meaningful popularity or widespread support. He even refuses to engage with popular young politicians that seem to be drawing in actual interest.
Senate Minority Leader Schumer’s mediocrity could be the downfall of this country.
Chuck, you should find the exit, since you damn well never found your spine.
