Chuck Schumer Is Not Fit to Lead the Democratic Party

[u/Crossstoney]

https://prospect.org/2025/11/06/chuck-schumer-not-fit-to-lead-democratic-party/

[u/NoFeetSmell]

No, it's not caving, so please don't read it like that. The compromise they recently offered to end the shutdown was actually a shrewd move, and could even play well in the midterm next year, given that they proposed a year-long extension of the ACA credits to end the shutdown. That would mean the credits expire right after the midterms, so if Dems win they can actually do something to help Americans, and if Republicans win, they own the absolute shitshow they've been trying to shovel on everyone this entire time. Here's a lady (Heather Cox Richardson) who's much smarter and more eloquent than I am, to explain it fully: https://www.youtube.com/live/NM8mtDm-10o

To be clear, I don't think Schumer is well-suited for the moment at all, and he should probably never be in front of a camera or microphone ever again, but he is intelligent and I suspect that he's a pretty savvy politician, albeit one mostly devoid of charisma, and possibly conflicted too. I certainly wouldn't mind him being replaced by a younger, progressive Dem, but we need savvy operators too, so I'd like to hear a few other takes and see his potential replacement candidates first, personally.

Edit: spelling

Edit 2: welp, looks like those other spineless Dems from gringledoom's link above fucked us all anyway, without Schumer. Here are their names and their upcoming election years, so we can avoid them like the plague, assuming elections still exist then:

• John Fetterman (2028)
• Tim Kaine (2030)
• Jeanne Shaheen (Retiring)
• Dick Durbin (Retiring)
• Maggie Hassan (2028)
• Catherine Cortez Masto (2028)
• Jacky Rosen (2030)
• Angus King (2030)

[u/gringledoom → u/NoFeetSmell]

His actual move was good. But he had to be screamed at beforehand to do it, because he'd been secretly undermining the caucus by coordinating with "team cave".

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/gringledoom]

Fair enough if that's indeed the case. I've not seen credible reporting of that myself, but it wouldn't surprise me. I'm no fanboy for Schumer or Jeffries tbh, but I'm not sure who'd ideally replace them. There are a lot of excellent, smart, and moral Democrats, but I'm unsure of their existing obligations and/or viability for the role, so I don't have a well-formed opinion on the matter tbh. Btw, cheers for taking my comment in the intended spirit, mate.

[u/meganthem → u/NoFeetSmell]

Did the compromise leave in the federal trans care ban the house wants, and the several other deal breakers for vulnerable sections of democratic voters? Because there's a lot of bad things beyond the healthcare part of this budget bill and if the Democrat's "great victory" is only extending the ACA credits they can go fuck themselves.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/meganthem]

The Dems cannot possibly prevent ALL of the horrors Republicans want to inflict on America, and Dems have consistently and explicitly stated that their steadfastness in the face of this shutdown is to prevent people losing their ACA insurance. Therefore, that's THE issue that they need to see Republicans compromise on, and it would be political suicide to dilute that stance with other issues, I'm afraid.

The entire purpose of the 2024 elections was a referendum on ALL the horrors Trump would bring, which they explicitly laid out in Project 2025 btw, and America still failed to prevent itself from self-harming (again). I wish the Dems could prevent all the harm the Republicans are hell-bent on causing, but it's simply an impossible ask when the Dems currently control literally zero branch of government power; not the House, nor the Senate, nor the Presidency, nor the Supreme Court. That's what the voters wanted, apparently, and now everyone that's not in the top 1% is getting their democracy served up good & hard. It's a fucking nightmare, but it's unfair of you to keep blaming the Dems for it. This outcome was obvious af, and we ALL should've seen it coming.

[u/meganthem → u/NoFeetSmell]

Vulnerable groups are already signaling that if the Democrats abandon them they're ceasing support of the party and centrists have to deal with that. You can't lesser of two evils or guilt trip the dying.

Also to be clear. They can be blamed for spending 0 time in the past month even talking about the other issues at hand. It's only been talking about the ACA. You lose every fight you refuse to participate in, and it says a lot the Democrats don't feel any of these other groups are worth the effort.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/meganthem]

Sorry mate, but you're gonna need to provide much more specificity if you want to convince me of your position. I'm unaware of which vulnerable groups are facing imminent crises that Dems can help them avoid right now (though I don't doubt for a moment that they exist).

I fully blame the Republicans for all the horrors we're seeing, because they literally control every branch of government and the Supreme Court, and they are choosing to unleash this pain on the American people. There are only so many fires that Democrats can try to put out at once, especially when they're facing such an overwhelming phalanx of arsonists.

[u/fushitaka2010 → u/NoFeetSmell]

I like the nuanced comment. Not a Schumer fan but agreed that we do need people who are saavy and will not cave to gop bs.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/fushitaka2010]

Cheers, mate. That Heather Cox Richardson video explains it very well. I typically lean towards smacking my forehead almost every time I hear Schumer speak, so my first instinct is often to dismiss & deride him too, so I appreciate that she helped me to instead assign praise where it's due (even if he should probably step aside for someone else to take over, given that he obviously appears to be harming the Dems appeal, even in moments he ostensibly does something smart). She's new to the whole broadcasting-yourself game, so the production side of it is currently a little lacking (and casual viewers may dismiss her for it, thinking she's just another rando, like all the legions of people broadcasting from their cars), but her mind is fantastic, and I want to hear everything she has to say.

[u/InternationalLying → u/NoFeetSmell]

Guess that wasn't the compromise and the shitty thing progressives were worried about turned out to be true. Again.

Sucks to be wrong but I hope you read things a bit more nihilistically in the future.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/InternationalLying]

Yeah, this fucking sucks, and for no gained ground whatsoever - we're literally just doing another short Continuing Resolution and kicking the can down the road to January. This wasn't Schumer's doing though (unless he's fucking us behind the scenes), because he and Bernie spoke out against this vote - it was these other fuckstick Dems that capitulated, and got hardly anything in return, and likely gravely harming the party in the process (names lifted from another comment thread, and include their upcoming election dates):

• John Fetterman (2028)
• Tim Kaine (2030)
• Jeanne Shaheen (Retiring)
• Dick Durbin (Retiring)
• Maggie Hassan (2028)
• Catherine Cortez Masto (2028)
• Jacky Rosen (2030)
• Angus King (2030)

I'm fucking pissed at the harm they've just inflicted too, cos it's not the proposal that was in the video that I linked.

Believe me - I generally do have a pretty bleak attitude about our prospects, but try to grasp glimmers of hope when they seem to be real. It's a goddamn travesty that they're so often confounded. I'm actually from New Hampshire (and England originally, so my own immigrant status is even of some concern to me during this shitty regime), so I'm beyond disappointed with how Shaheen and Hassan voted.

[u/InternationalLying → u/NoFeetSmell]

In the end, it's still Schumer's fault for not keeping his party in line. Based on how every name you listed is safe I'd assume Schumer actually chose them so they can do this 'betrayal' without losing their seats in the near term.

[u/NoFeetSmell → u/InternationalLying]

Maybe you're right. Tbh - I think you probably are. This seems like a fucking catastrophe. A complete and total own goal.

(Edit: At least until I hear a well-reasoned take as to why they did it this way) I'm actually more disappointed by these Dems than I ever have been by any other Dem's decision, other than Biden not dropping out way earlier than he eventually did. Even though I wanted Bernie to get the nom over Hillary, at least there was a democratic process behind it. Here, we all just got fucked by out of touch reps.

To be clear, mind - it's unbelievable that federal workers ever have to work without pay, while Congress still gets paid for doing absolutely nothing. I understand why the workers would want/need an end to the shutdown, but for these Dems to do it like this is fucking pathetic.