Looks like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t get the memo: Democratic voters (shockingly!) want their leaders to fight back against President Donald Trump instead of surrendering to his autocratic power grab and getting nothing in return.
But in a series of interviews on Tuesday, Schumer pushed back against critics asking him to step down or be replaced, arguing that he remains the “best leader for the Senate.”
“I should be the leader,” he said on “The View.” “I’m sort of the orchestra leader. And I have a lot of talent in that orchestra.”
In an interview with “CBS Mornings,” he added, “We have a lot of good people, but I am the best at winning Senate seats.”
It’s somewhat telling that Schumer made these remarks from the safety of two planned media appearances instead of opting to meet with and hear from the masses. Indeed, Schumer announced Monday that he has canceled a series of events meant to promote his forthcoming book, citing “security concerns.”
A sign announcing that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's scheduled book tour event was postponed is seen in a window of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore on March 17, 2025.
At issue is Schumer’s decision to back a GOP-authored bill to fund the federal government. Not only did he vote in support of the legislation, which all but one House Democrat had refused to endorse, but he encouraged nine other Senate Democrats to join him. In the end, Trump signed Republicans’ detrimental funding bill into law hours before a government shutdown would have taken effect.
To no one’s surprise, Schumer’s choice to back a measure that gives Trump ample leeway on budgetary matters outraged Democratic lawmakers and voters alike. In addition to some Democrats calling on a more progressive lawmaker—such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York—to primary Schumer when he’s up for reelection in 2028, two polls from this Sunday showed that the Democratic Party’s favorability is at an all-time low.
That didn’t stop Schumer from reiterating his past position that shutting down the government would’ve been “10 times worse” than passing the partisan funding bill. He argued on CBS that a shutdown would’ve given Trump and his co-President Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency leeway to cut back on executive agencies they deem nonessential, even though that’s already happening.
Demonstrators gather in front of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore after Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's scheduled book tour event was postponed on March 17, 2025.
“We would have had half the federal government we have now,” Schumer said. “So I thought I did the thing a leader should do: Even when people don’t see the danger around the curve, my job was to alert people to it—and I knew I’d get some bullets.”
Politico reported that Schumer’s outreach to progressive groups following his vote is falling short, so it’s unclear who else besides him thinks he’s best equipped to lead Senate Democrats.
Perhaps Schumer is feeling good because House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, another member of the party’s more moderate wing who previously refused to say whether he had confidence in Schumer, is now singing a different tune. At a press conference in New York on Tuesday, Jeffries said he supports Schumer staying on as Senate minority leader. (This statement from Jeffries isn’t all that shocking, since Democrats are notoriously slow at adopting new blood.)
The election results speak for themselves, though. While Democrats did pick up four seats in 2020 at the end of Trump’s first term in office, they lost four this past year—in addition to losing the White House.
Schumer might insist he’s not going anywhere, but let’s hope the progressive wing of the party pushes back and keeps him on his toes.
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