The Democratic Party is facing a deepening internal divide as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer comes under fire from within his own ranks for backing a Republican-led government funding bill. The decision, framed by critics as a capitulation to Donald Trump and the GOP, has sparked open rebellion among Democratic pundits, lawmakers, and party loyalists.
Schumer’s support for the continuing resolution to fund the government drew immediate backlash. MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend ripped into the New York senator over the weekend, accusing him of folding “like a paper napkin” to Republican demands. On The Weekend Saturday, Sanders-Townsend expressed outrage over the bill’s impact on funding for Washington, D.C., where she resides, and even suggested she was considering changing her party registration to independent in response.
“There’s actually little that the Senate minority leader can say, and the ten Democrats that voted with the Republicans can say, to appease somebody like me,” she said, before sarcastically praising House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whom she referred to as the “High King.”
The backlash wasn’t limited to television commentators. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries notably refused to defend Schumer’s leadership when asked directly on Friday whether it was time for the Senate Democrats to find new leadership. His silence spoke volumes about the growing frustration among House Democrats, who largely opposed the bill.
Meanwhile, CNN’s Van Jones slammed Schumer for what he called a “radical misreading of the room.” Jones argued that Democratic voters expected their leaders to stand firm against Republican priorities—particularly after campaigning in 2024 on the existential threat Trump poses to democracy—but instead, they watched as Schumer and Senate Democrats handed Republicans a major win.
The controversy highlights a growing progressive insurgency within the Democratic Party, reminiscent of the GOP’s Tea Party revolt in the early 2010s. Disillusionment among left-leaning Democrats, who see their leaders as weak in the face of Trump’s resurgence, is reaching a boiling point.
As Sanders-Townsend put it bluntly: “They blew it! The Democratic Tea Party was born the same day that Chuck Schumer took to that podium.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
Trump’s goal is a massive reduction of the size of government, meaning a massive reduction of the civil service. If there was a funding lapse, Trump could have fired anyone he wanted since there was no longer a Congressional appropriation to pay him, and there is a statute (this is a provision of the Antideficiency Act, which dates to 1884). While there is a requirement to keep “essential” employees, who is, or is not, essential, would be up to Trump. Trump’s trying to immediately fire large number of civil servants is running into all sorts of legal problems since he is ignoring civil service rule (Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883), so a government shutdown would give him a way to do so legally. Schumer realized he was being blackmailed by the MAGA Republicans, whereas the WOKE “Progressive Caucus” seemed oblivious to this (typical of them).
If anyone is curious why these laws were passed when they were, the reason is that in 1881 the president was murdered by a disappointed (and probably insane) office seeker who thought he deserved a job under the spoils system. The backlash led to all sorts of reforms.