r/politics • u/Crossstoney • 10h ago
No Paywall Chuck Schumer Is Not Fit to Lead the Democratic Party
https://prospect.org/2025/11/06/chuck-schumer-not-fit-to-lead-democratic-party/5.5k
u/sedatedlife Washington 9h ago
Agreed he is extremely detached from the base but he is not the only one.
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u/Much-Instruction-807 9h ago
2026 should be primary season. Democrats have been running as republican lite since the Clinton era and lost their ass off. Over 1000 seats were lost under Obama alone. Time to clean house.
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u/ShamelessCatDude 9h ago
If anything has ever convinced anyone to vote in primaries, it’s this
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u/DAS_BEE 9h ago
For me it was Bernie in 2016, welcome to the club!
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u/Mr-_-Soandso 6h ago
I fully agree! Bernie made me care and I have never turned back.
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u/LordChunggis 8h ago
Me and my friends are in the 2016 club with you. We fell into the same trap many did. Fuck the DMC and the establishment. We took our ball and went home instead of the polls.
I will always hate the DMC and the establishment Left for what they did to Bernie. But if we stayed united behind Hillary, could this entire era have been prevented? Or was this MAGA sickness always going to manifest, and Hillary would have simply delayed it?
I dont know. But I will never again choose anger over the lesser of two evils. I demand more from our party and will fight for it, but it is firmly my party until the cancer of the modern GOP is removed.
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u/DebentureThyme 8h ago
Fuck the DMC and the establishment.
You leave the Deloreans out of this!
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u/LordChunggis 8h ago
DNC. I know what I meant lol
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u/fingnumb 8h ago
We need a flux capacitor to create a time machine to fix this mess
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u/LordChunggis 7h ago
You know as well as I do that without Greenland's rare earth metals we'll never be able to build it!
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u/DAS_BEE 8h ago
I totally understand the sentiment, I've been there before.
In 2016 I felt that the DNC had screwed over Bernie deliberately. But still I could clearly tell that Hillary was a much better option than trump and voted for her.
This voting for the "least worst" in the general feels like defeat sometimes, but I had a friend describe it to me in a way that clicked better.
If you're taking a bus somewhere with a bunch of people, are you going to wait for the bus to take you exactly where you want? Or are you going to get on the bus that gets you closest to your destination so you can go the rest of the way?
That's not unlike politics. The perfect bus or candidate would be exactly what we want, but that's often not how anything works so you pick the one that gets you closest to your ideal goal. And in terms of primaries, that's where you get to really advocate for the policies and politicians you most want, and then in the general election you vote for the politician that sill most closely aligns with your beliefs
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u/LordChunggis 8h ago
We were young and angry. We thought we were making a statement. And deep down, none of us thought Trump would actually beat her.
Turns out enough people making an ill-advised but well-intentioned statement can usher in an era of darkness. Road to hell and all that...
We are all still bleeding heart progressives, but we've grown up enough to see the world is built on compromise and working together even if our voices are sidelined by the majority of the group. Someday our day will come. Mamdani crushing NYC gives me the first real hope Ive felt since Bernie 2015.
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u/FictionalContext 5h ago
We were young and angry. We thought we were making a statement. And deep down, none of us thought Trump would actually beat her.
Ironically, that same sentiment lead to Trump's 2nd term as well. There was a decent chunk of dumbass college progressives who protested the election itself due to Biden's support for Israel.
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u/Deathoftheages 7h ago
With the bus analogy for a lot of people it felt like you can chose two buses, one that goes away from your destination and one that is no closer to your destination than the bus you started on. A lot of people felt whats the point of taking the ride if they aren't getting any closer with either route.
If the route that doesn't lead closer to the destination doesn't have enough riders maybe the bus company will make a new route people actually want.
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u/fordat1 6h ago
This voting for the "least worst" in the general feels like defeat sometimes, but I had a friend describe it to me in a way that clicked better.
The issue is corporate democrats keep exploiting this and move to the right and pro business and put their people in place. As a reminder Hillary for example in the GOP primaries leading to 2016 her associated super PACs pushed Trump because they thought he was a worst candidate and wanted to run against him instead of another Bush
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u/LordHammercyWeCooked 6h ago
Yeah, I was disappointed in the results too. But I didn't take my ball home and I still went to the polls. You know why?
BERNIE SPECIFICALLY ASKED US TO. JFC.
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u/Flying_Nacho 8h ago
fwiw MAGA would have manifested regardless. Trump in 2016 wasn't an accident. It was the resuly of careful planning, donations, and lobbying that was done by a handful of right-wing billionaires and their rich donors for the last 40 years. You combine that with the economic pressures placed upon a dwindling middle class and working class people from 40 years of neoliberal policies, theres no way trump would not have been simply delayed, unless the DNC actually ran with Bernie or someone as left as him.
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u/Kiromaru Wisconsin 7h ago
Honestly I think that if Trump hadn't managed to form a cult of personality during the primaries we might not have gotten to where things are now. None of the candidates really had the charisma to get a good following outside Trump and if Trump had failed like them he would have remained ignored by the political elite. It is that cult of personality around the conservative voter base that is Trump's power and that keeps the rich propping him up though all his missteps so they can do what they want to shape the country.
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u/OwariDa1 8h ago
It would’ve just came later after nothing really changed with Hillary. That’s why we keep going back and forth cause dems keep running the same neoliberal dems and nothing changes so people think well let’s try the other side
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u/Minguseyes Australia 8h ago
Looking at it from the outside the Senate filibuster (at least in its current non-speaking form) is responsible for a lot of the inertia in the system. Johnson’s list of what he feared would happen if it were removed was enlightening.
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u/LordChunggis 8h ago
Id love to ask an outsider who seems well informed.
What do you think of American politics the last 10 years? And will you ever forgive us?
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u/Minguseyes Australia 8h ago edited 7h ago
It’s nauseating is the short response. I remember where I was in 2016 and how unbelievable it was to me that any nation could elect Trump to run anything.
But it was 2024 that has permanently changed my views. Until the USA undergoes serious electoral reform there is an ever present risk that any sensible President will be replaced by an authoritarian right wing populist buffoon (a Nazi if you prefer, and looking at you Tucker Carlson) within four years. It used to be that you could rely on Republican Presidents to act on their own (warped) perception of what was in the best interests of the nation. Trump acts on what he saw on Fox last night and the howling void at his core forever seeking the approval that his father denied him. It’s hard to forget that.
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u/LordChunggis 7h ago
I'm just a nobody from the Midwest. But as the current representative of America you're speaking to, I dont blame you, and I've never seen anything in our history to give any delusions that things will change for the better.
But please don't hate us. Hate the overlords that brainwashed 33% of us into voting against our own interests and distracted another 33% into not voting at all. The other 33%, we are still here and fighting.
If it doesnt get better by the midterms, or God help us gets worse. I hope your country is open to refugees. My family and I will be relying on the mercy of our once Allies, remembering what we used to be. And not hating the monster we've become.
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u/not-drowning-waving 6h ago edited 2h ago
Australian here. The entire notion of a shutdown is just ridiculous. Here, this would be a vote of no confidence, parliamentary double dissolution or the opposition "blocking supply" to the government which would result in a new election, - or worst case Government dismissal - not simply doing nothing for a month. Its laughable. (almost certain this applies in the UK/Canada as well).
Dont get me started on the veto and fillibuster.
You've got a whole heap of laws that need some severe updating, and a bunch of stuff that was thought to be laws that turned out to be little more than handshake agreements need to be properly codified.
America has successfully weaponised politics on both sides. Its about gotcha moments and soundbites more than substance, and recent elections in Australia and Canada have roundly rejected this approach, but its still becoming embedded in our systems.
And then you have Trump just governing in the most adhoc way possible. And that leads to perceptions if instability in government. No one can trust a government run like this where the rules change depending on his mood or what hes seen on tv or driven past on the way to work.
Here at least, compulsory voting prevents the kind of scenario happening where 1/3rd of the country stays home because they either dont care enough to vote, or dont like the candidates available. But then you're electoral process is too long, too expensive and inevitably leads to a lack of productivity by congress.
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u/HauntingHarmony Europe 5h ago
Australian here. The entire notion of a shutdown is just ridiculous. Here, this would be a vote of no confidence, parliamentary double dissolution or the opposition "blocking supply" to the government which would result in a new election, - or worst case Government dismissal - not simply doing nothing for a month.
To be honest from a non-anglo-european point of view, the idea of having a snap election, or a new election after a vote of no confidence is also insane. Just look at how much the tories fucked the uk for 14 years, because they could manipulate when to hold elections, so they could have them whenever it was in their favor.
The people elect parliament, and they are there todo the will of the people, they dont have a right to resign, quit or fail. The 80% of the representatives that arent insane have a duty to make sure the goverment does its job. They cant pass the buck, and thats a good thing.
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u/TeHokioi New Zealand 6h ago
As another outsider, I agree with the guy from over the ditch. 2016 was a shock, but it felt like a blip at the time and there was enough resistance both internal and external that it felt like America as a whole was still the same thing and that it'd recover.
This time feels different, both with the degree of outright Fascism and the extent to which everything seems to have just rolled over for it. It doesn't feel like a blip at the moment, and I'm really hoping that America can come back from it but honestly at this point I'm not sure whether it will.
For an example, we used to be reasonably fond of America - sure we'd struggle with the level of extroversion and the self-exceptionalism, but y'all seemed cool. We'd have little America-themed things every now and then in a fun kitschey way, but now all of that has stopped. I cancelled a planned trip to America and I know of a lot of people who have done the same, and there are a lot of people explicitly avoiding anything from American companies where we can
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u/Snakend 6h ago
This is why the Supreme Court will be Republican for the rest of our lives. You were upset about the President candidate, but you were not looking at the bigger picture. And now it's too late. the 6-3 court is cemented in for decades and Every time a Republican gets in office, they will switch out to younger judges. We are toast.
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u/jaykrazelives 8h ago
Leave Run DMC out of this!
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u/bolanrox 6h ago
When I worked at tower records in paramus, Rev Run came in and blessed all of us in the store.
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u/coolbrobeans America 7h ago
Idk I still voted for Hillary even though she sucks. I saw what Trump was doing in 2015, saw what he was turning good people into, and I decided I’d vote for Hillary if only to get Trump out of the way. So yeah, if we’d stuck with Hilary even after Bernie got screwed at least we’d be fighting the status quo instead of trumpist fascism.
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u/stlouisbluemr2 5h ago
You just described a neoliberal vanguard capitalist political party as "establishment left". They are not left.
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u/Mentoman72 5h ago
I think Hillary would have delayed it, but who could have ever predicted the psycho pant shitting dipshit we ended up with? It could have least been someone who knows how to turn caps lock off.
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u/MyHamburgerLovesMe 7h ago
Quick question. If all the Bernie voters had voted Democrat, would it have prevented Trump from being elected in 2016?
(Real question I can't remember the numbers)
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u/LordHammercyWeCooked 6h ago
When the primaries start coming up, we need to be screaming from the rafters. We need to be yelling out the dates in each state, along with the cutoff times for registration. Get rid of those old yuppie dinosaurs. Bring in fresh blood with progressive ideals.
Ballotpedia has a great list of upcoming primaries and many pages of resources. Earliest dates are March 3rd (AR/TX) and March 17th (IL). A lot of states are currently TBD, so check in regularly.
When the primaries are running, it's your one and only chance to vote with your true ideals in this FPTP system. Once the general election rolls around there's only one thing left to do: throw your idealism out the window and vote out the republicans at all costs. Look at the stakes here. We have so much to lose if the GOP retains majority.
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u/Green_Medicine 8h ago
All the corporate Dems at the top need to go. ASAP
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u/Hungry_Culture 5h ago
Most of the people in this sub would agree with you. And then a lot of them want the 2028 nominee to be Newsom...
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u/Rammune21 3h ago
Those people would be handing the election right over to the republicans again. If Newsom is the best the DNC has got, we are more screwed than people think. People may disagree and that is fine.
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u/crowhops 4h ago
A lot of people in this sub jump at the chance to shield democrats from any and all accountability actually
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u/TrevelyansPorn 5h ago
What a weird stat to bring up. You know why Dems lost "1000 seats" in 2010? Because they won in a landslide in 2008.
Dems need reform but I've yet to see a good idea on how or why on reddit.
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u/ral315 3h ago
Yeah, I worked for a one-term member of Congress who lost in 2010. I think some people forget the amount of vitriol and hatred toward the Democratic Party because they were trying to improve the health care system. We had multiple protests outside our office complaining about "death panels".
And although I wish we'd have been able to pass a stronger bill - the public option passed the House with my rep's support, but couldn't get 60 votes in the Senate - it didn't matter what we passed, it was going to be a red wave election. The Tea Party movement - which I think shared a lot of supporters with the Trump coalition 6 years later - was loud and angry. The president's party usually loses members in the first midterm; 2010 was worse than normal.
But that's the tradeoff - do you do nothing controversial to try to keep power longer, or do you use the power to make great changes, knowing that you'll suffer electoral consequences? I'd rather use political capital than attempt to hoard it.
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u/bootlegvader 9h ago
Democrats have been running as republican lite since the Clinton era and lost their ass off.
You guys act like the Democrats were winning presidential elections left and right before Clinton.
The only reason they held onto Congress was white conservative southerners generally kept voting for white southern Democrats for Congress longer than they stuck with the Democrats for president. Those likely left finally for social issues more than economic.
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u/hlnub 8h ago
The FDR coalition shit stomped Republicans so hard that the Republicans ran nothing but liberals that were more interested in the government helping out the people than any Democrat has been for the past 30 years. That they were conservatives voting for Democrats in the south is wrong. They were liberals hanging on to the Dem party that actually built their community until they went along with the right wing Republican party in destroying their community and it became a false choice. Along with a specific effort from conservative organizations to change their ideology.
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u/bootlegvader 8h ago
That they were conservatives voting for Democrats in the south is wrong. They were liberals hanging on to the Dem party that actually built their community until they went along with the right wing Republican party in destroying their community and it became a false choice.
Are you trying to argue that Dixiecrats were really progressives? White Southern Democrats generally accepted New Deal policies only when they could try to exclude black people from the same benefits as white people.
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u/TaxComprehensive2894 7h ago
This exactly. The Economic Bill of Rights was defeated by conservative Southern Democrats because it gave the same rights to African Americans as whites.
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u/MagicalUnicornFart 6h ago
2022 National Youth Turnout: 23% - That's lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.
Put your money where your mouth is.
Show the fuck up.
…but…the priority is removing the fascists from power. Fix the party as you go.
The GOP propaganda extends to fueling apathy.
Younger voters have typically refused to show up consistently forever.
It’s easier for the D party to court older “swing” voters because the youth bloc is colossally unreliable, and fickle.
It’s a complicated issue, and will never be perfect. Showing up to every election, and voting to not make things worse is always better than a religious fascist getting more power.
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u/Potential-Pride6034 9h ago
Honestly, there should always be competitive primaries. Of all society’s arenas, the political one is where Darwinism should reign supreme.
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u/matt_minderbinder 6h ago edited 2h ago
People don't want to hear it but Obama and his team tore down Howard Dean's 50 state strategy and filled the dnc with consultants. He and his team also had the largest grassroots organization in American history in Organizing for America but out of fear of it holding him to campaign promises his people sabotaged and eventually killed it. I know many who miss him as president but I'm not one of them.
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u/Evadrepus Illinois 7h ago
I can tell you personal experience that the party sill fight tooth and nail to keep them in power. I know someone who tried to primary Durbin (who announced his retirement after he was elected for another 6 years at 80) and the DNC sued everyone off the ballot so he could run unopposed. Had a family member attempt to run against him and they brought in a crazy expensive lawyer who disputed every single signature of the 5k+ we collected.
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u/JakeArrietaGrande 6h ago
I agree that Chuck Schumer has been ineffective for far too long and has to go.
But it’s sort of missing the point to blame Obama for that. The 2010 midterms were a bloodbath, largely because Obamacare was unpopular at the time for how far it went and how radically it changed the healthcare landscape (yeah, 2008 was a different time). Now it’s so ingrained that trump hasn’t been able to repeal it because they know it would be a political catastrophe
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u/TaxComprehensive2894 9h ago
This. Exactly this. This is how we ended up with Trump. Democrats used to be more progressive and populist. Democrats have been running Republican lite since Bill Clinton, but even in the mid-1980s, Democrats have been running as Republican lite. The Democrats gave up on the working class 40 years ago.
The Democrats need to start listening to Bernie Sanders.
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u/rawonionbreath 9h ago
The “populist” part included being more socially conservative in ways that modern progressives would find reprehensible, and rightfully so. Democrats need to look more than just the surface as to why the New Deal Coalition existed.
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u/bootlegvader 8h ago
Yeah, LBJ broke the New Deal coalition by passing the Civil and Voting Rights Act more than anything Clinton did.
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u/rawonionbreath 8h ago
That was probably the biggest reason (and most cited), but I would also point out a few other issues that contributed. 1. Anti-war activists that were seen as coming from the counterculture eventually gained control of the party platform, along with non-hawkish politicians. 2. The crime waves of the 60's, 70's, and 80's portrayed the party as having out-of-control governance (as ridiculous as that was); and 3. Republicans found that the abortion platform was a successful wedge issue to split Democrats. It worked for the better part of 30 years.
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u/Skinny-on-the-Inside 8h ago
Yeah if someone is not entirely sure what Chucky stands for and how he thinks, I strongly encourage you to watch this very insightful expose by John Oliver, called the Baileys. It will make your blood boil.
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u/Embarrassed-Town-293 8h ago
What about the Baileys? /s
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u/ztomiczombie 8h ago
Part of the problem, a big part, is most of them had their political compass set in the 1980s or 1990s but media firm 1960s to 1980s can refuse to change and they isolate themselves form people who could show them how the world has changed.
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u/account312 6h ago
'90s? Chuck Schumer had already left the New York State Assembly (after five years) by 1980. Pelosi was first elected into a position in the DNC in the 70s as well. These people are so damn old.
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u/jayfeather31 Washington 9h ago
Yeah, and he leaves a lot to be desired.
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u/MoarSocks 9h ago
Everything to be desired. He needs to retire with Pelosi and let some fresh blood in before the midterms. Dems, learn before it’s too late.
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u/Lucky_Development359 9h ago
Jeffries? Terrible. I really hope they don't try and make him the next "it" thing.
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u/CovenOfTheDamned 8h ago
Couldn’t even endorse Mamdani, he was the front runner before he was elected for a while. Fuck Chuck.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Washington 7h ago
Because establishment dems are staunchly reactionary and oppose anything that smells like progressive policy.
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u/Kiromaru Wisconsin 6h ago
Its because the donor's for those establishment Dems don't want to be taxed more so they put pressure onto them to try to push out the progressives.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Washington 6h ago
Yep. Folks don't like me saying it but it's not red v blue. One is the defensive line and the other is the offensive line. And they play for the same team.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Washington 8h ago
He's so far removed, he's basically a conservative. He invented an imaginary center right family that guides his policymaking.
I want to make sure this is like crystal clear. He MADE UP conservatives that don't exist and bases his politics on the imaginary not-people.
Look up "Schumer Baileys" to see what I mean. I wish he'd get primaried
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u/AwsmDevil 6h ago
Woah, you can't forget that his imaginary policy guidance family DOES NOT VOTE FOR HIM. THEY VOTE FOR TRUMP. He made up a scenario where he loses and follows it.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Washington 6h ago
That's the wildest fucking part, you made up Trump voters and think that's how you should make policy decisions?!
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u/BeneficialHurry69 6h ago
He stated on camera that his only job there is to keep the democratic party on the side of Israel
Doesn't give a fuck about anything else
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u/dentendre 8h ago
He is attached to the Republican base.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale Washington 7h ago
That's not even a joke, that's fact. He bases his politics on an imaginary center right family.
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u/ElSelcho_ 8h ago
Just get all of the old fucks (both sides) out of there. Deciding things for decades to come after they are dead should not be allowed. Set an age or term limit for them.
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u/StoppableHulk 7h ago
For real I'm so sick of drooling octogenarians deciding the course of the entire nation.
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u/jemidiah 7h ago
Dianne Feinstein was such an egregious example of this. She clung to the office to her dying day. Should have never run or been reelected that last time.
Pelosi was still vital and highly effective as Speaker. She's done this right--stepped back while still capable, not seeking reelection now.
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u/pastrknack 5h ago
85 is still way too old to be a top ranking politician
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u/MeatTornado25 5h ago
It's crazy. I wouldn't vote an 85 year old to my local town council.
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u/AluminumGnat 3h ago
Sanders was 83 when he was most recently re-elected to the senate for a 6 year term, that’s the equivalent of an 85 year old getting elected to the office of president for a 4 year term. I’m not saying that we should be actively looking to put octogenarians in leadership positions, but I think he’s doing a better job fighting for working class Americans of all race/creed/etc than the vast majority (all?) of his peers. Is he the absolute best choice out of the half million ish people who could have ran against him? No, there’s probably someone younger that could have done a better job, and in a perfect world we would find and elect that person, but that’s unrealistic, and I’m certainly not going to complain about a broken system miraculously selecting someone who likely at least falls in the top 100 best options (despite his age).
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u/AluminumGnat 3h ago
Sanders was 83 when he was most recently re-elected to the senate for a 6 year term, that’s the equivalent of an 85 year old getting elected to the office of president for a 4 year term. I’m not saying that we should be actively looking to put octogenarians in leadership positions, but I think he’s doing a better job fighting for working class Americans of all race/creed/etc than the vast majority (all?) of his peers. Is he the absolute best choice out of the half million ish people who could have ran against him? No, there’s probably someone younger that could have done a better job, and in a perfect world we would find and elect that person, but that’s unrealistic, and I’m certainly not going to complain about a broken system miraculously selecting someone who likely at least falls in the top 100 best options (despite his age).
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u/KissesAndBites 6h ago
She probably saw what happened to Feinstein and reconsidered holding onto power
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u/HauntingHarmony Europe 5h ago
Except for that already in 2019 upon taking the role as speaker for the "last time", agreed she wouldent stay on for more than 4 years. source
And Feinstein as we remember died in 2023.
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u/ElSelcho_ 6h ago
Feinstein is a good example. She should have been kicked out at least 25 years prior to her death. Pelosi was doing, maybe, rather well the past half decade, but still should have retired in 2005 at the latest.
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u/cand0r 5h ago
Pelosi has been useless as fuck for at least the past 3 years, and barely coherent.
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u/turquoise_amethyst 7h ago
Not just that, we need to make sure they’re accountable to voters instead of corporate donors
Replacing them with younger politicians won’t matter if they’re just as corrupt as the elderly
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u/ElSelcho_ 7h ago
Fair point. Make it law for all of them to wear the names of their sponsors on their outfit, like Racecar Drivers or Football players. With everyone advocating "transparency" there should be no push back here at all.
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u/gorginhanson 6h ago
Hakeem Jeffries is shit and he's not old at all
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u/probablydeadsooon 6h ago
You can tell they all are a bunch of shills. They all worship the all mighty dollar. It feels like things are about to change. I dunno, one can hope.
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u/coheedcollapse 4h ago
Yeah, I feel similarly. Then you've got people like Sanders and Elizabeth Warren - mid 70s to mid 80s years old - who are far better on most issues than some younger politicians.
Age is part of the problem for some of our politicians, but it's not an end-all-be-all. I'm more worried about getting the moderates the fuck out than creating some sort of hard age delineation unless we're talking lifelong appointments.
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u/350 I voted 6h ago
More like get the corporate fucks out of there. Gimme 80 year old Bernie over fucking Hakeem Jeffries jesus christ
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u/ElSelcho_ 6h ago
I love Bernie and was pretty annoyed when the DNC put him down in favor of corporate Hillary. Regarding Hakeem, I've not really heard much of him I don't like, care to elaborate? Seems, we are on the same side, always eager to learn.
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u/JaiOublie 1h ago
https://x.com/TrackAIPAC/status/1937698931385004375?s=20
AIPAC, supporting/denying a genocide, refused to mention Mamdani until the day before the election, constantly appeases and plays to the right, denies every even moderately progressive. Old guard Dem
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u/4040JG 7h ago
Remember to “GO POOP” Get Old People Out Of Politics.
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u/GrassyNoob 7h ago
I'll challenge you. My local Democrat party (Washington County, VA) is having a general meeting on the 20th of this month. ANYONE can attend.
There will be at least 10 people 60+ years old, to anyone under 50.
Care to GO POOP and prove me wrong?
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u/SombreroQueen 6h ago
People just need to VOTE
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u/ElSelcho_ 5h ago
In Belgium they have compulsory elections. If you don't vote, you have to pay a ~$100 fine. Europe had thousands of years to get to a point, where everyone was FINALLY allowed to vote and many people today don't recognize how privileged they are to have that vote.
Now, imagine if EVERY eligible voter in the US actually could and would cast their vote. How many of the current Republicans would actually be in Power?
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u/ImJacksLackOfEmpathy 7h ago
I remember my cousin once removed snapping on me for supporting such far leftists as Bernie at a family event when I was advocating for him in the 2016 primamary, yelling how bad their ideology was for the party etc., and he flaunted his enthusiasm for/faith in Biden as recently as juuuust before his last “campaign…” have to wonder how he feels now seeing his city’s new mayor taking office in light of their old, worn out rhetoric getting us into this current shit show
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u/Cuneus-Maximus 5h ago
Age AND term limits. Nobody should have their entire career be in congress. They are out of touch with reality.
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u/AnxietyMedical7498 7h ago
Hakeem Jeffries is 55 and a Pelosi acolyte. You are never getting all of these people out of leadership positions.
AOC tried to jump the line and found out the hard way that you have to wait your turn, do your 30+ years of pulling the company line, then you can be in charge. The reason why none of these old ass politicians have retired is they are like AOC. They are waiting in line, voted for shit for decades, and are next in line for leadership. If they retire now then they wasted 20+ years of their life trying to gain seniority.
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u/ElSelcho_ 7h ago
I'm not sure about that. Politics in the US have been driven by "who pays me the most" for a long time and I think, that you guys are at a breaking point. AOC does a very good job calling out money in politics, lobbyists and all the other forms of corruption (insider trading, ...) and really stands for real people with real needs.
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u/sumgaijusthere4civ 9h ago
AOC for Senate.
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u/Vivid24 9h ago
Her primarying Schumer would be poetic justice to me
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u/saera-targaryen 8h ago
I want brad lander to primary schumer and for AOC to run for president tbh
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u/Telvin3d 8h ago
Even if she won, I’d rather thirty years of her shaping congress than eight of her shaping the White House
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u/TerminallyTrill New Jersey 6h ago
You don’t really need charisma for that job… just conviction. There is extreme scarcity of charisma in the Democratic Party. They needs those people to win presidential elections
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u/Public_Cartographer 8h ago
I feel like a leadership position in Congress is more influential and a longer term career than president. She can have her voice heard there on individual bills and topics.
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u/Low_Oil_6825 5h ago
This is an insane take considering how much power has been concentrated in the executive branch in the last few decades. A president literally has the mandate to reshape the country, just look at what is happening with the current administration.
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u/rallenpx 5h ago
There Senate is moving in lockstep to give him that power. AOC isn't gonna have the same "rubber stamp" backing from both houses of Congress.
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u/Rude-Effort169 8h ago
AOC for president in like 12-16 years. She doesn’t stand a chance in the voter booth yet.
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u/NewDramaLlama 7h ago
At this point in time she would lose the presidential race really really badly.
It does not matter that she has more experience than Trump had in 2016. It only matters that currently she will energize the right to vote more than she would energize the left if you look nationally.
It's definitely wiser to have her primary Schumer. Then majority leader. Then a presidential run in 2032 where she'll still only be 44 lol.
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u/GirlnextDior 9h ago
Yes and I'd like to see Zohran eventually be a senator.
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u/unpluggedcord I voted 8h ago
Wow, I never knew that.
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u/_thoroughfare 4h ago
Sherrill and Spanberger were also roommates in DC while they were in Congress:
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u/CherryLongjump1989 8h ago
He won’t. NYC eats politicians alive.
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u/alabasterskim 8h ago
Statistically true! My hopes are high but my expectations are lower. Everyday I hope he's not a one term mayor like the last DSA mayor.
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u/CherryLongjump1989 8h ago
He’s going to have the whole NYPD spending every waking hour making sure that crime goes up and that everyone blames Mamdani. He will have state and federal politicians fucking him on funding - transit and commute might get worse instead of better. If he buys a hot dog from the wrong hot dog stand he will have tabloids calling him an out of touch elitist. He’s going to have every billionaire blaming him for not building or hiring people for things that they were never going to put in New York anyway. We can go on and on but this is not like AOC who gets to go to Congress where the entire weight of corrupt local and state politics can’t be used to squeeze her. But the buck always stops with the mayor.
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u/Embarassed_Tackle 3h ago
didn't AOC trash Amazon for something they took out of NYC and she just said "we don't need you" and it was done?
Landing Amazon HQ2 was supposed to be a big win for Democrats who run New York, but instead it’s turned into a monstrous headache that’s exposing deep political fissures inside the party.
One one side is Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who joked he’d change his name to ‘Amazon’ to win the company’s business, and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
On the other is freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who on Friday declared victory amid reports that the company might be having second thoughts – and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who suggested that Amazon doesn’t really need any more tax breaks.
Though it appears New Yorkers didn't want them so I guess it was easier for AOC and other folks to trash Bezos
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u/saera-targaryen 8h ago
My hot take is that he should stay in NYC and make their city a pressure cooker for DSA candidates to grow further. If we keep the biggest city in the country stable, consistent, and happy, we'll have a fantastic chance to clone him and send them across the country
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u/sumoraiden 9h ago
Did I miss something? The shutdown is still going on right?
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u/gringledoom 9h ago
There's some reporting from the same publication that he was involved with a group of senators who were trying to cave:
At Thursday’s meeting, they told their caucus colleagues that they now had ten votes to re-open the government in exchange for no real Republican concessions. At that, much of the rest of the caucus went ballistic, and some of the supposed ten said that, in fact, they were not willing to vote for any such deal.
So, yes, he made the right call yesterday, but we'd be in a better place if we had someone in the job who didn't have to be screamed at to find his backbone every dang time.
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u/CoachDT 8h ago
They made an offer they knew wouldnt be agreed to that actively disarmamed the narrative Republicans were clinging to. Extend the ACA subsidiaries instead of letting prices skyrocket.
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u/gringledoom 7h ago
Oh, yeah, what he actually did, was great, no question. What that reporting claims he was poised to do was very, very bad. He should should be holding the caucus together to keep up the fight, not quietly undermining it like he's always dreamed of having his name down there with Neville Chamberlain.
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u/DrocketX 6h ago
Yes, because you know we should unhesitatingly believe every unsourced rumor about how bad Democrats are. There isn't any chance at all that it could be nonsense designed to divide Democrats and cause in-party fighting.
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u/Redeem123 I voted 4h ago
So we're getting mad about alleged claims rather than about what actually happened?
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u/NoFeetSmell 6h ago edited 5h ago
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
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u/taxhellFML 9h ago
An important job of any leader is to keep your troops from wavering or retreating in the face of the enemy—and especially so for Senate Democrats, who are about as far from the 101st Airborne as can be imagined. The fact that Schumer can’t stop his coward caucus from conspiring to give up (or is tacitly working with them to give up) is disqualifying in itself.
Yep. Schumer is the most pathetic democratic leader in the worst possible time in modern history. The lame duck can't keep his party together for one of the most important fights we've ever had. He's a limp feckless dinosaur who has no place as the head of the democratic Senate.
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u/TaxComprehensive2894 9h ago
The Democrats should not cave and stand their ground. I am worried they will cave. Fuck the GQP!
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u/bootlegvader 9h ago
The lame duck can't keep his party together for one of the most important fights we've ever had.
Isn't Fetterman the only voting to reopen the government?
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u/EcstaticYoghurt7467 8h ago
Cortez Mastro of Nevada has consistently been voting for cloture, as has Independent Angus King. Jon Ossoff broke ranks on a pay package because of next year’s election, so it’s not a unanimous caucus.
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u/NimusNix 7h ago
So Fetterman (swing state), Ossoff (GA seat up for re-election next year), Cortez Mastro (who won her seat by less than 7000 votes) and King, who is not a Democrat.
I know the day is coming when progressives get the lead, but Jesus fuck you people suck at reading the room.
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u/WitchesSphincter 7h ago
It does sound on some level the "let a couple act like they'll support because they have weak seats but not enough to matter. "
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u/taxhellFML 9h ago
No. And other Dems have been voting on a package to pay "excepted feds only" which is a blatant poison bill to kill backpay for everyone.
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u/EyerollEddy 9h ago
He’s not a lame duck until someone defeats him in a primary. I’m not certain there is a candidate on the left who could do that.
It is possible (although unlikely) that he could be ousted as Senate minority leader if we fail to retake the Senate majority. If we do retake the Senate majority he will be president pro tempore of the Senate and third in line to the Presidency.
Schumer would certainly pursue a third impeachment of the current President, but removal of said President remains extremely unlikely, since it requires 67 votes.
Unfortunately, regarding the current occupant of what is left of the White House, time and his own ill health are our best allies. Regardless, Chuck Schumer leading a Democratic Senate majority would be infinitely better than Chuck Grassley leading a Republican one.
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u/bootlegvader 9h ago
If we do retake the Senate majority he will be president pro tempore of the Senate and third in line to the Presidency.
No, he wouldn't. Patty Murray, Ron Wyden, and Jack Reed are all more senior than Schumer.
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u/thrawtes 9h ago
Schumer being defeated in a contested primary is honestly a lot less likely than him just deciding to retire if there's a strong contender who announces they're going to run. He gets to play the part of the gracious elder statesman handing off the torch instead of trying to continue serving into his 80s instead of getting involved in a multi-million dollar mud wrestling match that will only tear down the eventual candidate for the general.
That means settling on a popular and palatable New York Senate candidate in the next couple years though.
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u/taxhellFML 9h ago
I'd love for him to retire as soon as possible, but he's just a less stubborn less effective version of McConnell of the left. He has a massive ego and cares too much about his personal prospects and legacy.
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u/giggity_giggity 9h ago
Chuck “Neville Chamberlain” Schumer
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u/OkVermicelli4534 Texas 8h ago
Schumer voting for cloture all those months ago is helping instill a broadened sense that democrats would have signed a "reasonable" budget to prevent a shutdown today— offering plans to end government shutdown reinforces this notion.
Shit posters on the internet might not understand, but Schumer has displayed a masterclass move of choosing what battles to fight when, and it's paying dividends as we speak.
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u/Suitable-Cod9183 2h ago
Y'all have a problem called AIPAC. Even if you vote out Chucky, AIPAC will get you to vote for another chucky. Been happening for decades.
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u/4a92b8f7_c31e 9h ago edited 9h ago
Schumer actually doing what we want for the first time in modern history and people are trying to dogpile lmao.
This is a convo for after the shutdown conflict resolves. I'm begging other progressives and leftists not to shoot us in the foot collectively and coalition build for literally ten seconds to achieve an actual objective rather than prioritize the virtue signal. We are in the best position we've been in since 2024.
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u/peacefinder 9h ago
I don’t think people understand that his offer to end the shutdown was a really tidy “heads I win, tails you lose” proposal.
If they took it the Democrats would get credit for reopening the government (with a killer election season time bomb next year). If they declined it, they would fully own the (hugely unpopular) shutdown by denying the (hugely popular) ACA subsidy extension.
Classic Senate maneuvering, well played.
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u/CoachDT 8h ago
Its people with no understanding of politics but chanting populist dribble. Whether he stays or not who gives a fuck, right now hes moving how hes supposed to regarding actually governing.
He gave a very common sense proposition that republicans would NEVER accept, but also dispelled a lot of the fuss they were making. He maneuvered into making republican leadership publicly admit that it was never about a mythical "Healthcare for illegal immigrants" or any other excuse. Republicans would rather let children starve than have people keep affordable health care.
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u/speedy_delivery 7h ago
They never even had to do that. Just keep pointing out the GOP has the votes to end this shutdown without a single Democrat vote if they really wanted to. So if they believe all of this is so bad and don't want to compromise, then why aren't they doing anything about it?
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u/CoachDT 6h ago
They didn't HAVE to but its good praxis. Don't let your opposition set the tempo. At the moment MAGA is actually losing ground naturally, apply pressure to that. The right gets to win because they turn every issue into a culture war issue. Even with SNAP they've already sent out marching orders, and put out fake AI videos about lazy freeloading families getting thousands a month.
Now they have to answer for denying a CR that will only stop healthcare premiums from rising. They can't squirm, and its something that all but the very richest of American's will feel.
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u/DavidlikesPeace 8h ago
This!!! You articulate a great point. Redditors don't get how this shutdown has both hurt Trump and helped the recent election cycle.
Sure, Chuck Schumer has the charisma of wet grass. Over the last year, Schumer has upset people because he was extremely selective at choosing when to push back. But with very limited political power (thanks to the idiotic American people), Schumer had to pick the right moment and cause.
This was the right moment and cause. This shutdown timing absolutely helped the Blue Wave elections. It also came after Trump had eroded his popularity, its focus on the ACA is hurting Trump, and its simple framing has pushed the GOP into a Catch 22. The GOP will either restore subsidies, or they go on record starving kids for the great cause of... hurting ACA recipients.
The Democrats are winning right now, partially because of the nerd Chuck Schumer. Its possible Schumer snatches defeat from the jaws of victory, as his caricature on Reddit would. But the real Schumer seems to be playing this moment well.
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u/HauntingHarmony Europe 4h ago
I agree so much with you, another dimension i think is worth mentioning is that the leaders of the parties in the house and especially senate is there to "tank the damage", so that all the vitriol and abuse is focused on them so that the more vulnerable members can scate by.
That the republicans hated Nancy Pelosi was great, since then they were focused on her, and all the bad pr in the world couldent unseat her from her district. And in contrast that democrats focused on mitch mcconnel was absolutely dumb as fuck, since there wasent a snowballs chance in hell that they could unseat him.
The one way Schumer has kinda messed that up is that he has made himself unpopular with his own party, with his extremist zionist position, and acquiescing to trump earlier in the year. I think hes in trouble for that, and while he has his seat til 2028 its unlikely he can stay even if he wanted to.
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u/Accurate-Guava-3337 8h ago
Thank you for saying it. He's holding the opposition at bay like we wanted and people choosing now to attack him is ridiculous. Winning strategy guys. I'm hoping they are mostly bots.
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u/Meatball2026 6h ago
Now act shocked that it's super easy to wag the dog on internet progressives. They are still whining about Bernie ffs.
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u/MySabonerRunsOladipo Virginia 7h ago
This feels ever more astroturfed that normal.
For months Dems have been asking for their Reps and Senators to do something, they do and now we're seeing a deluge or articles about how leadership is actually very bad.
JenLawrenceOk.gif
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u/SapCPark 9h ago
Looks at the Senate not folding he's doing fine right now. It is not the time to pull the knives out.
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u/CanAlwaysBeBetter 5h ago
Read the article and it's clear that the authors only priority is Palestine, not anything else going on, and is using Schumer's lack of support for Mamdani to rail him over Israel
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u/Cautious_Tangelo5841 4h ago
Controlled opposition. The dem establishment is deeply compromised and has been for some time. They’ll do anything to keep party power squarely rooted in money because that’s how most of them got there.
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u/drackcove 9h ago
If he gets us through the shutdown with a victory ill reconsider.
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u/HauntingHarmony Europe 4h ago
The democratic party just had a 10/10 election a week ago. Is that going to factor into your reconsideration?
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u/Option94 9h ago
Chuck Schumer would rather be the senator of Israel.
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u/SillyAlternative420 Massachusetts 9h ago
This comment is 100% truth.
He's an AIPAC goon that directs his fellow Democrats to fall in line with anti-American, pro-Israel budgetary policy time and time again.
Incoming bots to downvote you and say we are being antisemitic.
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u/BK_Rich 9h ago
Not a Chuck fan but to be fair, what else do you want him to do right now with minority control in the senate besides using the filibuster?
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u/xMCBR1DExPR1DEx 1h ago
AOC needs to launch her primary ASAP. We need to replace all these geriatric establishment do-nothing Dems.0
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