"... because they could determine what was essential. So their goal of decimating the whole federal government, of cutting agency after agency after agency, would occur under a shutdown. Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone. All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential. We’re cutting them back. So it’d be horrible. The damage they can do under a shutdown is much worse than any other damage that they could do.... It can last forever. There is no off ramp. One of the Republican senators told us: We go to a shutdown, it’s going to be there for six months, nine months, a year. And by then, their goal of destroying the federal government would be gone. And finally, one final point here, and that is that right now under the C.R., you can go to court and contest an executive order to shut something down. Under a shutdown, the executive branch has sole power.... I felt so strongly as a leader that I couldn’t let this happen.... I had to do what I had to do...."
Said Chuck Schumer, quoted in
"The Interview/Chuck Schumer on Democrats, Antisemitism and His Shutdown Retreat" (NYT).
By "their goal of destroying the federal government would be gone," he meant, I think, their goal of destroying the federal government would be achieved. I guess it's technically correct to say a goal is "gone" when a goal has been transformed into a reality. I think Schumer got distracted by the hyperbole of "destroying the federal government" and the opportunity to say "the federal government would be gone." The federal government would be "gone" if it were "destroyed." Colorful language is tricky!
But anyway... I think Schumer analyzed the situation correctly and made the right choice. He's getting viciously attacked by fellow Democrats, but I can't believe they don't understand why his analysis was correct. Those whose votes were not needed to prevent what he correctly envisioned — they can carry on in public and kick him around, but privately they must be grateful to him... unless they are fools.
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78 comments:
They always choose to assume their opposition will attack the most vulnerable, empathetic. They never mention their opposition attacking their graft and corruption…
Then why did the Republicans propose the CR to avoid a shutdown?
“ but I can't believe they don't understand why his analysis was correct.”
Ann:
The central organizing principle of today’s Dems is to oppose Trump on all things. That’s why the Dems don’t want Trump to immediately deport TdA. Better to have Americans murdered by TdA than for Trump to have a win.
Attacking Chuck Schumer over the shutdown point isn't about the shutdown, it's about attacking Chuck Schumer. Nancy is out of the lineup now, her hip injury will rapidly advance her decrepitude - she'll be unable to wield the iron fist if she can't make the meetings. The Young Turks are making their move, the hive recognizes that it needs new queens to survive.
The folks who could not stand for a young black kid with cancer are worried Trump is going to destroy Medicare and Medicaid and SS? Doing so -would be political suicide.
Cleaning up the fraud from those agencies is important.
Under democrats, our VETS suffer. I wish Trump would say so - and also let everyone know that by cutting waste and fraud - more money can go where it is needed. To real people.
This is the beginning of the cycle of rebirth for the Democrat Party. For 2 decades they used Bernie Sanders to keep the loony toons on a leash. They have been betraying the Progressive wing of the party much the same way Republicans betrayed their voters.
But the problem for the Democrat party is they have a Corporatist wing and a Progressive wing and they are diametrically opposed on most things. The CEO of Health United was a solid democrat and probably funder of the people who kept the Obamacare machinery in place and kept him rich. Mangionne is a hero in the progressive wing of the Democrat party.
These two groups are incompatible and both of these groups are repulsive to the core Kennedy Democrat base of the party who joined with Trump.
Democrats are going to have to go through this gauntlet and spend some time in the political wilderness before they can compete in elections. Election integrity laws will force them back to Traditional Classical Liberalism at some point.
“Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone. All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential. We’re cutting them back. So it’d be horrible.”
Schumer scare-mongering to justify his vote is not exactly a correct analysis. He may be right about the power Trump would have, but not about what he’d do with it.
They've seen the DOGE brainiacs at work and they know a substantial amount of government effort can be done by AI managed super computers. The offices would be empty again but not because of people working at home.
In the end, the left is mad as hell their trough is being emptied. Good. Be mad, then get real already.
This is rhetorical, isn't it? Not understanding? Modern DEI liberalism is fundamentally performative. They don't have to offer plausible alternatives, simply pretend that this is gleichschaltung and that they are the White Rose. AOC in particular might as well be a MAGA agent for how she stirs up crowds to self-destructive ends. Schumer can get puff pieces in the NYT, but that only sharpens the disgust his base feels for him.
"Under a shutdown, the executive branch has sole power.... I felt so strongly as a leader that I couldn’t let this happen.... I had to do what I had to do...."
= Eventually, the Shutdown Theater will be open again, but with the Dems controlling the Exec branch. So will the Reps roll over or be blamed (again)?
Bill Crawford said...
Then why did the Republicans propose the CR to avoid a shutdown?
= Good question! Maybe they missed a golden opportunity but were unwilling to take the heat.
I was rooting for it. I was even wondering why the CR wasn’t yet more stark. They essentially keep the total deficit spending the same even if they pushed the numbers in different directions. I want to see more beautiful butt-fking in the reconciliation process similar to the ObamaCare horror show
Paybacks! I want to see the lefties weep.
- Krumhorn
Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone. All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential.
They could say that, but they're not manipulative, lying creeps like Schumer, so no, they're not going to say that.
Fifty years ago I worked in DC for the federal government at an agency that still exists. I had access to the planning and lobbying that went into the annual budget and appropriation process. The success metrics were simple. Increase the budget by more than inflation, and in ways that expanded political support for future expansions. Year after year., decade after decade, that budget has continued to grow faster than inflation. It's way past time to prune this overgrown mess.
... unless they are fools.
Well, that's a given.
Schumer voted against throwing the baby out with the bath water. Good for him. #HateLovesAbortion
Isn't it interesting that no matter what the politics are, our money gets spent.
Trump now owns NPR. Because he's funding it. Trump now owns Harvard grants to plagiarists, because he's funding it. Trump now owns all the USAID grants we'll be hearing about 2 years from now only they'll be State Department grants that he granted ... because he funded them.
It’s a reasonable assumption the leftie outrage at Schumer is, like most things emanating from the left, completely phony, an appeasement for the leftie masses. Whatta they gonna do- dump Chuck?
But anyway... I think Schumer analyzed the situation correctly and made the right choice.
Yes and no. He should never had made the initial noises about shutting down the government in the first place. He should have immediately said the first part publicly, saving the part about Trump and Musk for inside his caucus. Caught in their bubble Democrats cannot grasp how unpopular they are and how popular Trump is across with the public.
He's getting viciously attack by fellow Democrats, but I can't believe they don't understand why his analysis was correct.
Sorry, Professor, but many Democrat politicians — AOC, Maxine Waters are the easiest examples — simply aren’t very bright.
Those whose votes were not needed to prevent what he correctly envisioned — they can carry on in public and kick him around, but privately they must be grateful to him... unless they are fools.
Yes, unless they are fools. And so indeed they are.
In his interview, Schumer simply couldn't admit (1) the Democrats would be blamed for a shutdown and, worst of all, (2) Trump might do a good job of identifying and restoring essential government services.
That would place the burden on Democrats to advocate publicly for all the waste, fraud, abuse and corruption that's become their lifeblood.
It’s a waiting game for them now. Trump is an unstoppable force that will be officially stopped, at most, about 46 months from now, with numerous opportunities and options to stop him sooner…
Hopefully, they will make good use of this debt bump. The source(s) of progressive price inflation still needs to be resolved and is a forward-looking, perhaps imminent risk to the viability of government and dependents.
AOC thinks she is smart. If she becomes the future of the Democratic party - the democratic party is very screwed. heh.
They've been able to get away with this extortion in DC for decades because no president would stand up to them and call their bluff. Republicans always talking about cutting, but Dems knew they wouldn't ever do it. But Trump will.
The Congress is supposed to have a budget. They haven't for years. These CR's are not even legal. This is how we got to over 6 trillion in annual spending.
Trump took the shut-down tool away from them with nothing but the courage and determination to follow through on his promises. That and trust in the American people. This makes the GOPe look even worse than the Dems IMHO, the Bushes and Mitt Romneys and the Paul Ryans and the Mitch McConnells, etc. They didn't mean what they said.
It tells you all you need to know that their priority was to stop Trump above all else.
Republicans control Congress. Why don't they shut the government down without the Dems?
Bill Crawford said... "Then why did the Republicans propose the CR to avoid a shutdown?" 3/16/25, 9:45 AM
Good question. With a shutdown, DOGE could work without disruption and Trump could decide what is essential.
It's possible that with executive orders, DOGE, court orders, and tariffs, a shutdown would make the administration seem too chaotic and cause a loss of confidence in the public and stock market.
At the current rate, by September, Trump will be done pruning and will need legislation. A shutdown may look better then.
Oh Chuck, if only you had listened to the women like Nancy told you you wouldn't be going through this now.
...but I can't believe they don't understand why his analysis was correct.
Get used to it. You're going to see a lot more of that before they bottom out.
I don't think Trump would have taped off open grassy areas in federal parks like Obama did during one of his shutdowns. Schumer should have been nervous.
Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone. All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential. We’re cutting them back. So it’d be horrible.
Except that those items would never be on the chopping block. Trump is not that stupid as it would be devastating to his popularity and not at all what the people who voted him in voted for, and he would know that. Plus, those are not items he thinks should be cut.
This list is entirely a dog whistle for his side to gin up fear. If he wanted to tell the truth, Schumer would list all the things Trump WOULD cancel, which would, amazingly enough, be very popular cuts that 3/4 of the population would support. So, he has to lie. Or, being a Democrat, act normal.
"He's getting viciously attack by fellow Democrats, but I can't believe they don't understand why his analysis was correct."
No one ever lost money betting that Democrats would viciously attack someone, but plenty have lost a ton betting that they can understand something true.
"A shutdown would shut down all government..."
Aside from the mail and keeping planes in the air and other truly essentials running, you know something coming from Washington is different when it promises to do what its name says it will do. No euphemism to be found.
It might be the only thing in Washington (legitimately) holding that distinction. So, I wouldn't blame some of the democrats for maybe not comprehending what was about to take place.
They don't use language like the rest of us.
Since much of the Federal government was brought into being by Act of Congress, it would have to be abolished the same way. Witness the DOE.
Chuckie, as always, is lying through his teeth, in this case, trying to justify himself. His "analysis" is absolute nonsense.
It really pains me to admit that Schumer made the right call for the Ds on this. Clearly he should have prepared his radicals for reality, but either did not try or failed in the attempt. Never mind his list of items to be shut down that is the usual D scare bs. But an awful lot of useless garbage bureaucracy would be closed, never to open again because the people could see how truly useless it is.
The Rs proposed and approved the CR because they did not want the blame for closing the government. After all they control both the legislature and the executive. Who else would get the blame? Schumer and his nut jobs walked right into the trap and Schumer saved the nut jobs bacon.
The democrats like AOC calling for the shutdown of the government are hypocrites because they screamed that life on earth would end when the republicans threatened to shut down the government.
If his analysis is so obviously correct, why did he go on the Senate floor, the day before he caver, and promised to block the six month CR? It makes no sense. Donkey Chompers is going to challenge him no matter what.
As for the question why did Repubs pass an CR if they could get everything they want during a shutdown. I think they missed a golden opportunity. They could have written a really partisan CR and dared the Dems to block it. But unfortunately, there are too many GOPe types with their snouts firmly planted in the trough.
Chuckie Schumer: Putting cheese on raw hamburgers for several decades now.
Schumer saved the Democrats this time but this exact same situation is nearly certain to recur when this CR expires because there is no practical chance that the House and Senate will agree to a budget.
"As for the question why did Repubs pass an CR if they could get everything they want during a shutdown."
Trump etal. still think they can pass real appropriation bills during the next 6 months.
I have watched Schumer in amazement for the last decade. He's known Trump for his entire career and spent a lot of time dealing with Trump when he was real estate developer. More than anyone else, Schumer should have known how Trump thinks and how he would operate and he could have developed a plan to counteract Trump's approach that would have worked to the advantage of his party. But for reasons that will be left to the historians, Schumer has screwed things up at every turn.
Trading out rapacious Californians like Pelosi for sputtering New Yorkers like Schumer and the profoundly silly Hakeem Jeffries certainly hasn't been a win for the Donks.
Decimating the federal government would be a good start but probably not sufficient.
Who else here managed to survive the Three Great Winnowings, when the federal government shut down for days at a time, leaving tens of millions to die and chaos to reign the streets?
The Twenty-One Days of Death during the Clinton administration!
The Sixteen Days of Suffering during the Obama administration!
...and yes,
The Thirty-Five Days of the Pre-Apocalypse during the first Trump Era!
It's amusing to see Schumer fighting a rear guard action while getting sniper fire from his own troops. If Trump is successful the Dems will be stranded in a wilderness of their own making for the next 20 or 30 years.
If I were a President interested in cutting the federal government down by half or more and had party control of the House I would want a shutdown where I could literally demonstrate to the voters what is essential federal government and what is not essential federal government. I don't know that Trump would effectively use such a situation but the Democrats like Schumer didn't want to risk it this time.
Who decided what was essential 5 years ago? Maybe I should have typed WHO! Ha.
Two weeks to flatten the curve ... 5 years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, my wife and I scooped up our son from college when the kids were asked to go home if they could. Crazy times, and looking back, very sad times.
"Decimating" is literally a 10% workforce reduction.
Schumer needs better hysterical rhetoric.
Yeah, the idea of blocking Trump's fedgov shutdown by shutting down the fedgov - and giving Trump the keys to reopen as he sees fit - seems a bit lame. Almost too bad they didn't fall for it.
I'm going with AOC being a fool.
The last African-American to shut down the government was none other than Barack Hussein Obama, of Kenya.
AOC and the rest of the woke left don’t want to understand Schumer. They just want their Marxist utopia now and damn the facts.
AOC and the rest of the woke left don’t want to understand Schumer. They just want their Marxist utopia now and damn the facts.
Oh, I’m guessing the Constitutionally defined parts of the Federal government would be just fine. The President and Vice-President, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the Thousand Federal Judges who sit atop the Executive Branch to approve or disapprove all Presidential initiatives
Structurally, Trump can’t make a lasting impact until he wins big in 26 and gets a follower in the white house in 28. A shutdown would have been risky to public sentiment and could have spun into disaster in 26. The shutdown reductions would have been temporary until Trump can pass legislation.
I think what happened was best, we will see.
Meh. I see a lot of assumptions that Trump, Schumer, AOC, etc., don’t know what they’re doing when I’d bet that they all know exactly what they’re doing. Trump understands that his goals will have to be achieved incrementally and it will be the work of years, not a few days. Schumer understands that he’s fighting a rear guard action, but that time is on his side, with the mid-terms the day after tomorrow in political time. AOC understands that, regardless of how it damages the Democrat’s grift, it’s an opportunity for her personally to bootstrap power. If they didn’t know the game, we wouldn’t even by talking about them.
back when the Democrats ran the Exec branch, i thought that Rep Massie was a moron, that was enabling the Democrats by not cooperating with the Republicans..
Foolishy, without thinking things through, i was STILL opposed to Massie's refusal to vote for a continuing res..
Now (FINALLY!) i have thought things through (a little).
NO MORE CONTINUING res!
As long as Trump is the Executive..
SHUT THE DAMN GOVERNMENT DOWN!
Chop! Slash!! Hew!! Topple!!
Bill Crawford said...
"Then why did the Republicans propose the CR to avoid a shutdown?"
because; like ME.. They DIDN'T Think things through..
With a republican in the White House, it's up to republican's to decide what is "essential".
" ...unless they are fools."
Sticking it to Trump and the Republicans is more important to them than doing what's best for the American people.
Schumer is analyzing teh situation correctly, which is why I wanted the Dems to shut down the gov't.
But he gets no credit for that, because he knew all that on Wednesday, when he held his deranged press conference where he said he was going to shut down the gov't.
Play stupid games, get stupid prizes.
gilbar said...
back when the Democrats ran the Exec branch, i thought that Rep Massie was a moron, that was enabling the Democrats by not cooperating with the Republicans..
Foolishy, without thinking things through, i was STILL opposed to Massie's refusal to vote for a continuing res..
You were right then, and you were right now. Massie is a wanker and an ass.
ALL Massie ever accomplishes is to give the Dems more leverage in negotiations and more power in fights. He's a worthless shit, and should be voted out of office.
Trump is the one who should have stepped up and said "I want a CR with all the DOGE cuts so far, and if I don't get it I'll veto the CR.
Trump chose not to do that, and I'm disappointed in him for not doing that.
Massie, OTOH, was just as bad. Did HE submit an amendment to the CR to do that, and publicly fight for it?
Of course not! That would require actually trying to accomplish something, and Massie would NEVER do that
Democrats 1994: "Triangulation" with Republicans to get half a loaf instead of none.
Democrats from 2008 to 2024 (Obama - Biden): Force change to match utopian political dreams, and ultimately get no loaf at all. Switch to open corruption instead.
Democrats 2025: Go into reverse gear, switch to the Republican Party en masse (Trump, RFK Jr, Tulsi, etc.) and redo their politics to continue Clintonian politics and undo a utopia that became dystopian.
Decimating the federal government spending would be less than 600 billion in cuts. Doge is going for a trillion. Misusing "decimate" for "devastate" to sound smarter because "decimate" has a Latin etymology and Roman Legion original use, when you mean more than a 10% reduction and hence should use "devastate" is a pet peeve. Ahhh, deep breaths. Carry on.
I agree. Schumer chose what was politically the best course. And yes, the people who are criticizing him now are fools.
I'm going from memory of some one or two sentence reports about the whole shutdown theatre production, March 2025 version, but my understanding is that what passed wasn't what's generally called a 'clean' CR that just funds the government until the deadline. In addition to not wanting to look incompetent by presiding over a shutdown while they held the majority and the Presidency, I think there was some language in the bill that starts making the DOGE cuts and other EOs Trump has issued more permanent. IIRC what Schumer was looking for a vote on was a 'clean' CR for a 30-day period to see what happens to the rulings the Hawaiian judges have made on lawsuits involving DOGE but there was no way that was going to pass without a shutdown since the House had adjouned.
Someone has to be Michael Collins so someone else can be Éamon de Valera.
Unfortunately a lot of people don’t understand procedural aspects of the running of the government. The NYT touched on it briefly.
Schumer was right to pass the bill or create more uncertainty, which America does not need right now. Even if the bill didn’t pass -- Americans upset with Trump still would have been watching from the sidelines and could do nothing about it. The approach so far is working, look at all of the numbers, any number, they are down and appear to be getting worse. The approach is give Trump enough rope and he will eventually hang himself.
Consumer Confidence Falls to Lowest Since 2022; Tariff Concerns Mount ~ WSJ
Tariffs, market volatility and political uncertainty threaten to undermine key driver of growth in world’s largest economy.
The equation remains that if you apply tariffs like there is no tomorrow and you don't have neither the manpower nor workforce/infrastructure to replace the output ad hoc, with the same money amount present, inflation is around the corner. And with inflation rising and stable wages, demand goes down.
I think the quest to bring production to the US is an understandable one, but it would take an alliance between the Democrats and Republicans with a gradual, slow increase of tariffs over a decade combined with recruiting/training/importing the workforce and inciting foreign companies to produce in the US. And even with that approach, it's obvious that consumer prices will rise and profit margins will go down because you cannot produce with the same wages than, say, China. And for neighboring countries, the overall strategy has to be put into question.
I didn’t think it was possible for a political event to achieve more “winning” than Brexit, but here we are …
Dave Begley (3rd comment):
Speaking of deporting Tren de Aragua, here's a 1:20 video of their arrival at El Salvador's maximum security prison: link. You'll probably say, as I did, "Daayyum!"
Unless…yes. I think you’ve got something there!
Well, Dr Weevil, they're finding out what a real prison looks like.
I have read that Japanese prisons aren't much better then what is viewed in that link.
Sheesh, folks! Update your dictionary! “Decimate” basically no longer means what it meant in ancient Rome. The strictly 10% reduction meaning is now deemed “obsolete,” or at least it's one of the higher numbered (ergo: lesser used) meanings of the word.
As dictionary.com puts it: {quoting…}
decimate verb (used with object)
1. to kill or destroy a great number or proportion of:
The population was decimated by a plague.
2. to greatly reduce in number or amount:
From 1975-1981, our country was not driving the space exploration agenda, and our aerospace workforce was decimated.
3. to cause to suffer great loss or harm:
The constant eruptions that spewed forth decimated the forest and turned it to ash.
4. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
5. Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from.
{/unQuote}
Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone. All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential. We’re cutting them back.
Trump did not say he would end any of those things, during the campaign or since. Strawman crap.
Tommy: most "deprived" kids receive three meals a day from their school. If school is not in session, the school busses deliver it to their doors. That is insane.
I worked at a church food bank briefly in Ruskin, Florida. A guy in a very expensive car pulled up and had a list of demands. The car was easily 80K. I said -- why are we giving him food? He said -- we are not allowed to demand proof of need. The food was resold at the popular Mexican Flea Market in Bradenton.
And, Tommy, the worst health problem among WIC and food stamp kids is morbid obesity. You can multiply that by ten among Mexicans.
Kakistrophy, shorter version: a lot of what you spew here is ignorance or lies. Nobody is losing essential services. You're a dark clown.
Loudogblog: perhaps if EVERY household I did a home visit to spent less on nail jobs, weaves, giant tvs, expensive cars and crack, they could buy some cereal and milk to feed their ten kids.
We need a Viking funeral for the word "decimate". Might as well throw "sentient" on the pyre while we're at it.
Decimating the federal government would be a good start but probably not sufficient. Ron Swanson smiles...
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