Senator Jeanne Shaheen just threw the minority leader under the bus.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen revealed that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer knew the entire time about the plan for a few Democrats to capitulate to Republicans on the government shutdown.
Shaheen, one of the seven Democrats (and one independent) who dropped their demand for a guaranteed extension of Obamacare subsidies, spoke to Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade on Monday morning.
Aside from serving as further proof that the Democrats are failing to act as an opposition party in any meaningful way, Shaheen’s comments also reveal one of two possible scenarios. Either Schumer was scheming to end the shutdown behind the scenes, only pretending to be against it while pinning the blame on the eight people who aren’t up for reelection anytime soon, or he has no control over his party. Either way, it proves the need for Democrats to jettison the minority leader.
Of course he knew about it, and his career should be over. They held out all that time, so they could get a massive midterm victory, just to completely surrender all their new political capital, in exchange for literally nothing.
While American citizens see the modterm election as a victory, Democrats don’t really see it that way. That was a Progressive victory, and the Dems look at it as almost as big a loss as the MAGAs do. They weren’t about to keep holding out, and giving the Socialists another victory to run on 2028.
If AOC primaried him, she would destroy him.
I agree with everything you said except for calling this a midterm election. Midterms are next year, and primaries are ramping up, so NOW is the time for everybody to start researching and supporting ideal candidates so that you can have a shot at being proud of your vote at the general election.
Fun fact: of the eight non-Republicans to cave, exactly ZERO of them are up for reelection in 2026. To be clear, 2 of them have terms ending at the start of 2027, but they’re both retiring and therefore not running. Nobody will remember this in 3 years, so they’re suffering exactly zero consequences for this sellout.
Senators up for re-election will remember if we do the following:
- If you have a dem senator, write to them and tell them that the leadership is out of touch with the demands of the moment
- If the blue incumbent in your state is retiring in 2026, run a progressive. Use this moment to draw real separation between the progressive and the establishment candidate. Make any contact between them and the democratic leadership toxic
- If the blue incumbent hasn’t condemned this and the democratic leadership, do the same as above.
Democrats up for reelection in 2026
- Colorado: John Hickenlooper
- Delaware: Chris Coons
- Georgia: Jon Ossoff
- Illinois: Dick Durbin (Retiring)
- Massachusetts: Ed Markey
- Michigan: Gary Peters (Retiring)
- Minnesota: Tina Smith (Retiring)
- New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen (Retiring)
- New Jersey: Cory Booker (Chair of Strategic Communications Committee)
- New Mexico: Ben Ray Lujan
- Oregon: Jeff Merkley
- Rhode Island: Jack Reed
- Virginia: Mark Warner
Flipping the senate in 2026 seems unlikely, but transforming the democratic party must start now. Schumer is up for re-election in 2028, but he has to be removed from leadership now.
You’re right, it wasn’t a Midterm. I lost my head for a moment because this off year election almost had the feeling and energy of a Midterm, and also the exultant feeling you get after a big Midterm win.
The real Midterms next year are going to be much different than usual. The stakes haven’t been this high since before the Civil War, and the campaign is actually going to be scary, and very likely violent.
And that’s if he allows elections. If he doesn’t, there will DEFINITELY be violence.
This is just standard Democrat strategy.
Their job - the service their rich donors pay them for - is to provide the illusion of opposition to the steady expansion of the wealth and privilege of those same rich donors.
So they posture in order to appear to be opposition, but then they inevitably cave, one way or another, whatever it takes.
There was never any question that the Dems were going to cave - that’s what they always do. The only questions were specifically how and when they were going to do it
And now we know.
The voters handed the dems huge gains during the shutdown election, there’s no clearer way they could have signaled we were behind them, and yet they betray us.
It seems to me that this might have been a strategic move to get the best result out of the midterms. The Republicans have shown their true colors. Trump throwing lavish parties while conducting a legal battle in the supreme court to ensure that millions of Americans are denied the food aid that was specifically put aside for that purpose, is about as much political capital as you could hope to gain from this. But why is it so important to Trump, to see Americans starve? I believe the reason is that starvation is what you need to instigate a violent insurrection, and that’s Trump’s plan for staying in power indefinitely. He will declare a state of emergency, martial law, suspend the midterms until the present crisis is dealt with, etc. The Dems caving in denies him the chance to do this, while still showing the maga party for the evil bastards they are. And maybe we get to see the Epstein files now? I could be giving establishment Dems more benefit of the doubt than they deserve, but that’s how it looks to me.
Im not convinced. Trump has demonstrated time and time again he doesnt need to institute martial law to remain in power. All branches of goverment have capitulated to him and effectively given him the power of a king. I keep seeing “Trump wants violence so he can stay in power” and it really reads as “if you dont want fascism, make sure you roll over when confronted with it”
All branches of goverment have capitulated to him and effectively given him the power of a king.
It’s not 100% capitulation. There’s pushback here and there. And it’s a house of cards. In order to secure his position he needs to remove all potential opposition, including within his own party. There has to be a violent purge. Things need to be stepped up a notch.
Same goes for his oppression of the people. His recent use of the armed forces to intimidate and silence the people is just a dress rehearsal. Testing out the process.
“if you dont want fascism, make sure you roll over when confronted with it”
Democrats roll over all the time, and it’s infuriating, but just occasionally it might actually be the smart move. If the democratic process can still operate, it offers a way to hamstring this administration. And if not, it delegitimises their position to a point where organized large scale resistance is both feasible and necessary. That might work out better than full scale escalation right now.
Interesting take, thanks.
Democrats need to do more than just get rid of Schumer…
A bit of a “how do you eat an elephant” going on here.
agreed it’s kind of a… we need to get schumer out of the way, because he’s a large part of preventing us from doing anything else to clean up the party. He’s not the sole problem no… but he is probably one of the biggest supporters of many of the other problems.
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Are you another of the bots?
Reply anything to me.
There’s a interesting notion behind the name “Shaheen”, but I don’t think you can imply symbolism of a patriotic eagle when you’re literally part of the reason why the dems caved in.
There is no hope left. The only cure for the corruption is to cut it out. Guillotines make for an excellent blade for excision.
Part of the reason there is no hope is comments like these.
You aren’t going to do that, so stop focusing on fictional power fantasies.
As opposed to what? Fantasies on voting ourselves into progress? Fantasies on believing some candidate is going to save us? We all voted for Bernie in 2016. We’re all voting against Trump. America is pissed. Where is our outrage supposed to be aimed at and what can we do?
A progressive revolution by force isn’t going to work if you don’t have a progressive majority. If you’re waging a civil war, it’s a toss up who will win. But if you do have a majority, you can also just vote more progressives into power.
Either way, you’re going to have to convince a lot of people to join your side. That’s the first step: awareness, protests. And the recent election victories show that it’s working. Keep building this so you win all the seats in the midterms.
As opposed to what? Fantasies on voting ourselves into progress?
These aren’t fantasies. They’re at least plausible.
Fantasies on believing some candidate is going to save us?
Beliefs that any one person can save you are part of the problem.
We all voted for Bernie in 2016.
Yeah, and you keep voting for progressive elements within the only party that is even possible to shift towards that element until you’ve taken them over. It takes a shit ton of time, is unfun, and wont get you anything near instant results, but its the cards you’re dealt. You deal with them or don’t.
We’re all voting against Trump. America is pissed. Where is our outrage supposed to be aimed at and what can we do?
Discouraging people from doing anything is the opposite of helpful though, and encouraging people is something you can do. That along with participating in more than just federal politics.
Well said. One last point, the fucks in charge right now are just itching for violence and are scratching as hard as they can to open a wound.
They don’t need you to do anything to get the violence they want. You are in a place where masked goons are rounding up and disappearing people while your “opposition” party gives in at every opportunity.
And one last point, no where have the people above discouraged anyone from doing anything, just that what has been done has had little to no effect (true).
I still can’t get used to being quote replied. It’s weird. Feels like being dissected.
Anyways. History doesn’t show substantial victory in voting. Voting keeps a citizen government moving policies around slowly. Unfortunately our current system is anything but by the people It’s chaos, uncertain, and most definitely untenable to people. This is a government of blue corporates who want a president with decorum to make deals with the world, and red oligarchs who thrive on the chaos, privatization, and a rauntier economy. Unfortunately the past 10 years the oligarchs have won. No 4 year Biden presidency is going to fix what the country has become. Not a 2 term social democratic administration can fix this without absolutely dismantling what the country has become. And unfortunately that is going to be violent.
Aristotle wrote when the oligarchal system is created with the inequities we see now, the only two choices are tyranny or revolution.
Even in your comment you point out it won’t be fixed in one term as if that’s the expectation, but that’s what I’m talking about here. It was never going to be 1, 2 or even 3 terms. Its a long, slow process.
When people don’t see immediate rapid change and give up, instead waiting for it to get so bad, it gets even worse (fictional revolution thinking), this just makes the system as it is more entrenched. They’ll happily keep you at bay.
I’m trying to tell you there’s no slow process change out of this administration. Neither party cares for the people at large and neither will give up power without revolutionary thinking. Even if a Biden like presidency and administration runs for the next 12 years the American people will not be better off. And unfortunately the alternative that is needed for the people isn’t one that has a foot in the door to even start the slow process rolling. Look at Mamdani. The backlash is heavy and he hasn’t even started.
I’m trying to tell you there’s no slow process change out of this administration.
You better hope there is, because you certainly aren’t going to be participating in any fast “you first” ones.
There is a slim chance that people who spend more time ensuring democrats don’t get votes, bitching about them while complaining there is a solution, stopped doing that and democrats won in 2026 with sufficient margins to withstand all the bullshit levied at it.
This would of course involve things like prop 50 being in place (which passed), and thats all increasingly looking like hail mary too, all because yall wont accept anything except a perfect hail mary, which will never come.
he has no control over his party
He can’t actually order them to do anything. One might argue that if he was a better leader, he could have persuaded them to stick with the plan longer, but maybe he had already done that weeks ago and this is the longest that anyone could have persuaded them to hold out. It is the longest shutdown ever, after all…
Both can be true. Schumer can scheme and have no control. The Democratic Whip voted to end the shutdown. That should tell you everything.
Bingo. At this point I don’t care if he had a direct role in it or not, it’s still a total failure of leadership. The man has no ability to lead, just slogan (and really badly at that).
Schumer has zero control over his party when even the party whip pledges to defect. But he apparently refused to vote for the Democratic candidate for NYC mayor, so this is entirely expected and precedented.
Remember Remember, the Chuck of November
Cowardis, treason, and plot. I see no reason why this cowardly treason should ever be forgot.
WTF is the Democratic Party’s long term strategy?
The Democratic Party is a big tent party. There isn’t often a plan, because the party membership has many different opinions on every subject.
The DNC’s strategy is for Trump to run as a Democrat in 2028.
Sadly I could so see that happening… and some crazy stupid arguement that bypasses the term limits because democrat trump is considered a new candidate.
Though I’d also say the odds of him living to the end of this term with all his health issues, is under 25% at this point.
Sadly I could so see that happening… and some crazy stupid arguement that bypasses the term limits because democrat trump is considered a new candidate
Nah, nothing crazy. Turns out we’ve all been looking at the 22nd amendment all wrong. Here’s the relevant clause:
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,
"No person shall be elected more than twice. The 22nd amendment only applies to persons. It was never intended to apply to GodKing Trump.
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The Democrats need their version of Trump that promises to shake all of this bullshit up. Drain the swamp indeed. Different sides of the same coin, just one side has a bigger price tag and takes longer to threaten, coerce, and bribe. But make no mistake, we have ALL been abandoned and will need a complete reboot of this party to the point where we start to vocally primary our own reps. Shit, I might just have to run now and my vetting isn’t pretty but it’s better than what we have in place.
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At best this is a massive gamble with the absolute last of the dregs of goodwill anyone left of center has for th democratic party. I’m predicting a lot of frustration -signalling throwing of hands in the air and performative filibusters in Shumer’s future, and not much else.
New York Democrats: primary this piece of shit and get him out of the Senate. I don’t care if his gamble pays off, he shouldn’t be gambling with the future of our country against convicted fraudsters.
I wrote both of my Dem senators asking them, begging them, to hold elections on leadership. I’ve written Schumer’s office several times, begging him to step down and get the hell out of the way. I know it doesn’t do much (especially Schumer, as I’m not a constituent), if anything, but other than my vote, I have no leverage.
Well shit man, that’s more than what 99% of people do.
Wait wait - so the minority leader knew what his party was doing??!?
“No, we kept leadership informed throughout,” Shaheen responded. “And I think it’s important to remember who’s responsible for why we got into this shutdown. We are here because we are concerned about the health care costs rising significantly on millions of Americans, and we didn’t have any indication before the shutdown started that our Republican colleagues were willing to address it.”
Normally TNR isn’t as fucky but “either he was scheming the whole time or he’s unable to control his party” is pretty much the most uncharitable spin that can possibly be put on it.
It seems like they got a guaranteed healthcare vote which they didn’t have before (MAGAs were just going to trash it then move on and not speak of it again), they got everyone’s jobs back, they got everyone guaranteed back pay, and they got language to say the MAGAts won’t do that again.
Not to mention we cleaned their fucking clock in the elections, and everyone gets food and gets to travel to see their families during the busiest travel-and-food-related holiday of the year. Plus, they’ll see them back at the OK corral in January to lock in the healthcare or else we go again.
Federal workers get paychecks, which, kind of a big deal normally but more so at holiday season, and they racked up some wins while the republicans got a funded three months.
It doesn’t look like the huge “blink” right-wing-owned corporate news sewers want to paint it as.
OH! AND the House will swear in our deciding Epstein vote, which should make for some interesting holiday reading for all the MAGAts and those of us who may see them on the holidays.
That might be the whole shootin’ match, really. Healthcare subsidy vote notwithstanding.
What the hell are you taking about? They got a promise of a promise from well-established liars (i.e. nothing), and undid a little of the damage incurred to get that worthless promise. There’s no interpretation of this where Dems came out ahead. We’d have been better off if they chickened out from the start.
What Democrats did secure is a future vote on the matter. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the chamber floor Sunday that he will hold a vote on a measure to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits by the middle of next month.
So that’s sooner - right before Christmas, which. Good timing.
They believe that Democrats have an upper hand on the issue of health care and that a separate health care vote will spotlight the differences between the two parties, even though it has little chance of becoming law. And they’re not ruling out another shutdown showdown in January, when the next tranche of funding expires (though critical programs such as food aid and WIC will already be funded, to lessen the pain for millions of Americans).
So they shut down again in Jan. and no one loses food - SNAP will be funded.
The deal, which has been in the works for the last five weeks, came together between three former governors — Shaheen of New Hampshire, Angus King of Maine and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire — along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the White House. Details of the deal were first reported by CNN.
One of those Democrats involved is Sen. Tim Kaine, who represents thousands of federal workers in Virginia and who said he supports the GOP’s promise for a future vote on the subsidies.
Senate Democratic leadership was split on the vote, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer opposing the deal while his No. 2, retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, supported it.
They got the health care vote, which they weren’t going to, they got everyone fed, they got everyone paid, got the layoffs reversed, and they’ll be in good stead to do it again in Jan. Plus: here come the Epstein files.
How much should people who can’t afford food suffer for politics? Federal workers getting past due notices. Travel utterly fucked for the holidays. I can see the benefits to ending it now, funding some stuff for the year and then seeing what the healthcare/Epstein issues do in three months. Maybe nothing but that’s kind of unlikely.
