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"It's garbage politics, and worse still, it's so lame that nobody even pays attention." (Photo: Senate Democrats/Flickr/cc)
Chuck Schumer Is The Exact Opposite of What Democrats Need
Schumer has been doing the exact same tired stunt for well over a decade, and it was exhausted even in 2005.
Jun 07, 2018
Listen to the leaders of the Democratic Party, and it seems America is in some of its most dire straits in its history. In an interview with NPR regarding President Trump's assertion that he can break any law he wants, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "We do not have a dictatorship. The Founding Fathers did not want a king." Sounds bad!
And he's not wrong. Even if Trump doesn't break the Constitution, his administration is going backwards on climate change -- the most important problem facing America and the world -- at a critical hinge point in the trajectory of world carbon dioxide emissions. He's got to go as soon as possible, and Democrats are the only ones who can make it happen.
But despite what he says, Schumer is neither treating Trump as the enormous crisis he in fact is, nor mounting a remotely effective opposition. He is just not up to the task history demands of him.
Probably Schumer's worst characteristic is that he is consistently using President Trump and Republican control of Congress as a handy opportunity to allow through a bunch of things rank-and-file Democrats hate.
As a fanatical Israel partisan, he has long disliked the Iran deal. He voted against it in 2015 despite the fact that it was widely popular among Democrats (and has only become more so) -- oh, and also was President Obama's greatest foreign policy accomplishment. Schumer mustered limp at best opposition to Trump's decision to renege on the deal, arguing mainly that it hurt the ability to attack Iran for other actions (read: things Israel doesn't like). Schumer similarly advocated for and celebrated the decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a wildly provocative move that was opposed by most of the Democratic Party.
And so it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
© 2023 The Week
Ryan Cooper
Ryan Cooper is the Managing Editor of The American Prospect. Formerly, he was a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
Listen to the leaders of the Democratic Party, and it seems America is in some of its most dire straits in its history. In an interview with NPR regarding President Trump's assertion that he can break any law he wants, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "We do not have a dictatorship. The Founding Fathers did not want a king." Sounds bad!
And he's not wrong. Even if Trump doesn't break the Constitution, his administration is going backwards on climate change -- the most important problem facing America and the world -- at a critical hinge point in the trajectory of world carbon dioxide emissions. He's got to go as soon as possible, and Democrats are the only ones who can make it happen.
But despite what he says, Schumer is neither treating Trump as the enormous crisis he in fact is, nor mounting a remotely effective opposition. He is just not up to the task history demands of him.
Probably Schumer's worst characteristic is that he is consistently using President Trump and Republican control of Congress as a handy opportunity to allow through a bunch of things rank-and-file Democrats hate.
As a fanatical Israel partisan, he has long disliked the Iran deal. He voted against it in 2015 despite the fact that it was widely popular among Democrats (and has only become more so) -- oh, and also was President Obama's greatest foreign policy accomplishment. Schumer mustered limp at best opposition to Trump's decision to renege on the deal, arguing mainly that it hurt the ability to attack Iran for other actions (read: things Israel doesn't like). Schumer similarly advocated for and celebrated the decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a wildly provocative move that was opposed by most of the Democratic Party.
Ryan Cooper
Ryan Cooper is the Managing Editor of The American Prospect. Formerly, he was a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
Listen to the leaders of the Democratic Party, and it seems America is in some of its most dire straits in its history. In an interview with NPR regarding President Trump's assertion that he can break any law he wants, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "We do not have a dictatorship. The Founding Fathers did not want a king." Sounds bad!
And he's not wrong. Even if Trump doesn't break the Constitution, his administration is going backwards on climate change -- the most important problem facing America and the world -- at a critical hinge point in the trajectory of world carbon dioxide emissions. He's got to go as soon as possible, and Democrats are the only ones who can make it happen.
But despite what he says, Schumer is neither treating Trump as the enormous crisis he in fact is, nor mounting a remotely effective opposition. He is just not up to the task history demands of him.
Probably Schumer's worst characteristic is that he is consistently using President Trump and Republican control of Congress as a handy opportunity to allow through a bunch of things rank-and-file Democrats hate.
As a fanatical Israel partisan, he has long disliked the Iran deal. He voted against it in 2015 despite the fact that it was widely popular among Democrats (and has only become more so) -- oh, and also was President Obama's greatest foreign policy accomplishment. Schumer mustered limp at best opposition to Trump's decision to renege on the deal, arguing mainly that it hurt the ability to attack Iran for other actions (read: things Israel doesn't like). Schumer similarly advocated for and celebrated the decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a wildly provocative move that was opposed by most of the Democratic Party.
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