Suppose you are a politician who has a choice of doing something intelligent and logical, or something stupid, damaging and non-productive, but polling says (at least as of this moment) that it might help win some votes. What will you do?
If this in any way involves the current version of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), there is no doubt at all what the answer will be.
From Caden Olson’s article for dailycaller.com:
A super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is reportedly urging Democrats to hold firm in the government shutdown fight, arguing that the party is winning the political messaging battle, according to a memo obtained by Axios.
The memo from Senate Majority PAC (SMP), one of the top groups backing Senate Democrats, warned that it would be a “mistake to take the pressure off Republicans,” according to Axios, and that Democrats’ stance on protecting affordable health care is winning with voters. The report comes as the government enters its seventh day of a shutdown, already the fourth longest in the country’s history, with government programs and federal employees feeling the impact as benefits and pay lapse.
The internal guidance framed the shutdown as a political opportunity to define the 2026 midterms around health care costs and inflation, issues Democrats believe favor them, according to Axios. “Don’t flinch,” the memo instructed Democrats.
Polling commissioned by SMP reportedly found that 52% of likely 2026 voters blame President Trump and congressional Republicans for the shutdown, while 40% blame Democrats, according to Axios. 62% of respondents said preventing major health insurance premium hikes is more important than ending the shutdown quickly.
There’s Schumer’s choice.
He has orchestrated a shut-down by getting his Democrat colleagues to vote down a clean continuing resolution that does nothing other than extend the current budget another 7 weeks while he presumably negotiates. So he’s already in it you’re in it neck deep.
Now: does he continue to screw federal workers/allow the employees of key services to go without pay for an indeterminate period of time, on the possibility that doing so will get Democrats some short-term political capital they might be able to build from for the mid-term elections? Does partisan politics override all other considerations?
This is today’s Chuck Schumer, and today’s Democrat Party. So the answer is an obvious “yes”.
Now: what are Republicans going to do about it? How will they counter this action? Will they have any success in turning the tables on Schumer and pointing out that their budget resolution is exactly the same as what is currently in place/that they have removed/replaced/reinvented nothing? That voters are being lied to?
It won’t be long before we find out.
And if the answer is yes, it will take about one nanosecond for Schumer to concoct a rationale for ending this farce…with most of our mainstream media clucking approval. Of that you can be sure.
