You Did It, Chuck

Comment on the Schumer Surrender

I am writing to congratulate and thank the estimable Senator Chuck Schumer of the great state of New York for his commendable flourish of diplomacy earlier this week. It takes a brave man in this age to be politically moderate, to say to the left “you are asking for too much,” and to the right, “some of your demands are reasonable.” As Molly Jong-Fast—an armchair speculator on MSNBC—put it, “the Republicans are hostages of their constituents,” and Senator Schumer proved that he, certainly, is not hostage to his constituents.

“Chuck” by the author

Mr Schumer rallied a group of brave and venerable Democratic senators this week to come together and permit voting on a controversial government spending bill. This prevented the federal government from shutting down. Shutting down, he argues, would have given the leaders of the government, currently in the midst of a hostile takeover of said government, more opportunity to operate. He did so without any expectation of reciprocity. That is, without expecting anything in return from the right—he did not ask for a de-escalation of ICE’s ongoing holocaust of immigrants, nor did he broker for the recapitulation of some funds so that USAID might operate at least in the most precarious of arenas. He did not ask for a promise to protect social security or Medicare. He did it out of the pure goodness of his capacious heart.

Senator Schumer did all of this at great personal cost: he will have to cancel his book tour this week. Protestors were expected to swarm his events across to nation to excoriate Mr Schumer’s decision to cooperate with President Trump. The senator also earned the ire of some of his colleagues for what he did, such as House Representative Ritchie Torres, who went so far as to say that, “Bailing out the Republicans without extracting anything in return is political malpractice.” And that the Democrats may have squandered their only remaining leverage.

This may also become a black eye on the senator’s legacy. The maneuver is being labeled by some the “Schumer Surrender.” Political allies are backing away from the senator, hesitant to endorse his leadership in the senate. Representative Ocasio-Cortez called what the senator did a, “slap in the face.” I hope that what she and other critics will remember about the senator’s audacious actions is that he did so to allow the federal government to keep doing what it has been doing these past three months.

And furthermore, Mr Schumer’s brave actions demonstrate that bipartisanship is not dead in America. Mr Trump himself thanked the senator for his bold stance, saying: “I appreciate Sen. Schumer, and I think he did the right thing, really. I’m very impressed by that.”

If you would like to let Mr Schumer know what you think, you can contact him here. You can even send the senator a fax for free. You may also wish to commend Schumer’s colleagues, who voted alongside him:

• Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada

• Richard J. Durbin of Illinois

• John Fetterman of Pennsylvania

• Kirsten Gillibrand of New York

• Gary C Peters of Michigan

• Brian Schatz of Hawaii

• Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire

• Margaret Wood Hassan of New Hampshire

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