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bigtree

(94,144 posts)
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 12:21 AM 18 hrs ago

I don't know why Sen. Schumer stays in his position

...it's basically a thankless job in the minority representing the elected Dems who put him there, especially the ones who think it's some brilliant imperative to call for reshuffling the Democratic deck in the middle of the game like the party did with their incumbent president the last time around.

You'd think people would have learned a lesson from that defeat, but it seems all they realized was their ability to gaslight pols out of office who've already fought and won against republicans; most of their critics, not so much experienced in any of that, despite their enthusiastic suggestions to people who have, repeatedly.

I really don't know why any pol would willingly place themselves in the position of representing Dems in the Senate while we're in the minority, most of the members they would represent believing THEY could be president; managing all of that with all of the derision they get from people out here who can't be bothered to actually look to see what they say or do, much less take the time to understand the challenges of governing in a minority.

People say they want a boffo spokesperson, but what they really want is someone to roil reality and sew a silk purse out of the sow's ear that Dem voters provided the leaders with last election.

All elected Dems can actually do in the minority IS to perform for everyone; for people who think they are there to convince THEM to show up on election day and oppose a convicted criminal insurrectionist and his enabling party.

The Dem leader right now in the Senate presided over ALL of Biden's historic legislative accomplishments in the majority, even with TWO recalcitrant Dems who often sided with republicans on important legislation. Dem's ALWAYS produce historic progressive legislative changes in the majority.

But they needed the support of people who couldn't be bothered last election to equip Dem leaders with a sufficient number of members to work with. So they're reduced to this bullshit parrying for position among elected Dems chafing at the fecklessness of their minority positions and reduced to lashing out at the people they're able to actually affect; their own.

That's what abusive, dysfunctional families do. They project all of the shit coming from everywhere else onto the people they should be coalescing with and tear them down, I think because they find it too hard for them to do the same to the actual republican opposition.

What a stupid game. It's not really support for the party to publicly denigrate it and our leaders, no matter how popular it may well be right now. It produces nothing but apathy and abandonment of our party at the time we need unity.

Funny how it always comes right at the time we desperately need to unite; all of this self-immolation pretending like it's progress; forgetting the game here is addition, not subtraction.

If I were Schumer, I'd just turn on my heel and go home. He's gets nothing out of this role but shit, and it's just piling up as his detractors pile it on.

I mean, who is looking at this and thinking they want that thankless role in a party that voters didn't even bother to equip with enough members to do squat but object to what the majority does?

Self immolating should work out just as well as the last time people in the party convinced themselves it was some sort of political genius. Schumer should understand that people need to just FA and FO for themselves. It's a wonder he's still willing to continue to stand in the way of this stupidity.

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RockRaven

(19,260 posts)
1. Minority leaders stick around through the slings and arrows so that when the
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 12:30 AM
18 hrs ago

pendulum swings and the party regains the majority they are already in the driver seat and can control things.

Schumer must have priorities which he thinks will not be as well served under different leadership once the majority is regained.

bigtree

(94,144 posts)
2. he's been around long enough to satisfy his own ambitions
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 12:32 AM
18 hrs ago

...and he didn't elect himself leader.

betsuni

(29,035 posts)
3. Selling the myth of the utopian savior. The obsession with replacing Schumer/Jeffries with a savior
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 01:31 AM
17 hrs ago

who will change everything is ridiculous.

The myth is pessimism coupled with future optimism. Assumptions:

1. Pessimism: Things are bad and getting worse.
Someone running for president in 2015 (not Republican) said "This country faces more serious problems today than at any time since the Great Depression" -- so Obama entered office with the catastrophe of the Great Recession and people couldn't get insurance because of previous conditions and only made things worse? Apparently Obama/Democrats were worse than WWII and the Vietnam war and everything else that happened.

2. Optimism: Some have tried to save us but were stopped by the establishment. Now is the time.
The People's Revolution will destroy the establishment and take over from the mean old corrupt Democrats. The savior will come, passionate and authentic! Utopia!.

Intractable

(2,025 posts)
5. I prefer senators that don't take AIPAC money.
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 04:49 AM
14 hrs ago

I look forward to seeing him gone in 2028.

leftstreet

(40,417 posts)
9. +1 "I have many jobs as [Senate] leader...
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 07:42 AM
11 hrs ago
... and one is to fight for aid to Israel — all the aid that Israel needs,” Schumer said at a gathering of Jewish leaders and community members in New York on Sunday. “I will continue to fight for it.,” Schumer continued. “We delivered more security assistance to Israel, our ally, than ever, ever before.”

“As long as I’m in the Senate,” Schumer said, “this program will continue to grow from strength to strength, and we won’t let anyone attack it or undo it.” (1 Feb 2026)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/schumer-israel-aid


Regardless of Schumer's strengths, these are the words of a lobbyist not a Senate leader.

Orrex

(67,045 posts)
6. With so many people rationalizing his torpid leadership, you'd think that he'd love to stay
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 07:10 AM
11 hrs ago

If only to keep receiving the uncritical adoration of his cheerleaders.

SocialDemocrat61

(7,556 posts)
7. Schumer is not a wartime consigliere
Sat Mar 21, 2026, 07:24 AM
11 hrs ago

I don’t know who is though. My hope is that after the midterms, he steps down as Leader and announces his retirement at the end of his term in 28.

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