Schumer's days as leader, numbered

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It was the cartoonist Walt Kelly's Pogo who some years ago used the phrase "We have met the enemy, and he is us" to describe the vast amount of human-made garbage in the Okefenokee Swamp on Earth Day.

He might have been describing today's Democratic Party.

At a time when the country — and the programs the party has championed — are under 24-7 assault by President Donald Trump and his apparatchiks, too many Democrats are spending too much time and energy on an inter-party fight over the future of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

It stems from the way Schumer folded, rather than challenge the Republican majority, during the recent fight over funding the federal government for the next seven months. The issue is both his decision — which was defensible — and his overall handling of it — which was not.

As former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi so pointedly put it, "I myself don't ever give away anything for nothing. I think that's what happened the other day."

Operating with some leverage, because Senate Republicans needed at least eight Democratic votes to keep the government open, Schumer waffled until his only real option was to provide Majority Leader John Thune those votes.

Many Democrats believed that he should not have done so, arguing that this was their party's opportunity to show it was standing up to Trump. They argued that Democrats would enjoy the upper hand politically in any shutdown because they were fighting to save Medicaid and other programs that benefit millions of Americans.

And they noted that, when the Democrats forced a month-long government shutdown in 1995-96 over some of the same issues, they won politically. But that took place with Bill Clinton in the White House, and the result showed how a strong presidential voice can dominate the public debate over a shutdown.

In every subsequent case, the party that caused the shutdown — the Republicans — paid a political price. Democrats would likely have lost the public relations battle had they forced a shutdown this time, in part because they lack a national leader who can challenge Trump.

But the more salient questions are whether the 74-year-old Schumer, a veteran inside player who has been in Congress for 44 years, is the right leader for a Democratic Party lacking effective national leadership — and when would be the best time to make a change.

The answers to those questions are almost certainly No and Not Now. With Trump running roughshod over programs that they have built over the past 90 years, Democrats need a spokesperson or two to show their party's base that they are standing up to the lawless president.

Neither Schumer nor House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries fits that bill. Nor do the party's most recent national leaders, former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Biden was discredited politically by his administration's failures, and Harris has essentially withdrawn from the political scene, while deciding her political future, if any.

The two Democrats who are doing the most nationally to challenge Trump and give some heart to their fellow Democrats are the present and future leaders of the party's progressive wing, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

They have drawn large crowds at a series of anti-Trump rallies that may also foreshadow the transition in the party's progressive leadership from the 83-year-old Sanders to the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez.

Other younger Democrats, like freshman Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, are holding town meetings in GOP districts to show concern about what Trump's actions are doing to their voters.

These localized challenges may be the best way elected Democrats can answer the rank-and-file demands to show some fight, since the party is destined to remain nationally powerless for some time.

Meanwhile, Schumer has taken the offensive against his critics, arguing he is the best person for the job and touting his skills in electing Democratic senators. But he had only mixed success in 2024 and faces an uphill challenge in seeking to regain a Senate majority next year.

Meanwhile, other future opportunities for combat loom.

When the Republican majority brings its "big, beautiful bill" containing tax and spending cuts to the floor, if it can agree on one, Senate Democrats can sponsor amendments to challenge its key provisions.

Congress will also have to increase the legal debt ceiling, and it will almost certainly face another decision in September on extending funding at a level Democrats oppose — or shutting down the government. Internal party pressures may force Schumer to take a different position than he did on March 14.

But even if he can hang on through the current Congress — and there seems little sign his fellow Senate Democrats want to oust him now — a showdown over the party's leadership seems likely after the 2026 elections.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the 80-year-old assistant Democratic leader, is probably going to retire. And if Schumer can't lead the party back into the majority, Democrats may seek a totally new, younger leadership team.

Schumer made clear Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press that, at least for now, "I'm not stepping down."

But one way or another, his days as the Senate Democratic leader seem numbered.

Carl P. Leubsdorf
The Dallas Morning News (TNS)

Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News.

Previously:
• 12/30/24 A look ahead to what might happen in 2025
• 12/04/23 Why Haley is in a strong position heading into Iowa caucuses
• 11/23/23 Congress avoided shutdown, but didn't solve big issues
• 11/23/23 60 years ago, in Dallas
• 11/13/23 A good night for Dems, but ...
• 08/31/23 Amid Kamala's rehabilitation
• 08/17/23 Why Georgia indictment may blow up in prosecutors' faces
• 08/10/23 WARNING: Next up?
• 07/19/23 3 possible threats to Biden campaign
• 05/11/23 Presidential debates in jeopardy
• 05/04/23 The curious case of Ron DeSantis
• 04/25/23 History offers Biden sobering lessons as he launches his bid for a second term
• 03/30/23 Biden's moves to the center
• 03/16/23 Biden's moves to the center
• 03/09/23 Pence looks for an opening in the anti-Trump lane
• 02/28/23 Why Biden is unlikely to replace Harris
• 02/16/23 A year after invasion, what's next for Ukraine?
• 02/16/23 A year after invasion, what's next for Ukraine?
• 02/02/23 2024 might not be your granddad's presidential race
• 12/22/22 New Hampshire unlikely to go quietly
• 12/08/22 A study in contrasts of where the 2 parties are going
• 09/25/22 Will Biden run again? Should he?
• 09/25/22 Kev McCarthy, invested bipartisan backer, will suddenly be flying solo
• 09/22/22 2024 election could be shaped by these races
• 08/26/22 Moderates' success continues in Dem races
• 05/29/22 Is this the end of Bush family dynasty?
• 04/27/22 Reality catches up with Biden
• 03/03/22 Kamala missed her chance
• 03/03/22 Did Biden really make his case?
• 02/25/22 A very different Europe faces this Russian aggression
• 02/10/22 Western 'support' also makes Ukraine nervous
• 12/09/21 Dole had respect for his rivals
• 08/18/21 Afghanistan's rapid fall casts cloud over Biden's entire administration
• 07/06/20 Things get complicated quickly for Biden
• 06/17/20: Government gridlock also on the ballot in 2020
• 04/24/20: Congress unprepared if disaster hits it
• 11/18/19: Buttigieg gains steam in Iowa. Why he's still a bad bet
• 03/01/18: How one keystone state congressional race could topple Nancy Pelosi
• 08/31/15: Ineffective Jeb Bush now faces NH challenge from Kasich
• 03/24/14: 7 obstacles Ted Cruz must overcome
• 12/15/14: Hillary sizes up her challenge in 2016