Schumer coasted through politics without any dissent. But that has completely changed.
Now Chuck Schumer’s goose is cooked after the mainstream media turned on him.
With the longest government shutdown in U.S. history finally in the rear-view mirror, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing a blistering crossfire—from his own party’s left flank to late-night television—for what critics are calling a humiliating capitulation after eight Democratic senators defected to reopen the government.
The 41-day impasse collapsed Sunday when the eight Democrats accepted Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s long-standing offer: a clean reopening bill plus a guaranteed future vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies—exactly the deal Schumer had spent weeks rejecting as insufficient.
The surrender has sparked an immediate leadership crisis.
Axelrod: Schumer “in bigger trouble now”
Former Obama strategist David Axelrod told CNN the defections have badly damaged the New York senator.
“I think he’s been in trouble—I think he is in bigger trouble now,” Axelrod said. “My guess is that he won’t be leader of the party in 2027 after this election, unless something really surprising happens.”
Psaki asks: “What happened to that guy?”
On MSNBC, former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki replayed a fiery October clip of Schumer vowing “no f—ing way” to Republican healthcare cuts, then asked pointedly: “That guy was fiery. There was ominous music. He swore. I mean, there was a lot in that video. What happened to that guy?”
Psaki noted NBC polls showed the public largely blaming Republicans, and Democrats had just delivered a sweeping Election Day victory. “And that was before Democrats absolutely cleaned the clocks of Republicans all across the country,” she said, arguing the party had every reason to keep fighting.
Late-night pile-on targets Schumer personally
Comedians wasted no time. NBC’s Seth Meyers mocked Schumer’s sudden reversal: “You can’t wave a white flag in one hand that says, ‘I give up,’ while in the other hand waving a smaller white flag that says, ‘until next time.’”
Jimmy Kimmel was harsher: “At his age, it’s incredible that Chuck Schumer is still able to bend over so far… This was such a big cave, by the Democrats, Bruce Wayne offered to buy it.”
On ABC’s “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin declared Schumer’s tenure finished: “If he cannot keep his caucus together, he needs to go. He needs to be replaced.”
The backlash comes as progressive activists and some House Democrats openly call for new Senate leadership, arguing Schumer misread both the political moment and his own conference.
Schumer’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
