“This was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Khanna told the podcast Breaking Points. “You’ve had Chuck Schumer cheerleading the war in Iraq, you’ve had Chuck Schumer cheerleading a blank cheque to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, you’ve had Chuck Schumer betraying us on the first shutdown.”
Khanna complained that Schumer failed to endorse the Democrats’ New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who went on to win the election, and was now “not even willing to fight” for healthcare benefits.
Democrats congressman Don Beyer (left) loads a food box into a car at a food bank in Virginia last month.Credit: Bloomberg
Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib joined the pile-on, saying Schumer had failed to meet the moment and was “out of touch with the American people”.
But it was President Donald Trump who cut the deepest, telling Fox News: “[Schumer] thought he could break the Republicans, and the Republicans broke him.” More than a few Democrats would have been nodding along.
On the other hand, the Democrats who did the deal said there was no other choice. The long shutdown was hurting real people for no apparent gain, they argued. Angus King, an independent senator who joined seven Democrats to support the deal, told MSNBC: “Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work. It actually gave him more power.”
King, 81, was ridiculed on social media for this remark. But he has a point. What was the shutdown actually accomplishing? The base might like the idea of having the fight, but people lining up for food can’t eat that.
US President Donald Trump says he will support the bill to end the shutdown when it comes to his desk.Credit: Bloomberg
Unfortunately for the Democrats, they have now exposed themselves to criticism on all fronts. Why did they bother mounting this resistance in the first place? What was it all for? Were they just trying to mobilise their voter base? Haven’t they vindicated Trump’s claim that they would fold as soon as the elections were over?
Mikie Sherrill, a former navy helicopter pilot and now the Democratic governor-elect of New Jersey, said the party’s wins last week showed Americans want bold action to lower their costs, no matter how difficult.
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“Voters made it clear: the American people want leadership with a backbone,” Sherrill said, accusing the Senate dealmakers of “caving” at a critical moment.
But the only election that really matters in this case is the one that occurred in November 2024, when Americans re-elected Trump as president and gave Republicans control of both chambers. They did this knowing full well the party’s position on healthcare.
They did not give Republicans a super majority in the Senate. And polls suggest Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown more than Democrats. But that tolerance can fast wear thin.
Perhaps the most charitable view of the Democrats’ strategy is that they did put healthcare in the spotlight, they did assert their limited power and they did raise the pressure on Trump and the Republicans to put a serious healthcare proposal on the table.
