What a difference a presidential election makes.
Especially when the clear winner of the election is the no-nonsense Republican President Donald Trump and you are the lame-duck Democratic House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY).
With Republicans clinching a decisive national victory in the 2024 elections — including a trifecta that saw them send Trump back to the White House in stunning fashion and secure majorities in the House and Senate — Schumer is suddenly singing a different tune than before the election.
Yes, ahead of what was arguably the most essential presidential election since Democrat Jimmy “Malaise” Carter was overthrown by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, Schumer repeatedly boasted about ending the filibuster and other radical proposals.
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body can prolong debate on a proposed law in order to delay or prevent a vote altogether. Eliminating the filibuster rule — which requires 60 votes to pass bills — would have made it easier for Schumer’s Democrats to potentially push their agenda through Congress by targeting Republican opposition.
Schumer and the Democrats last tried to kill the filibuster in 2022, when they held 50 seats. Vice President Kamala Harris could have broken a tie, but renegade Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema decided not to play nice and toe the Democratic line. Both eventually became independents.
Despite the departures of Manchin and Sinema, Schumer was still confident that Democrats would win 50 seats in 2024 and that Kamala Harris would win the presidency, which would allow Tim Walz as vice president to – shudder at the thought – to resolve a tie through a filibuster vote.
The above scenario would have effectively meant one-party rule in the Senate, which Schumer assumed would allow Democrats to expand voting rights nationwide by passing the bill Freedom of Choice Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
But unfortunately for Schumer and the Democratic Party, it wasn’t meant to be.
Schumer took to the Senate floor this week singing a different tune: tell (Implores) Republicans to go straightforward on their Democratic colleagues, as Republicans will have a 53-47 majority (emphasis mine).
In good faith, I would like to urge my Republican colleagues to be cautious. TBe careful not to misinterpret the will of the people and do not abandon the need for bipartisanship.
After the victory a choice, The temptation may be to go to extremes. We have seen this happen over the decades, and it has always had a negative impact on the party in power.
So instead of going to extremes, I remind my colleagues that this body is most effective when it is bipartisan. If we want the next four years in the Senate to be as productive as the last four, it will only be possible through bipartisan collaboration.
Come on, Chuck!
Just two weeks ago, Schumer was talking about the filibuster, warning about the threat to America if Trump won, and spreading all other kinds of divisive rhetoric. Is he now talking about the need for bipartisanship? With a straight face, no less?
Chuck, your obvious hypocrisy shows, dude.
RELATED: Sorry, Chuck Schumer, I’m not in the mood for bipartisanship
Anyone reading this article knows full well that if the unthinkable had happened, Schumer would be singing the same song he sang before the election To America – President-elect Kamala Harris and Vice President-elect Tim Walz are waiting in the starting blocks.
Byron York, Fox News contributor and chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, summed up Schumer’s counterfeit revelation perfectly. In an article titled “Schumer to Republicans: Please don’t do to us what we would do to you,” York said wrote:
When the Democratic convention took place in August and up-to-date candidate Kamala Harris was up in the polls, Democrats were excited about the impending victory. In Chicago, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) joined party officials and reporters at the convention to lay out his plans for a glorious up-to-date era in Washington in which Democrats control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives.
[…]
But it didn’t happen. … So Schumer took to the Senate floor this week and delivered some remarks to his Republican colleagues. …
The tiny version of this is: Please don’t do to us what we wanted to do to you. Schumer is clearly concerned that Republicans might adopt a plan to abolish the filibuster and pass all sorts of follow-on legislation without any input from Democrats. That wouldn’t be non-partisan!
Luckily for Schumer, Republicans have been more principled than Democrats when it comes to the legislative filibuster and the filibuster in general. Republicans realize that even though they will be in the majority for the next two years, they could be in the minority again at any time after that. So Schumer won’t get it as good and tough as he wanted to give the Republicans credit for.
Well written and so true.
This reminds me of an aged joke that I’ll paraphrase like this: While Republicans think Democrats are wrong, Democrats think Republicans are evil. We have been reminded of this truism throughout the 2024 presidential campaign.
The Democrats now have the ball – in the sense that it is up to them to either play nice with President Trump and the Republicans in both houses of Congress or continue their vile attacks and lies. If you Do If they play nice, they might be surprised by the Republicans’ return.
Unless? Let’s just wait and see.
