Trump Is An Authoritarian. Dems Must Fight Him Every Time. Chuck Schumer Must Go.

Schumer surrendered one of the only legislative opportunities Democrats have to stop Donald Trump's authoritarian agenda.

When candidate Trump described his second-term plans, he echoed authoritarian leaders past and present and borrowed from their playbook. Trump conditioned the country to tolerate the president he wished to become. Too many in our Party brushed off his strategy.

Trump may have had only “concepts of a plan” for health care, but he had volumes of plans on immigration, trade, America’s role in the world, firing federal workers, and more. He’s signed one sh*tty executive order after another, along with his sh*tty mass firings and sh*tty funding freezes. America does not have a president who works with Congress — we have an authoritarian who works with Elon Musk.

Trump pats Sen. Chuck Schumer on the shoulder. Photo credit: Getty

As the top-ranking Democrat in Washington, the buck stops with Chuck Schumer for the Party’s lackluster response thus far to Trump’s around-the-clock barrage of attacks on the American people and American institutions. Perhaps Schumer thought he was up against a buffoon surrounded by crumpled up McDonald’s wrappers, watching Fox & Friends. That was Trump in his first term.

Second-term Trump is motivated by vengeance following his four indictments. He is out to dismantle our democratic system because he believes he was the biggest victim of that system. So Trump and Musk are relentless and authoritarian in their approach. In less than eight weeks Trump signed 92 executive orders – over half what Joe Biden signed in four years.

Number of executive orders signed by each president, showing four-year total EOs signed by Biden and Trump in his first term. Source: UCSB

What was Schumer’s strategy for countering a relentless and vindictive Trump? Monotone floor speeches. Boring press avails outside the Senate chamber. Looking down through his red reading glasses at his jargon-filled notes. Putting the media to sleep. And capitulation, apparently.

As the minority party there aren’t exactly an abundance of legislative opportunities for Democrats to have a big impact. That means our Party must fight like hell whenever we have the chance.

Schumer had one such opportunity on the Republicans’ government funding bill, and what did he do? He voted WITH Republicans. Only eight other Senate Democrats joined Chuck Schumer and Donald Trump in supporting the Republican bill. MORE THAN FOUR TIMES as many Democrats opposed Schumer and Trump by voting against the bill.

38 Senate Democrats voted against Republicans’ funding bill. From: senate.gov

Again, this government funding bill was one of the ONLY chances Congressional Democrats will have for leverage against Trump’s agenda. 38 Senate Democrats voted to leverage their power and revise the GOP funding bill, but Chuck Schumer did not lead them. You had better believe Mitch McConnell would have led his entire caucus in voting “no” had the tables been turned.

Schumer claimed a shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power. Umm, what the hell? If that were the case, Trump and Musk would have pushed for a shutdown! They didn’t. Trump even praised Schumer’s vote.

Trump is a horror show, and it seems the villain’s actions no longer bother some leaders in our Party. That’s a problem, because we are now in a terrifying real-life sequel, and the villain has stepped up his game. Democratic leaders must stop Trump in his tracks whenever they can – or Americans’ freedoms will be slaughtered just like the characters on screen.

As Democrats, we can either play into Trump’s tiny hands or we can fight back. I choose to fight back, and so should any elected Democrat who claims to represent the Party. Every single time. Because when Donald Trump and Elon Musk seize power, they seize it from democracy, and they may seize it for good.

So let’s fight and fight like hell.