Schumer stands up to Democratic revolt and says he will continue to lead the party in the Senate

Chuck Schumer dug in against the Democratic revolt against him. The Senate minority leader stood up to critics in his party demanding his termination for allowing the Republican bill to avoid a government shutdown go forward in the upper chamber. The veteran congressman defiantly assured that he does not plan to step aside and stressed that he did "what he had to do" in having to choose between the lesser of two evils.

In an interview with The New York Times, Schumer insisted that his decision was not a mistake, as "the damage" that Trump and Musk - whom he called "anti-government zealots" and "nihilists" could do during a shutdown would be far greater:

"I don’t. I think it was a very, very difficult decision between two bad options, a partisan Republican C.R. [continuing resolution] and a shutdown that Musk and Trump wanted. For me, the shutdown of the government would just be devastating and far worse than the Republican C.R. Let me explain: A shutdown would shut down all government agencies, and it would solely be up to Trump and DOGE and Musk what to open again, because they could determine what was essential. So their goal of decimating the whole federal government, of cutting agency after agency after agency, would occur under a shutdown."

"Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone. All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential. We’re cutting them back. So it’d be horrible. The damage they can do under a shutdown is much worse than any other damage that they could do."

"Under a shutdown, the executive branch has the sole power"

Moreover, the veteran Democratic politician noted that one of the key moments in making up his mind was a conversation with Republican senators that made him realize that the shutdown "can last forever," if the Democrats were determined to allow it. In this assumption, and for as long as the shutdown lasted, "the executive branch has the sole power."

"It can last forever. There is no off ramp. One of the Republican senators told us: We go to a shutdown, it’s going to be there for six months, nine months, a year. And by then, their goal of destroying the federal government would be gone. And finally, one final point here, and that is that right now under the C.R., you can go to court and contest an executive order to shut something down. Under a shutdown, the executive branch has sole power. So, in conclusion, I knew this would be an unpopular decision. I knew that. I know politics. But I felt so strongly as a leader that I couldn’t let this happen because weeks and months from now, things would be far worse than they even are today, that I had to do what I had to do."

Schumer acknowledges that Democrats are divided

However, Schumer acknowledged that his vote has led to "divisions" in the Blue Party, since not all of his colleagues understand the situation as he does, and admitted that House Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has not spoken to him since the Senate vote, although he tried to downplay the issue.

Schumer believes that his case is not comparable to Biden's and defines himself as "an orchestra conductor"

Questioned directly by the journalist if he did not believe that, as it happened with Joe Biden,  the time for him to retire had arrived. Schumer assured that he is "something like an orchestra conductor" and that, despite disagreements, the Democratic Party is "a united and strong group fighting against Trump."

"Let me say this: There is spirited disagreement on which was the right vote. But as I said, I think we have mutual respect in our caucus, and we are all united, no matter how people voted on this vote, to continue fighting Trump. We are a united and strong caucus fighting against Trump. We disagreed on this issue, but that doesn’t diminish in any way how we’re going to fight every step of the way against Trump. And I believe that we’re going to have some real successes."