Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The Washington Post that Democrats should blame themselves for losing last November, rather than pinning their defeat on former FBI Director James Comey or the Trump campaign’s supposed collusion with Russia. In a tweet Monday morning, President Trump heartily agreed.
“When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Schumer told the Post. “So what did we do wrong? People didn’t know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump. And still believe that.”
Polling backed Schumer up on this point. A recent Washington Post/ ABC News poll found that only 37 percent of American adults said the Democratic Party “stands for something.” Another 52 percent said the party “just stands against Trump.”
Trump took this opportunity to attack the probe into supposed dealings between his campaign and the Russian government. “After 1 year of investigation with Zero evidence being found, Chuck Schumer just stated that ‘Democrats should blame ourselves, not Russia,” the president tweeted.
After 1 year of investigation with Zero evidence being found, Chuck Schumer just stated that "Democrats should blame ourselves,not Russia."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2017
Trump chose to omit Schumer’s justification for this, his lament that Hillary Clinton lost to a presidential candidate with low favorability ratings. (Clinton, however, is still even more unpopular than Trump, even though the same pollsters who find low approval ratings for Trump also predicted a Clinton win last November.)
In the wake of Clinton’s surprise defeat, the Democrats have blamed James Comey, racism, and of course Russia for the surprise result. Meanwhile, Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes — no friends of Trump – revealed that Clinton’s losses were (surprise!) her own fault. Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign is a blueprint showing what not to do if you want to win a presidential election.
Some of the revelations from the Russia probe have proven rather embarrassing to the president, but nothing has definitively shown that much-hyped collusion between his campaign and the Russian government.
Schumer’s comments are a welcome sign that at least one or two Democrats are embracing reality. But will the media eventually admit that Clinton had herself to blame for Trump’s election? The Russia hysteria shows no signs of abating.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member