The Democratic Party has gone beyond "disarray" and entered full-fledged panic mode. Several factions are sharpening their long knives in preparation for scalping one of its most respected and august leaders.
Minority Leader Senator Chuck is in deep trouble. For sure, it's all of his own making. Schumer's decision not to filibuster the Republican Continuing Resolution (CR) and drag nine other Democratic senators with him to vote for it caused most Democrats in the country to emit a primal scream of rage and anguish over what was actually a clever political move by Schumer.
The political winds were blowing strongly against the Democrats in the lead-up to the vote, and Schumer knew that Democrats would be blamed for a government shutdown. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and other radicals may have the luxury to scream about Trump and DOGE, but Schumer was in a position of power and had the responsibility to keep the party viable.
Blame for any government shutdown, partial or otherwise, would have severely damaged the Democrats for 2026 and perhaps beyond. Schumer knows that eventually the pendulum will swing back toward the Democrats, and there will be other hills for his party to die on where they'll have a better chance of making an impact.
But Democrats disagree with the "retreat to fight another day" governance theory. They wanted blood spilt all over the floor of the Capitol and when Schumer interceded and gave his vote for the CR, the die was cast.
The radical Democratic group Indivisible was the first out of the block, calling on Schumer to step down as minority leader.
Schumer’s team tried to persuade the New York leaders at Indivisible not to immediately sign onto a statewide letter that called for Schumer to quit his position as minority leader, said one of the people familiar with the discussions. Schumer spoke to the New York Indivisible officials on Sunday. They called for him to step down as minority leader anyway on Monday.
“The goal was to get Sen. Schumer in front of Indivisible group leaders before they made any decisions on anything,” said a second person familiar with the meeting.
A third person described the conversations between Schumer and Indivisible as “tense and unproductive.”
“Schumer’s fate as a leader in the Democratic caucus is not in Schumer’s hands,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible. “It’s in the hands of fellow elected Democrats. It’s in the hands of outside groups with constituencies, and most of all, it’s in the hands of grassroots constituents who can choose to organize in this moment and demand better leadership or choose to accept the failed leadership that we’ve received.”
Several other large left-wing groups have made it clear that Schumer has one foot on a banana peel. MoveOn said in a statement they were passing on “our members’ concerns about the lack of strategy and message around the Republican funding bill vote and the desire from our members for Democrats to use every bit of their power to fight back against Trump and [Elon Musk’s] destruction of our government.”
Charlotte Clymer, a Democratic operative, who launched a petition to boycott donations to Senate Democrats who didn't demand Schumer step down, says the petition now has 25,000 signatures. Schumer's unpopularity has forced him to cancel some stops promoting his book. She said of Schumer’s postponing events that he “doesn’t want to face the music over his caving to Trump and Elon Musk.”
Schumer is protected by the old adage, "If you aim for the king, you better not miss. Few senators are eager to climb aboard the "Get Chuck" bandwagon.
But the anti-Schumer movement only seems to be growing at this point. At the very least, the vote for the GOP CR has created the possibility that Schumer's days are numbered as leader.
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