DON'T elect a Senate leader who can't fight Trump

Senate Democrats

We are demanding that all Democratic Senators refuse to elect Chuck Schumer as their Senate leader, and instead elect a leader who provides the sharpest progressive contrast possible with Donald Trump and the Republican party.

The Democratic Party just suffered one of the most devastating national election losses in our country’s history. Thanks to its failures, from the top of the ticket to governorships to the legislature, we now stand on the precipice of a President Trump and a Republican Congress. How we respond to Trump now will determine whether Democrats will rebound, or sink into irrelevance.

With Democrats in the opposition, the most influential and visible leader of the Democratic Party will be the Senate Democratic leader.

But there’s a problem. The Senate Democratic Leader is set to be one of the most pro-establishment and anti-progressive Democrats in Congress: the Senator From Wall Street, Chuck Schumer.

If Chuck Schumer is allowed to become the Democratic Senate leader, not only will Democrats have significantly less hope of providing a coherent progressive alternative to Trump, but Trump’s White House could get a crucial ally for their disastrous economic and foreign policies.

So much of Chuck Schumer’s record is exactly the opposite of what you’d want in someone facing Trump:

  • Schumer deserves more credit for the Democratic Party’s fealty to banking than any other Democratic politician in America. At the height of the financial crisis, with millions of Americans suffering and the nation in a state of shock, the New York Times reported Schumer telling finance industry executives at a fundraiser: “We're not going to be some crazy, anti-business liberals.”1 He voted to end Glass-Steagall, keep the financial rating agencies unregulated, and to bail out Wall Street.2

  • When it comes to opposing Trump on civil liberties and standing up for people of color, Schumer’s record is deeply questionable: he voted for the Patriot Act, argued for unconstitutional NYPD surveillance of Muslims, and actually bragged that most Senators would engage in torture because you “do what you have to do.”3

  • Schumer sided with Republicans in an effort to sabotage President Obama’s historic nuclear deal with Iran — one of the pieces of President Obama’s legacy that President-Elect Trump has most directly targeted.4

  • As head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Schumer repeatedly intervened in primaries to favor corporate and anti-LGBT candidates, over and over and over again. (They usually lost.)5

  • Schumer strongly backed the Iraq War, and is known to be one of the most hawkish of Senate Democrats.6

  • Schumer’s #1 post-election priority? Huge corporate tax cuts. (For real now?)7

  • 4 of Schumer’s top 5 lifetime contributors are major Wall Street banks.8


Schumer’s political instincts are also notoriously terrible when it comes to anything other than keeping his safe Senate seat. When he makes predictions about elections, he’s almost always wrong. Here’s what he predicted about Democratic women voters in this 2016 election:

“For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”9

That’s the exact opposite of what happened in 2016 - and we’re going to let this corporate anti Nostradamus determine how the Democrats oppose Trump?

Schumer has zero credibility to attack Trump where it counts. To quote Jon Schwarz:

How can Schumer tell President Trump to keep the deal with Iran when he opposed it?
How can Schumer tell President Trump not to keep targeted killings architect John Brennan on when he supported his nomination?
How can Schumer tell President Trump not to surveil mosques when he defended and supported the NYPD's Muslim surveillance program, which systematically spied on mosques, muslim student groups, and eateries?
We need new blood - not the same old, same old. We can stop this from happening. But we have to act now.

Tell Senate Democrats: Drop Chuck Schumer and choose a new leader who can motivate and inspire Americans to believe in the Democratic Party again.

Citations:

1. http://www.alternet.org/chuck-schumer-friend-wall-street-and-war-ready-be-anointed-head-senate-democrats

2. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/230181-senate-democrats-not-with-warren-on-reinstating-glass-steagall-

3. https://theintercept.com/2016/11/14/chuck-schumer-the-worst-possible-democratic-leader-at-the-worst-possible-time/

4. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/us/politics/schumer-says-he-will-oppose-iran-nuclear-deal.html

5. https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/smart-democrats-are-worried-about-base.html

6. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/13/iran-nuclear-talks_n_7044180.html

7. https://theintercept.com/2016/10/19/democratic-sen-chuck-schumer-says-top-priority-for-next-year-is-giant-corporate-tax-cut/

8. http://politics.blog.myajc.com/2016/07/29/senate-leader-america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-democratic-generation/

9. https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=Career&type=I&cid=N00001093&newMem=N

To: Senate Democrats
From: [Your Name]

Senate Democrats: We are voters demanding that you reject Chuck Schumer and his record of failure, and instead elect a progressive Democratic Senate leader who provides the sharpest contrast possible with Donald Trump and the Republican party.