Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) lashed out at the Trump Administration, Republican Senators and their supporters after backing down on his threats of a government shutdown. While speaking with MSNBC, Schumer referred to Trump and his supporters as “ba**ards” who are “destroying democracy.”
On Wednesday, Schumer threatened to shut down the government by refusing to give Republicans the votes they needed to invoke cloture. While Republicans control the Senate by a three-seat margin, they needed 60 votes in order to avert a shutdown, leaving the responsibility with Democrats.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their [continuing resolution] without any input — any input — from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday.
“Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass,” the Senate minority leader continued in an explicit threat to shut down the government.
A little under 24 hours later, the New York Times reported that Schumer was walking back his threats of a government shutdown after mounting pressure. In order to save face, Democrats requested a vote on a temporary, 30-day funding measure that would keep the government open while negotiations continue. The measure has no chance of passing in the Senate, though Democrats provided the necessary votes for cloture in exchange for the amendment.
While speaking with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes after the deal was announced, Schumer once again attempted to shift blame to Republicans and falsely claimed that the bill passed by the House will contain cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
At one point, the far-left MSNBC host claimed that Trump is engaged in an “unconstitutional assault on the government” and said Democrats have leverage, to which Schumer agreed. There is,” Schumer responded. “These guys are the worst, and we have to fight them every step of the way.”
Hayes then accused Senate Democrats of refusing to fight, which Schumer disagreed with. “But I can tell you, I’ve been through shutdowns before, it’s not that this CR is good, it’s not that voting for it is good – it’s horrible – but the alternative is worse,” he said. “And we have to look just a month ahead and see how bad a shutdown would be for all the things we believe in.”
Schumer went on to lash out at President Trump, Senate Republicans and Republican voters, referring to them as “ba**ards.”
“To have the conflict on the best ground we have, summed up in a sentence, that they’re making the middle class pay for tax cuts for billionaires? It’s much, much better not to be in the middle of a shutdown, which should divert people from the number one issue we have against these ba**ards,” Schumer ranted. He then briefly paused to say “sorry” before continuing with his screed.
“Sorry, these people, which is not only all these cuts, but they’re ruining democracy.”
LMAO! Chuck Schumer just called MAGA “BASTARDS” after we forced him to take another loss in the Senate with the CR
Chucky’s melting down over all of Trump’s winning
“It’s much, much better not to be in the middle of a shutdown, which would divert people from the number… pic.twitter.com/GGdr0w8bHl
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 14, 2025
Schumer’s comments were met with condemnation from Senate Republicans, including Senator Mike Lee (R-UH). “Classy. This is from the party claiming to stand for civility,” Lee wrote in an X post. “Apparently Dems believe in being civil only to those who agree with them—which most Americans decidedly do not,” he added.
