The Democratic Party is suffering what 16th-century Catholic poet St. John of the Cross described as a “long dark night of the soul.” Rather than rallying together to oppose President Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, high-profile lawmakers have devolved into backbiting and ideological division. It’s a situation that has become all too apparent to the electorate and is writ large in the desultory polling numbers.
Schumer vs AOC
As Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has quite the claim to being his party’s leading voice. And yet, after choosing to support a Trump-backed continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government lights on last week, prominent colleagues have determined that his years of service are more an embarrassment than a blueprint.
Speaking with CNN, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) lambasted Schumer, saying that his support of the CR was a “tremendous mistake” and that it “turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk.” She was then asked whether she would consider running against the minority leader in the 2028 election. She did not say “no.”
AOC sidestepped the question and gave no definite answer, which, in politics, is a pretty clear “maybe.” But then her surrogates and supporters took up the cause in her place.
New York State Senator Jabari Brisport, an initial supporter of Schumer, said that he “has been in politics for a long time, and I would hope that this is his final term, and he opens it up for someone new,” adding that if AOC ran for the US Senate seat, “she would make a fantastic senator.”
And then there is firebrand US Rep. Jasmin Crockett (D-TX), who declined to give a direct answer but was nonetheless resoundingly clear. She said:
“That’s four years from now … If you were asking me, at least in two years, then I would have an absolute answer. But I can tell you that there are a lot of people that are watching his leadership in this moment.”
Crockett then hammered the final nail, saying, “I definitely think that younger, fresher leadership may be something that many of us — not just depending on what part of the spectrum you’re on — but many Americans may be looking for ... especially in the state of New York.”
However, the division runs deeper than even potential primary challenges several years down the line.
No Safe Spaces from Democrat “Unity”
Losing the Senate leadership seemingly gave Mr. Schumer some extra spare time, in which he wrote a new book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning. The release of this tome is scheduled for today, March 18, but the accompanying promotional tour was set to begin Monday in Baltimore – this did not go ahead. A spokesperson for the senator said, "Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer's book events are being rescheduled."
This rescheduling appears to include visits to New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, California, and Pennsylvania – all places in which Mr. Schumer would normally receive a warm welcome. The “security concerns” appear to be planned protests by Democrat voters infuriated with his decision to back the CR. For all the upcoming events across multiple states to be “rescheduled” suggests that the organizers were determined in their preparation.
There may, indeed, be a secondary element to the protests. Schumer’s book concerns antisemitism, and it is no secret that pro-Palestinian sympathizers in the US are almost entirely aligned with the Democratic Party. One wonders how many Palestinian flags would have been waved at the lawmaker’s events.
The Public Sees All
One of the most important rules in party politics is “don’t bleed in public.” It’s an adage that has served both main parties well over the years and has only in the last decade been thrown out with the proverbial bathwater. When division is rampant, the American public can see it, and what happens within the party is often reflected by the polls.
“A record low,” reads the latest survey from CNN. Just 29% of the overall public have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, the lowest figure since the news outlet began its poll in 1992. “Just 63% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents report a favorable view of their own party, a dip from 72% in January,” the network notes. And this slump in support is registered across multiple pollsters.
The left tried to drive a wedge between Donald Trump and the GOP; a cause that was joined by outfits like the Lincoln Project and even Republican lawmakers such as Liz Cheney, who sought to separate him from the party. But Trump was already an outsider, so these efforts had the appearance of keeping the new blood out of the tent. Chuck Schumer – and any other Democrat who does not embrace the new progressive “resistance” – could find themselves fighting a political war on two fronts. And that does not bode well for their chances in the 2026 midterms and perhaps even less so for 2028.
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