The far left is furious that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer won’t charge into the valley of death against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
They want less rear-guard parliamentary action and more outright aggression (or grandstanding, depending on your view), such as that recently demonstrated by the new Democratic presidential frontrunner, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who sort of violated Senate rules (but later said he didn’t) by releasing documents labeled as “committee confidential.”
A coalition of the reckless, the group of 51 progressive groups had a simple message for Schumer: “You are failing us.”
“Your job as Senate Democratic leader is to lead your caucus in complete opposition to Trump’s attempted Supreme Court takeover and to defend everyone threatened by a Trump Supreme Court,” the letter, which was signed by the likes of Democracy for America and the Women’s March, reads. “But unbelievably, nearly two dozen Democrats have still not come out against Kavanaugh … That is not the leadership we need.”
Schumer’s problem, however, is that what he needs is more senators. The New Yorker would love nothing more to brawl more aggressively, but simple arithmetic makes the fight a losing battle. Confirmation requires a simple majority. Republicans have 51 Senate seats and Democrats have 49. That’s why Schumer hasn’t embraced long shot tactics like the proposed walkout. It’s why Schumer has opted for more moderate measures like closing down the Senate floor. He has been outfoxed, but he had a bad hand. Through no fault of his own, Kavanaugh will soon be on the court.
Because this year’s blue wave is unlikely to reach the upper chamber, Schumer has to worry about keeping seats in Red states, such as Sen. Joe Donnelly’s in Indiana and Sen. Joe Manchin’s in West Virginia. Going Leeroy Jenkins does more to harm than help to his chances at regaining the majority in the future. With an impetuous base like this, though, he might not ever get there.
