Schumer faces 'no-win situation' with far-left Dems ahead of government shutdown battle, Sen. John Thune says

Fox News

3 days ago

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., predicted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. will be stuck between a rock and a hard place over whether he will back a government shutdown.
On Thursday's installment of the "Ruthless" podcast, Thune said Schumer will be under "enormous amount of pressure" in the fall by the far-left Democratic base to resist keeping the government running in hopes of halting the Trump administration from enacting its agenda, insisting that "the Trump Derangement Syndrome is at an all-time high" with his Democratic colleagues that is fueling their obstruction.
"We need to do everything we can-House Republicans, Senate Republicans, President Trump and his team to, you know, set it up for success, to keep the government up and funded," Thune said. "And then if Chuck Schumer, you know, what's he going to do? Is he going to bow to the Democrat base or do the responsible thing and keep the government funded? That's the decision."
"Ruthless" co-host Josh Holmes pointed to the tense backlash Schumer received from the progressive wing of his party for voting for the Trump-backed spending bill earlier this year, asking Thune whether his Democratic counterpart will "do the right thing."
"That is the concern," Thune responded. "And I think that, to your point, the pressure is going to be enormous from, you know, the left wing of the party. And increasingly, you're seeing the tail wagging the dog in the Senate. So, you know, it's Elizabeth Warren, it's Bernie Sanders, it's Cory Booker, Chris Murphy, kind of the left of the left in the Senate."
Thune acknowledged that Republicans have previously been in Schumer's situation in the minority, most recently during the Biden administration, and that his party is often blamed for government shutdowns by the liberal media.
But now, it's the New York Democrat in the hot seat.
"It's hard, but at some point, you know, you've got to keep the lights on," Thune said. "So I'll be interested to see that as well, how he handles it. But we're going to give him every opportunity… if we can just stay united and keep our team together, we can really force them to make up what will be probably a hard decision, but based on where, like I said, the energy of the Democratic Party is right now… it's a no-win situation."
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