Chuck Schumer Needs to Go

You may have looked at the Democratic response over the last 40 days as a party that was finally standing up for itself. There is every indication that this caught Trump entirely by surprise, the fact that Senate Democrats were suddenly vertebrates. But since Republicans and the president were moving no closer to a deal, Senate Democrats decided it was time to give up. “Most of us here … have voted repeatedly with the Democratic strategy,” Kaine said. “But after 40 days, it wasn’t gonna work.” Angus King, meanwhile, put it even more bluntly: “Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work.” (“Standing up to Trump” was previously thought to be the single biggest reason to elect opposition senators. King offered little detail on how he and the Democratic caucus will redefine their duties in light of this new mission.)

The biggest villain of them all, however, is someone who cast a kayfabe vote against the deal on Monday. No one bears the weight of the failed shutdown as much as Chuck Schumer.

His “no” vote is particularly galling because it leaves only two options on the table. The first is that the eight Democrats who broke away from their party did so without his knowledge or consent, a conclusion that could only suggest that Schumer has lost control of his caucus. The second is that the moderates were negotiating with Schumer’s knowledge, approval, and encouragement and that the “no” vote was just to conceal that—and maybe as a kind of consolation prize to the other Democrats in his caucus. This suggests that Schumer has lost any ability to organize or think politically or strategically. Regardless of the reason, he needs to step down immediately.