When asked by reporters if Schumer should remain the minority leader, Ocasio-Cortez responded: "I think what is so important for folks to understand is that this problem is bigger than one person. And it actually is bigger than the minority leader in the Senate. You had eight Senate Democrats who coordinated…their own votes on this as well as you have two retiring members, many of them who are also up in several cycles from now, with the hope that people are going to forget this moment
The New York lawmaker added, “A leader is a reflection of the party, and Senate Democrats have selected their leadership to represent them. And so, the question needs to be bigger than just one person. We have several Senate primaries this cycle—I know I’m being asked about New York, that is years from now—I have to remind my own constituents because they think that this election is this year. We actually do have Senate elections this year, and my hope is that people across this country actually participate in their primary elections and selecting their leadership.”
Schumer’s leadership has come under fire following a pivotal Senate vote in which eight Democrats joined Republicans to end the government shutdown, defying his recommendations. Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, was among those openly stating, “Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced.”
Schumer resigning as minority leader wouldnt change one damn thing.
The only resignation that would matter would be from his Senate seat, and while Hochul has some progressive bonna fides from her endorsement of Mamdani I dont think there’s a good choice for an appointed senator who could make much of a difference.
Maybe someone like Zephyr Teachout, but I’m not sure she’d want the job or that Hochul would pick her.
(And if AOC herself wants the job, I’d want her to get the benefit of winning a statewide dem primary first.)
I read on another site that Schumer didn’t whip the vote on that surrender, but instead told people to vote their conscience, and that this is unusual. So that sounds like something to be pissed at Schumer about. At best, he diffused responsibility for the collapse.
Given that Kahnna has been the face of all of this, I still believe there’s no way that Thiel wasn’t heavily involved, but if that’s true it actually makes me think that the establishment forces who control the dem party were also probably pressuring Dems to vote to end the shutdown (and let’s be clear here, as hard as it was on the American people it was even harder on the economy /s)
Regardless, if it’s just Thiel or Thiel and others including the Dem establishment, the narrative seems pretty clear. They want Schumer gone for a reason. Even if he didn’t “push back enough” to keep the party united, he definitely doesn’t seem to be getting rewarded for whatever he did or didn’t do.
I have been assuming it was mainly Thiel retaliating for Schumer forcing a Senate vote to release the Epstein files (the same day Wyden called for an investigation of JP Morgan’s records of transactions between Thiel and Epstein) after House republicans blocked it for a second time, but Thiel definitely isn’t the only big politically adjacent name being investigated with Epstein, and there are some very big names who aren’t conservatives.
Thinking about who among powerful Democrats would want to retaliate because of the Epstein investigation, there are a few possibilities. It might not be a coincidence that Tim Kaine was one of the democrats to turn, given who he presumably remained somewhat close with after returning to the Senate in 2016. Presumably, since all the other Democrats who voted that way are also older/about to retire, they may all have been fairly close with the same person or her husband.
I don’t remember anything about Khanna in the saga but I haven’t followed super closely. Anyway, Khanna is not in the Senate so maybe there is something I’m missing altogether. But I thought this was about the Senate vote.
Kahnna was the first to immediately begin calling for Schumer to step down Sunday night, and he has been in the news non stop since then repeating the same thing over and over.
The media has been helping him push the narrative that Democrats are furious with Schumer. Yet when two of the most trustworthy Dems (AOC and Sanders) were asked directly, neither called for him to step down and both warned that this was a much bigger issue than just Schumer.
It’s very odd to me that Kahnna is the one Democrat receiving all this press as he lobbies this message. My assumption has been that since Kahnna has been backed by Peter Thiel for most of his career, it would benefit Thiel for Schumer to be gone.
Sept 10: Dem Orders Congressional Probe Into Epstein and Peter Thiel’s Relationship](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ron-wyden-orders-probe-into-epstein-and-peter-thiels-relationship/)
Sept 10: Schumer moves to force Senate vote on Epstein files
Sept 10: US Senate Republicans narrowly reject Schumer bid to force vote on Epstein files
Since the House should finally have enough votes to get the Epstein files released, Thiel could potentially hope to install a Democrat that he trusts, or he could just be trying to signal to other Democrats that he has the power to end anyone’s career if they try to investigate him, even someone like Schumer.
Meh, people were dragging Schumer as soon as the cave was announced. I don’t think anyone needed Khanna for that. Also the Khanna-Thiel thing is new to me. I had thought Thiel was MAGA but I don’t keep a scorecard.
AOC and Sanders have to be more careful about what they say, because of their larger and relatively focused audiences, and because they have to play nice with the leadership.