Chuck Schumer Is Quietly Working on a Plan to Turn Confirmation Hearings Into a Circus: Report
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, wants fellow Senate Democrats to create spectacles when they question the nominees of President-elect Donald Trump over the coming weeks, according to a new report.
The lawmaker said at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon that increasing the heat during the confirmation hearings would help to provoke negative press for the incoming Republican administration, according to a report from Axios.
“Republicans spent four years attacking the Democratic brand, and we need to use the hearings to begin returning the favor,” the lawmaker reportedly said.
Schumer also told members of the Democratic caucus on Tuesday that they should focus on MAGA and how the policies backed by the movement would affect the country when asking their questions.
“Schumer reminded senators that they have an opportunity to seize the narrative from a GOP that is convinced the public is on its side on the economy, the border, and cultural issues,” the outlet reported.
The orders from Schumer come two months after Trump decisively defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, a development which provoked debates among Democrats about the future of the party.
Trump won all seven major swing states and became the first Republican presidential nominee in 20 years to win the popular vote.
Many Democrats have already signaled that they are ready to challenge Trump’s nominees.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote a 33-page letter on Monday to Pete Hegseth, the Army veteran and former Fox News host tapped by Trump to lead the Defense Department, challenging him on his views.
She claimed in the letter that Hegseth’s opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the military marked a “blatant disregard for the sacrifices of minority servicemembers.”
She also asserted that his comments opposing women in combat roles mean he has “repeatedly disparaged the vital role that women play in the military.”
“I am deeply concerned by the many ways in which your behavior and rhetoric indicates that you are unfit to lead the Department of Defense,” Warren wrote.
“Your confirmation as Secretary of Defense would be detrimental to our national security and disrespect a diverse array of servicemembers who are willing to sacrifice for our country,” she added.
Other Democrats have taken a more amicable approach toward the incoming Trump administration as they try to distance themselves from the resistance-style opposition displayed during his first term, at least with respect to some policy priorities.
“The reason why I think oftentimes Democrats occasionally lose elections is because we’re too reflexively anti-Republican, and that we don’t lean into an ambitious vision for working-class Americans strongly enough,” New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman likewise said that there have already been “a lot of freak-outs” from fellow members of his party over matters like the proposed acquisition of Greenland.
Fetterman also said he would co-sponsor the Laken Riley Act with Senate Republicans, which needs 60 Senate votes to pass, saying, “If we can’t pull up with seven [Democratic] votes … that’s the reason why we lost,” referencing the 2024 election.
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