Here's looking to many, many more Scumer fails.
Chuck Schumer’s First Fail
The new minority leader is likely to go 0 for 8 in opposing Trump nominees.
By
Kimberley A. Strassel
Jan. 19, 2017 6:48 p.m. ET
The Senate minority leader at a press conference in the Capitol, Jan. 10. Photo: Getty Images
Perhaps the warning sign was that actual sign—the poster board that stood beside Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Jan. 4. “Make America Sick Again,” it blared. Democrats had intended to mock Donald Trump. Instead, some neglectful aide had made the incriminating text about Republicans on the sign too small for the cameras. Twitter had a field day, circulating a photo of the nation’s top two Democrats trumpeting their wish of ill health on the nation.
It was an inauspicious start for Mr. Schumer, and things haven’t improved. Looking to step grandly into Harry Reid’s hobnailed boots, the new Senate minority leader publicly set for himself as a first task the takedown of eight of Mr. Trump’s nominees. These “troublesome” picks, suggested Mr. Schumer, would have a hard road to office.
Two embarrassing weeks later, as Mr. Trump stands to take the oath, he instead looks set to become the first president in decades to pull off a perfect nomination performance. Barring some strange event, Mr. Schumer won’t stop a single Trump pick. Put it down to both internal Democratic missteps and some impressive external fortitude by Republicans.
It’s a modern Washington principle that opposition parties get to claim at least one nomination scalp. George H.W. Bush lost defense nominee John Tower.Bill Clinton lost his first two choices for attorney general, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood.George W. Bush lost Linda Chavez as Labor Secretary. Barack Obama lost Bill Richardson,Judd Gregg and Tom Daschle.
More By Kimberley Strassel
Mr. Schumer’s first mistake was simply the awe-inspiring number of targets. Given his love of the TV camera, Mr. Schumer ought to be savvy to the risk of overloading the nation’s one-idea press corps. The sheer sweep of complaints about Trump nominees guaranteed the media would never be able to escalate a campaign against any one. Absent any targeted media frenzy, Republicans have felt little pressure to peel away from Trump nominees.
Not that Mr. Schumer has had any real plan for taking down any single nominee. Democrats are still suffering postelection stress disorder. Mr. Schumer spent 2016 strategizing with his caucus over all they’d do as a majority under a Hillary Clinton presidency. They brainstormed Democratic nominees, plotted legislation, planned rollouts. What they never did was devote a single minute to charting a response to a Trump administration. That idea was inconceivable. Until it wasn’t.
And so Mr. Schumer’s party—normally so disciplined about talking points—has been scattershot in its criticism of nominees, with each liberal senator offering different, meandering attacks. And then there are the rebels. Mr. Reid ruled his caucus with an iron fist. Mr. Schumer, at least so far, is ruling with a wet noodle. The Joe Manchins and Heidi Heitkamps of the world—Democrats who are up for re-election in 2018, in states Mr. Trump won—are currently more fearful of voter backlash than they are of a certain New York senator. Thus many Trump nominees will get a fair number of Democratic votes.
Mr. Schumer can also blame himself for the role he played in 2013 in helping Mr. Reid blow up the Senate filibuster for nominees. That’s allowed Mr. Trump to name the kind of picks that send liberals around the bend, even as it has handed Republicans the upper hand in every confirmation battle. All the GOP Senate needs to do is stick together, and there is nothing Mr. Schumer can do to stop confirmation.
And to Republicans’ credit, they’ve stuck. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set an early tone by quickly endorsing controversial Trump nominees (Rex Tillerson,Jeff Sessions). His leadership team has worked the ranks, keeping Senate Republicans informed and working on the same page. Committee chairmen have been resolute, accommodating Democratic requests where appropriate, but generally squelching opposition demands to upend all the normal rules and procedures. They’ve refused Democratic calls to slow down the usual process, or require unprecedented information. It helps, too, that Republican senators remain galled by Mr. Reid’s and Mr. Schumer’s treatment of them over the years, are wise to liberal tactics, and are in little mood to play games.
Team Trump has also done a decent vetting job. If one of the best tidbits Democrats can find as a scandal is the news that health and human services nominee Tom Price’s broker made him $300 from 26 shares of a medical-device company, that’s grasping. The nominees have been well prepped, and straightforward in their answers. And despite the liberal screaming about “partisans,” many of the nominees have had long bipartisan pasts that have earned them praise from moderate Republicans and Democrats alike.
Mr. Schumer is making the same mistake Mrs. Clinton did—dancing to the tune of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and their progressive army, who want obstruction and carnage. He’d have a far better chance of putting his name in history books as the leader who made Democrats great again by meeting Donald Trump on the deal-making floor.
Write to kim@wsj.com.
Chuck Schumer’s First Fail
The new minority leader is likely to go 0 for 8 in opposing Trump nominees.
By
Kimberley A. Strassel
Jan. 19, 2017 6:48 p.m. ET
The Senate minority leader at a press conference in the Capitol, Jan. 10. Photo: Getty Images
Perhaps the warning sign was that actual sign—the poster board that stood beside Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Jan. 4. “Make America Sick Again,” it blared. Democrats had intended to mock Donald Trump. Instead, some neglectful aide had made the incriminating text about Republicans on the sign too small for the cameras. Twitter had a field day, circulating a photo of the nation’s top two Democrats trumpeting their wish of ill health on the nation.
It was an inauspicious start for Mr. Schumer, and things haven’t improved. Looking to step grandly into Harry Reid’s hobnailed boots, the new Senate minority leader publicly set for himself as a first task the takedown of eight of Mr. Trump’s nominees. These “troublesome” picks, suggested Mr. Schumer, would have a hard road to office.
Two embarrassing weeks later, as Mr. Trump stands to take the oath, he instead looks set to become the first president in decades to pull off a perfect nomination performance. Barring some strange event, Mr. Schumer won’t stop a single Trump pick. Put it down to both internal Democratic missteps and some impressive external fortitude by Republicans.
It’s a modern Washington principle that opposition parties get to claim at least one nomination scalp. George H.W. Bush lost defense nominee John Tower.Bill Clinton lost his first two choices for attorney general, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood.George W. Bush lost Linda Chavez as Labor Secretary. Barack Obama lost Bill Richardson,Judd Gregg and Tom Daschle.
More By Kimberley Strassel
Mr. Schumer’s first mistake was simply the awe-inspiring number of targets. Given his love of the TV camera, Mr. Schumer ought to be savvy to the risk of overloading the nation’s one-idea press corps. The sheer sweep of complaints about Trump nominees guaranteed the media would never be able to escalate a campaign against any one. Absent any targeted media frenzy, Republicans have felt little pressure to peel away from Trump nominees.
Not that Mr. Schumer has had any real plan for taking down any single nominee. Democrats are still suffering postelection stress disorder. Mr. Schumer spent 2016 strategizing with his caucus over all they’d do as a majority under a Hillary Clinton presidency. They brainstormed Democratic nominees, plotted legislation, planned rollouts. What they never did was devote a single minute to charting a response to a Trump administration. That idea was inconceivable. Until it wasn’t.
And so Mr. Schumer’s party—normally so disciplined about talking points—has been scattershot in its criticism of nominees, with each liberal senator offering different, meandering attacks. And then there are the rebels. Mr. Reid ruled his caucus with an iron fist. Mr. Schumer, at least so far, is ruling with a wet noodle. The Joe Manchins and Heidi Heitkamps of the world—Democrats who are up for re-election in 2018, in states Mr. Trump won—are currently more fearful of voter backlash than they are of a certain New York senator. Thus many Trump nominees will get a fair number of Democratic votes.
Mr. Schumer can also blame himself for the role he played in 2013 in helping Mr. Reid blow up the Senate filibuster for nominees. That’s allowed Mr. Trump to name the kind of picks that send liberals around the bend, even as it has handed Republicans the upper hand in every confirmation battle. All the GOP Senate needs to do is stick together, and there is nothing Mr. Schumer can do to stop confirmation.
And to Republicans’ credit, they’ve stuck. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set an early tone by quickly endorsing controversial Trump nominees (Rex Tillerson,Jeff Sessions). His leadership team has worked the ranks, keeping Senate Republicans informed and working on the same page. Committee chairmen have been resolute, accommodating Democratic requests where appropriate, but generally squelching opposition demands to upend all the normal rules and procedures. They’ve refused Democratic calls to slow down the usual process, or require unprecedented information. It helps, too, that Republican senators remain galled by Mr. Reid’s and Mr. Schumer’s treatment of them over the years, are wise to liberal tactics, and are in little mood to play games.
Team Trump has also done a decent vetting job. If one of the best tidbits Democrats can find as a scandal is the news that health and human services nominee Tom Price’s broker made him $300 from 26 shares of a medical-device company, that’s grasping. The nominees have been well prepped, and straightforward in their answers. And despite the liberal screaming about “partisans,” many of the nominees have had long bipartisan pasts that have earned them praise from moderate Republicans and Democrats alike.
Mr. Schumer is making the same mistake Mrs. Clinton did—dancing to the tune of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and their progressive army, who want obstruction and carnage. He’d have a far better chance of putting his name in history books as the leader who made Democrats great again by meeting Donald Trump on the deal-making floor.
Write to kim@wsj.com.
