Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has come under fire from fellow Democrats amid the government shutdown, but MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow defended the long-time politician on Monday night (November 10).
The focus on Schumer comes after eight Democrats crossed the aisle on Sunday (November 9) to give Republicans the 60 votes they needed to push through a bill to fund and reopen the federal government. Senate Democrats had been holding out in an effort to get the government to extend healthcare premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
While Schumer didn’t vote with the GOP, many are upset that he failed to stop the eight Democrats from mutinying. Frustration was especially high because the Democrats received no concessions in exchange for the eight members who flipped to vote with the Republicans.
During Monday’s handoff between Maddow and O’Donnell, the latter referenced his MSNBC colleague’s interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), in which Sanders called the Democratic leadership “out of touch.”
O’Donnell defended Schumer, saying nobody else is willing to raise their hand and take on the leadership position.
“My favorite moment in the Bernie Sanders interview was when the discussion of replacing Chuck Schumer came up, and Senator Sanders basically said, ‘Who would want that job?’ And that’s the truth of it,” O’Donnell said, per Mediaite.
The Last Word host added, “[Schumer] has the vote of every Democratic member of the Senate. He will continue to have that. There’s not a single Democratic member who’s raised his or her hand who said, ‘I don’t want him to be leader and I want to be leader.’ And those two things have to happen.”
Referencing those who are saying to get rid of Schumer, O’Donnell stated, “I’m waiting for the name. They have yet to say, well, who’s gonna do it? Who do you have? Who have you convinced? And who’s gonna do it better than Chuck Schumer?”
Maddow agreed, noting that Sanders’ answer to that question was, “‘Oh, sure, we should replace everybody in this, the establishment, but we shouldn’t be primarying somebody on the basis of the fact that their name is Chuck Schumer. We should be primarying everybody who doesn’t support Medicare for all.’”
She added, “So, yeah, I mean, that was his opportunity to stand up and say, ‘I’ll do it.’ But but you’re right. There’s nobody who is stepping up to take that job right now.”
O’Donnell noted that people think that “Chuck Schumer’s job is easy,” something he thoroughly disagreed with.
“They think the job of senator is easy. They think it’s easy being the senators from Nevada and watching the air traffic system collapse, with Las Vegas completely dependent on the air traffic system… Turns out it’s not. It’s not easy for any of them,” he concluded.
