Schumer Continues Courting Trump

By Alan Yuhas, Guardian UK

21 November 16

 

Party leaders debate the Democrats’ future as Senator Chuck Schumer seeks common ground with Trump and aims to build a strong economic message

ivided and still reeling from their defeats in the presidential and Senate elections, Democrats debated their party’s future over the weekend: what message they should take to American workers, how to reinvigorate Barack Obama’s coalition, and whether to cooperate at all with Donald Trump, the president-elect.

The party’s incoming leader in the Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer, said on Sunday that he was willing to work with Trump on some projects where they could find agreement. “Surprisingly, on certain issues, candidate Trump voiced very progressive and populist opinions,” Schumer told CNN. “For instance, getting rid of the carried interest loophole, changing our trade laws dramatically, a large infrastructure bill.

“So we’re going to challenging President Trump to work with us on those issues where we can,” he added. “If he doesn’t, he’ll be breaking his promise to particularly the blue collar workers, many of whom voted for him, on those particular issues.”

Schumer insisted, though, that Democrats would fight Trump on some of the businessman’s most grandiose promises, including plans to repeal Barack Obama’s reforms in healthcare and finance.

“We’re not going to help him build his wall,” he said. “We’re not going to repeal or help him repeal Obamacare. We are not going to roll back Dodd-Frank. I think they should forget about that. We have 60 votes to block them.”

Trump signaled his own willingness to negotiate with Democrats on Sunday, tweeting that he likes the “cunning” Schumer. He then deleted and replaced that tweet: “I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. He is far smarter than Harry R and has the ability to get things done. Good news!”

Not all Democrats in Congress were so eager to find common ground. Representative Tim Ryan told CNN that he doubted Republicans’ good faith, and that their infrastructure plan, for instance, “looks like a bunch of smoke and mirrors and some corporate giveaways”.

He also promised to resist Trump’s more sweeping ideas, although Republicans control the House, Senate and White House. “If he tries to kick people off their health insurance, if they try to privatize Medicare or cut taxes for the wealthy, you know, we are going to have a Youngstown street fight in the Capitol,” he said.

Ryan has challenged the leadership position of Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, as part of a larger reshuffle of the newly divided party. On Sunday he said that Democrats had lost their way by failing to talk about wages, job security and economics, instead focusing on regional issues. “I think things like that throw us off track,” he said. “And when we don’t talk about economics, we lose elections.”

The challenge to Pelosi reflects divisions in the party, including a populist wing, led by senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and an older guard of veterans, led by Hillary Clinton’s old allies Schumer and Pelosi. The party lacks prominent, young leaders who might inherit Obama’s mantle as a unifier – a problem simmering quietly throughout Clinton’s presidential campaign, which struggled to draw young voters. Pressed by the New Yorker, Obama said that he had hopes for Kamala Harris, a newly elected senator from California, and Pete Buttigieg, an Indiana mayor and gay navy veteran.

Keith Ellison, the representative endorsed by Sanders to take over the Democratic National Committee, told CBS on Sunday that Democrats needed to resist the temptation to demonize their opponents.

“We should not make Donald Trump the focal point of all of our energy,” he said. “We need to make the people, the average worker – day American, who we are fighting for and make that crystal clear every single day.”

On Friday, Warren told reporters and activists in Boston that Trump’s presidency would present a “moral question” to the Senate, starting with his nomination of a senator whose history includes allegations of racism.

“We will be tested as a nation,” Warren said. “History calls on us. This is our time to stand and fight for our principles.”

In contrast, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, although a Democrat, said on Friday that he would support Trump’s nomination of his colleague.

Sanders has said he would be willing to work with Trump on trade, and criticized Democrats for willful blindness to inequality. “Democrats too often have ignored that over a 40-year period,” he said on Friday, “the middle class of this country has been shrinking.”

He said that Democrats should not compromise on racial, gender and LGBT equality, nor sacrifice those campaigns in search of working-class votes. Schumer echoed these remarks on Sunday, saying, “I don’t think there should be a choice.

“People say, ‘Well, should we go after the Obama coalition or the blue-collar workers?’ A bold, strong, economic message will unite both of them, both groups.”

This week, Schumer suggested he had heard the electorate and may elevate Warren and Sanders in the party. “We needed to let the American people know we understand what they all believe: that the system isn’t working for them, and we’re going to change it.”

Obama may also return to politics in some form after he steps down from the presidency. “I’m going to be constrained in what I do with all of you until I am again a private citizen,” he told activists, according to the New York Times. “You’re going to see me early next year, and we’re going to be in a position where we can start cooking up all kinds of great stuff to do.”