MSM’s New Talking Point: Dem Civil War ‘Spirals’ Over Schumer

Ask not for whom the Journolist tolls, Chuck … it tolls for thee.

Earlier, I wondered whether a revolt among House Democrats would impact Chuck Schumer’s standing in party leadership. Perhaps we should pay more attention to Democrat house media. The backlash to Schumer’s fold-o-rama on the continuing resolution has become a new talking point among the Left’s favorite media outlets, from MSNBC on down.

The Daily Beast, for instance, took a break from smearing Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) to breathlessly report that the Democrats’ “party civil war spirals.” They covered the first demand from a House Democrat for Schumer to resign from leadership:

Democrat Rep. Glenn Ivey became the first congressperson from his party to publicly suggest Chuck Schumer should be ousted from his post as the party’s leader in the Senate for helping pass a Republican spending plan.

“I respect Chuck Schumer,” Ivey, who represents a district with a large number of federal workers, told a town hall in Forestville, Maryland on Tuesday. “I think he had a great, long-standing career. But I’m afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader.”

Politico follows up today to note how “Schumer bashing has gone mainstream.” They also pick up on Ivey’s demand, but reports that it’s now open season on Schumer within the Democrat Party:

Just this week, Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland told constituents “it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader,”Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz aired frustrations, and one of Schumer’s longtime allies, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, dropped the hammer on him.

“I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” Pelosi told reporters Tuesday during a news conference at a children’s hospital in San Francisco, her second time addressing Schumer’s vote. “I think that’s what happened the other day.”

Five days after the vote, Schumer bashing is going mainstream — continuing a drumbeat of criticism that first started when he announced he would join Republicans, eight other Democrats and one independent, to advance the bill to fund the government.

What began with activist groups and progressive members of Congress, has moved toward both the party’s political center and the nation’s heartland – including to possible 2028 contenders. The criticism comes as the party struggles to find ways to push back against a Republican stranglehold on power in Washington.

We’ll get back to the impotence of Democrats shortly, especially in my new podcast below. First, though, Fox News has fun reporting that Schumer’s getting grilled on the most friendly platform possible too. Apparently, host Chris Hayes wasn’t dazzled by Schumer’s responses:

Schumer was then asked what his plan would be if Democrats are unable to knock Trump’s favorability down a few points, the key to gaining leverage over Republicans, according to Schumer.

“Then what happens?” Hayes asked.

“What happens is, look, first we get it way down, he’s going to have much less. We, this worked in 2017. You say that ‘now it’s a different government,’” Schumer replied.

“It’s different though,” Hayes interrupted, adding, “My God.” … 

Later in the interview, Hayes put Schumer in the hot seat, having him sit through a compilation of prominent Democrats denouncing his decision to support the Trump-backed CR bill.

The Daily Beast took note of Schumer’s treatment too, in an article titled “MSNBC Forces Chuck Schumer to Sit Through Brutal Supercut of His Critics.” HuffPo featured Nancy Pelosi’s attack on Schumer, reporting the “shade” she tossed his way as Politico also reported; The New Republic did as well earlier today. Salon reported on J.B. Pritzker’s “liberal anger” over Schumer’s fade. 

It certainly looks like the Journolist Bat Signal has gone out. Usually that afflicts Republicans, but at the moment, the progressives in the Protection Racket Media can’t do much about the GOP. They can organize a circular firing squad, however, and that is exactly what appears to be happening in the media over the last 24 hours. They want Schumer’s scalp.

And frankly, Democrats may have a point, too — but not the one they think. The problem isn’t that Schumer is insufficiently anti-Trump, but that all Schumer and Democrats are is anti-Trump. They have bad leadership, including Schumer, but also including Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders — not to mention Dick Durbin. In their orgy of Trump hatred, they have positioned themselves on the fringes of the electorate by opposing policies supported by the vast majority of voters.

Rep. Seth Moulton is one of the few voices of sanity still left in the party:

🚨 DEMOCRAT ADMITS PARTY FAILING: BLAMES FAR LEFT CULTURE AUTHORITARIANS!

Rep. Seth Moulton plainly admitted the problems that the Democratic party is facing today on CNN 👇

He urges Democrats to not be “out of touch” with normal Americans and accuses the far-left contingent of… pic.twitter.com/JRwXXx8neb

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 17, 2025

“We lost this election across the board, an election that should have been easy for us to win,” Moulton said. “I mean, when in our history have we ever run against a convicted felon sitting at the top of the ticket? So this past election should have been an easy one for Democrats. And yet we lost across the board because so many Americans said, ‘You guys are just out of touch. You‘re just out of touch. I mean, this other guy might be crazy, but you guys are not in touch with the majority of Americans,’ which is kind of by definition, what we showed by losing this election.” …

“We‘ve become a party of people who preach down to others, you know, who scold them, who say, ‘If you don‘t agree with me, you‘re not only wrong, but you‘re a bad person,’” he said. “I mean, I think all of us have heard that attitude from many national Democrats in the past couple of years. So I think we need to stop preaching and start listening, start meeting Americans where they are. Don‘t take these minority positions on cultural issues and say, ‘Hey, if you don‘t meet this strict liberal litmus test, then you‘re not even a Democrat.’”

Emphasis mine. That’s precisely the problem. Progressives want to dictate rather than govern and lecture rather than listen. That’s why they produce incompetent leaders like Chuck Schumer, and why anyone the Left chooses as a replacement will be just as bad or worse. 

The chaos among Democrats is the topic of the latest The Ed Morrissey Show podcast with Mary Rooke of the Daily Caller as my guest:

• Chuck Schumer has led his party into a box canyon. Now he wants them to leap off the nearest ledge. 
• Daily Caller columnist Mary Rooke discusses the bizarre refusal of Democrats to listen to voters, offer any sort of policies that address their concerns, and choice to align themselves with the fringe of the electorate on almost every issue. 
• Plus: What is “the good life”? 

The Ed Morrissey Show is now a fully downloadable and streamable show at  Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the TEMS Podcast YouTube channel, and on Rumble and our own in-house portal at the #TEMS page!