Van Jones: Schumer Really Misread the Room

Fact check: True. Only I’m not sure whether Van Jones knows how true this is — and why.

Let me start out by stipulating that Jones usually offers some real insights in his analyses, and cuts against the Left when he sees them erring. In this case, though, Jones accurately assesses the anger on the Left toward both Chuck Schumer and Donald Trump, but misses the larger reality around it (via Twitchy):

🚨DEMS IN DISARRAY: Van Jones says there’s a “volcanic eruption of outrage” from Democrats at Chuck Schumer:

“I’ve never seen this level of volcanic anger at a Democrat, ever.”

“There’s an emotional need to stop Donald Trump and Elon Musk from running over this party. And I… pic.twitter.com/mYfPmbNUca

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 15, 2025

ERIN BURNETT: Van, how angry are Democrats at Leader Schumer?

VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I’ve never seen this level of volcanic anger at a Democrat ever.

BURNETT: Ever?

JONES: Ever.

BURNETT: Wow.

JONES: We could be grumpy. We can be frustrated with each other. There is a — there is a volcanic eruption of outrage at Leader Schumer because we want a Mitch McConnell. I remember when Obama had all the cards, Mitch McConnell drove Obama nuts. I twisted his pinky, broke his kneecaps and got stuff done for Republicans when they shouldn’t have gotten an inch. They got miles. 

We have a Senate, a majority leader who is beloved in this party, but we want somebody who’s going to stand up to this bully, stand up to this bully, do something. And if you shut the government down and it gets it gets a little bit crazy, at least some politics is about the rationality. There’s an emotional need to stop Donald Trump and Elon Musk from running over this party. And I think Chuck Schumer has radically misread the room.

Let’s start with the idea that this is the apex of Democrat anger toward leadership. Really? Democrat leadership just spent the last four years lying about Joe Biden’s cognitive impairment, forcing Democrats out of any hope of a primary challenge in 2024, and then swapped Biden out when their cover got blown with perhaps the worst possible candidate without even a by your leave at the convention. 

And a relatively clean CR is what prompts their “volcanic anger” at party leadership? Really?

Well, yeah, Jones is correct about that, apparently. Politico reports that the Left is “in a rage” over Schumer’s shutdown cave:

The Democratic base wants a fight. Chuck Schumer won’t give it to them.

The Senate minority leader on Thursday backed away from the shutdown confrontation that many liberal voters and activist leaders had been pushing for — arguing that closing the government would only empower President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk in their bureaucracy-slashing campaign.

That decision sent shockwaves through the left and had many in their ranks seething at a top party leader who had sought to win them over in recent years.

Jones is even correct that Schumer misread the room, but not just in the context of Democrat caucuses. Both he and Jeffries misread the situation months before. They assumed that Trump couldn’t unite the narrow and fractious GOP House majority around a spending plan, and planned that Mike Johnson and Trump would have to come to them to get the rest of the budget completed. Schumer could have forced the issue in December, but instead insisted on a CR as a trap for Johnson and Trump. 

When that trap failed, Schumer should have immediately recognized the loss and shrugged it off. Instead, he whipped up his caucus for a fight that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Forcing a shutdown plays right into Trump’s hands, and Schumer should have known that without being told. Democrats threatened to hold a metaphorical hostage that Republicans have been trying to metaphorically shoot for decades. At some point, Democrats would have had no choice but to pass Johnson’s CR.

Schumer should have explained that to both caucuses right off the bat. Instead, he stupidly went on the Senate floor and promised a Pickett’s Charge right into Trump’s fortified center, raising expectations that Democrats could actually win that frontal assault. And that’s because Schumer’s no Mitch McConnell — he’s a glorified tactician without a strategic bone in his entire body, just like his despicable mentor Harry Reid.

If Democrats have reason to be angry, it’s not for Schumer’s cave but for his initial idiotic braggadocio. But even more, Democrats should be angry at themselves for painting themselves into an incoherent political corner. They are so addled by Trump hatred that they literally have nothing else to offer voters who just put Trump back in office. That hatred keeps blinding them, leading them into ridiculous stunts of political petulance out of sheer obstructionism. 

In other words, it ain’t just Schumer who’s misreading the room these days.