Is Chuck Schumer the Left’s Unlikely Savior?

Image by getty images

By Nathan Guttman January 25, 2017

Chuck Schumer has been called many things in his life. “Leftist” was never one of them.

But in the post-election era with his new role as Senate Minority Leader, the Jewish New York senator is now proudly carrying the title, as described in a recent article in The Hill which explained how Schumer is emerging as “new champion of the left.”

Initially, Schumer was all about finding areas of cooperation with the Trump administration and creating a “big tent” policy, but it didn’t take much for Schumer to learn that Democratic constituents aren’t interested in playing nice. Shortly after, Schumer was already willing to state that his views “are exactly the same as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.”

Schumer embraced the role of chief opposer to Trump in full. In recent weeks he has taken on the fight for keeping Obamacare and shot down compromise ideas raised by moderate Republicans. He is also leading the fight against some of Trump’s cabinet nominees, mainly that of Jeff Sessions, Trump’s appointee for Attorney General.

Trump has maintained a love-hate relationship with Schumer. Back in early January, Trump told Schumer that he likes him more than Republican leaders of Congress, but later he described the Democratic leader as a “clown”.

The two New Yorkers’ special relationship did not go unnoticed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who quipped after Trump’s meeting with congressional leaders this week: “I enjoyed listening to the president and Schumer talking about all the people they knew in New York.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO