Summary

Democratic divisions intensified as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Pelosi sharply criticized Chuck Schumer for supporting a Republican-led funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.

AOC called Schumer’s decision a “betrayal,” urging Senate Democrats to reject the legislation backed by Trump and Elon Musk. Pelosi called the bill a “devastating assault” on working families.

Schumer defended his stance, arguing a shutdown would empower Trump and Musk further.

The controversy sparked suggestions among Democrats that AOC might challenge Schumer in a primary.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      She would have to be in the senate to take over senate leadership in the short term. For his seat itself, there’s been house members - including moderates - starting to support the idea her primarying him when his term is up in 2028

      Several members — including moderates — have begun voicing support for a primary challenge to Schumer, floating Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) as possible candidates, three House Democrats said.

      https://www.axios.com/2025/03/14/house-democrats-angry-chuck-schumer-shutdown

    • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Spinelessness is the chief defining quality of the entire Democratic Party. There are very few individual exceptions and those people need to start a new party. The US needs a real progressive party. The establishment Dems have made it very clear they won’t support a true progressive candidate, so what’s the point of bending the knee to these fuckers any longer?

      • formulaBonk@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        And honestly now is the time to do it. I have absolutely zero faith we will have honest elections in the next couple decades so splitting the funding between neo lib corpocrats and an actual progressive party for the people will not affect the crooked elections under trump since they won’t win anyway. The time for progress is NOW

      • kreskin@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Its hard to decide if they are spineless or complicit. Not that it amounts to much of a difference in the end.

    • CitricBase@lemmy.world
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      Primary Schumer, of course, but his term is up in 2028. AOC herself might be more focused on a separate race that particular year.

        • rigatti@lemmy.world
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          He’ll be 78 in 2028. He probably will bow out of politics by then to turn things over to a younger generation.

          Wait, who am I kidding?

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          I’m genuinely not sure that’s realistic.

          You’re just saying that because an AOC win would conclusively disprove the DNC’s mantra that Hillary and Kamala lost because of misogyny and not neoliberalism, so they’ll be desperate to stop her from becoming the candidate.

          • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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            1 month ago

            I would love it if she did win and disproved it. I’m just cautious of assuming that it’s a slam dunk. And I am also very cognizant that she is a conservative boogeyman, and that she’s made a LOT of staunch enemies in the DNC establishment (I hope that last bit won’t matter as much in 28, but who knows)

            • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              DNC establishment candidates are proven losers IMO. Only Biden won as a DNC establishment candidate in the last 20 years. The rest of the milquetoast horseshit from the DNC has lost national elections regularly and thoroughly.

              Obama won despite the DNC, not because of it, and he largely sat outside of its apparatus for his entire two terms. John Kerry was garbage. HRC was garbage. Harris would’ve been somewhat exciting if she’d been 2020 Harris, but instead she was a DNC robot candidate that had flipped all of her progressive positions to appease the DNC apparatus…with predictable results.

              • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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                1 month ago

                It always breaks my brain when people talk about Bernie as Democrat, let alone establishment Democrat. He’s Independent, and only joins them to run in their presidential primaries.

                This is not a criticism of Bernie by any means. He just realizes you have no chance to be president if you aren’t part of a party.

        • formulaBonk@lemm.ee
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          In 28 the chance of fair elections is less than zero. I don’t imagine anything than every state being declared red regardless of outcome and of course nobody doing anything about it.

          • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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            1 month ago

            Then why are you even discussing electrical politics? If that is what you really believe, then you should be building bombs, not discussing politics.

            • formulaBonk@lemm.ee
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              One because i won’t encourage anyone to build mass death devices? But two because I want to and at least for now we’re allowed to? Who are you the fucking discussion police?

          • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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            1 month ago

            the amount of rigging from the last 2 election was not addressed one bit, and the MSM for obvious reasons will never report it as well.

        • chilicheeselies@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          If she is ever going to be president, she has to win a senate seat. Thats where we find out if its possible. I think it is becauae she isbwilling to put in thw work.

      • earphone843@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        I hope it’s as VP, though. I would love for her to run for president, but the country isn’t close to mature enough for that to happen.

        Waltz would be the perfect choice.

        • spacequetzal@lemm.ee
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          “AOC is amazing, but…”

          I have never understood this rhetoric.

          She is more than qualified, has enough experience where she is out there educating her colleagues & the public about governmental processes and barriers, AND she speaks in a way that resonates with the working class AND younger generations.

          Her Among Us Twitch stream was a brilliant way to connect with her younger constituents and made her approachable.

          She does the same thing Bernie does, going out to rural America and speaking with the working class voters that feel unheard and abandoned.

          At Congress, she ain’t fucking scared to speak truth to power.

          And most important, she has demonstrated that she is impossible to buy.

          This whole rhetoric that because she’s a woman Americans won’t vote for her:

          No. Hilary is a crook and she still won the popular vote. If the electoral college wasn’t a thing, she would have been president.

          Kamala came in way too fucking late thanks to Biden. But even so, her policies were still pandering to corporations and the rich, although it is undeniable she would have been vastly superior to Trump which is why she got my vote.

          Whether America is ready for a female president or not is not the issue.

          America needs someone who will be strong against corporate interests and bring forth universal healthcare.

          • earphone843@sh.itjust.works
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            It’s because a large portion of America is both sexist and racist. She should be a no brainer to win, but Trump should have been a no brainer to lose.

            • spacequetzal@lemm.ee
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              We can’t pander to the worst of us.

              You’d be shocked at how well people respond to someone genuine like AOC, especially because voters on all sides recognize her name and her spirit, especially because she makes healthcare access & relief her focus.

              • earphone843@sh.itjust.works
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                1 month ago

                You have to be pragmatic, though. There’s a time and place to push for progress, and this isn’t either. You need to stop the house from burning down before you can renovate it.

                If 2028 even happens, it’ll be a fight to reclaim the country. That means the person with the best chance of winning needs to run. AOC is not that person this year.

                You have to remember that the vast majority citizens aren’t anywhere near as informed on anything related to politics as the people here are. This is by design thanks to mass media. You have to field a person that appeals to the most people, and a Hispanic woman doesn’t do that.

                It’s really fucking stupid that things are this way, but people are really fucking stupid. Tim Waltz is a very likable old white man, and that’s what will win an election.

          • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Kamala came in way too fucking late thanks to Biden. But even so, her policies were still pandering to corporations and the rich, although it is undeniable she would have been vastly superior to Trump which is why she got my vote.

            I think what’s been proven is that the US will not vote overwhelmingly for a DNC robo-woman candidate.

            It’s still America. There are people who voted for two terms of Obama and then flipped to Trump. Hell, there are some people who voted for Biden in 2020 and then Trump in 2024.

            Perhaps most voters in the country have absolutely zero fixed values or do any meaningful analysis into who they are voting for. It’s vibes-based and perhaps always has been.

            All that said, I don’t think it’s been proven or disproven that the US will not vote for a woman candidate that aligns with the country’s “vibes” at the moment so to speak.

            The data doesn’t look very good that America will vote overwhelmingly for a woman for president based upon the limited results we have so far…but they did vote to send Harris into the east wing before she had been thoroughly unmasked as a corporate drone…so that’s something positive.

            It easily could be that the American electorate is just way more misogynist than it is racist. 🤷 We’ll never know without running a reasonably charismatic woman candidate with non-corporate drone policies though.

          • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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            1 month ago

            I think this is the classic “she’ll have to work twice as hard for half as much” that the right-leaning voters will insist on to vote anyone for president who isn’t a white man.

    • Xanza@lemm.ee
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      24 days ago

      It’s a great idea. And I hope she does. But his seat doesn’t expire isn’t until 2029.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Schumer’s argument is shit. They’re going to go after government agencies with or without the funding bill. With the finding bill they get to choose. Without it they have to shut down everything. Passing that bill means they get more maneuvering room, not less.

    • makyo@lemmy.world
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      And with a shutdown the Dems would get to shout about ‘the GOP shutdown’ for however long it lasts which would also help to galvanize the public against MAGA.

      • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Fucking THIS. These feckless cunts couldn’t even be bothered to frame it as the GOP’s fault? They’re going to blame you for anything bad that happens anyway, look at their track record for the past ever.

      • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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        There have been government shutdowns caused by Republicans in the past and they were never blamed on the Republicans. Hell, the Republicans blamed Dems for making them do it and it stuck.

        Do not assume Democrats have any ability to control the optics of a situation at all. They are feckless.

  • MithranArkanere@lemmy.world
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    Apparently it’s only “compromise” when it aligns with corporate interests. When it’s about the benefit of the people, it somehow becomes “extremism”.

    • obvs@lemm.ee
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      Unfortunately, he’s not up for reelection until 2028, at which time he’d be 78 years old, so probably wouldn’t be running anyway.

      • ansiz@lemmy.world
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        Is this your first time? American politicians don’t give up power just because they are old. Feinstein, McConnell, Biden, Thurmond are just a few examples.

      • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        And by then all of the positive things our government used to do will have been demolished we’ll all be too sick and exhausted to care anymore.

      • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        i think thats why they go scorched earth, and nothing to lose type of voting, they are trying to get as much money out of it as possible.

  • Debs@lemmy.zip
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    AOC needs to form a new party or at least go independent with Bernie. I’d really like an alternative to the Democrats because I’ll never be voting for them again.

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
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      No. She’s on a path that will shape the democrats of the future. If she leaves she will become irrelevant, and she knows it.

        • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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          the gop’s schism of the maga, it already has occured with them, most of them had to embrace maga or risk getting primaried by trump aligned maga gop. there isnt one for the DNC yet

    • Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works
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      That’s why I’m shocked people are shocked. It’s a shame they have to do exactly what he says.

      😐

      • kreskin@lemmy.world
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        and they can haul Pelosis carcass out as they go. They should prop her up at the stock exchange where she really works.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    We will NEVER make progress by compromising with those who will not compromise with us in return.

    • HiddenLychee@lemmy.world
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      As far left as I am, that would guarantee the Republicans would win every election until we get ranked choice vote

        • HiddenLychee@lemmy.world
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          Honestly how I’m feeling these days. I honestly think their preferred state is not being in power, that way they don’t have to keep any promises and get to keep their jobs all while doing nothing but complaining about Republicans.

      • tamal3@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        This is what we need to be talking about as a country right now. How do we open up the political binary to include viable third parties? Does that require proportional representation? Does that require a parliamentary system?

        I know in NC getting a third party on the ballot requires signatures and a portion of the vote in the previous election. Those bars are too high and risky. What is another path?

    • girlthing
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      sizzling hot take: all political parties end up as tools for elites to capture power

      truly a bold and newfangled idea, surely only a few radical extremists could buy into it. surely parliamentary socialists in Meiji-era Japan, for instance, would never derive this dangerous concept from first principles

  • psiderman@lemmy.world
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    The only silver lining here is the remote possibility of progressive Democrats breaking out to form their own party. At least then the US will have a legitimate opposition party.

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
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    Cloture is by no means a certainty yet: If your senator hasn’t stated their position yet, there’s still time to call them. With any luck, this will be the beginning of the end for Cowardly Chuck’s leadership.

    Edit: specifically saying “Vote no on cloture” tells them you’re highly engaged and highly likely to vote.

    • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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      I finally got someone on the phone at Hickenlooper’s office this morning. They’re saying he’s now committing to voting no on cloture, which he wouldn’t confirm at his town hall a couple days ago, so this is absolutely accurate. Getting engaged works people. You just gotta make sure they’re more afraid of us than they are of the Oligarchs, and our advantage is numbers. Overwhelm them.

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    His vile cowardice is something I’m seeing people talk about, but the sheer stupidity of it isn’t touched on.

    CHUCK. HE IS GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU! THE D NEXT TO YOUR NAME MAY AS WELL BE THE STAR OF DAVID ON YOUR CHEST YOU DUMB FUCK! DICTATORS DO NOT LET “OPPOSITION” PARTY MEMBERS LIVE. NO MATTER HOW HELPFUL THEY WERE IN GIVING THEM POWER!

    Like are you fucking stupid?

    • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
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      There’s plenty of opposition parties in Russia, for example. They’re just all controlled. They use intentional gaffs to throw the election to the “correct” winner. If they start getting too uppity and stop following orders, they get banned from running on some technicality.

      Navalny is what happens when even that doesn’t work, but he was very much the exception.