How bad was the defeat Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer suffered in the spending bill battle?
So bad that the left-wing media can’t even spin it as a victory.
“Schumer, Facing Backlash From Democrats, Says He’ll Take ‘the Bullets,’ ” one New York Times headline reads.
“[Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez [below, near right] Lashes Out at Schumer Over His Support for G.O.P. Measure,” says another.
Axios reports that “House Dems go into ‘complete meltdown’ as Schumer folds.”
Donald President Trump’s march through the Washington swamp is producing enormous changes each day, and we can add to the list his reversal of the usual dynamic of shutdown politics.
The test of which side will blink first is a game Dems almost always win because they enjoy two advantages: They stay united while the GOP usually fractures and they can count on the media to blame Republicans, no matter the facts.
This time, Trump flipped both issues.
He lobbied House Republicans to pass the spending bill, and only one, the foolish Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against it.
Facing a united GOP majority in both chambers, and knowing they could not escape blame if the government shut down, the Dems fractured and handed Republicans a huge victory.
The fact that Schumer didn’t have any good options hasn’t stopped Dems from forming a circular firing squad.
Nancy Pelosi, former House speaker and his partner in crime for years, abandoned him. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also wouldn’t defend his fellow Brooklynite.
Clinging to past agenda
The larger problem for Dems is that they still cling to the Biden-Harris agenda of big government, high taxes and soft on crime and illegal immigration.
That whole election thing where people demanded big change eluded them.
Even on cultural issues, they’re stuck in the past.
Fighting to allow men in women’s locker rooms and use DEI as an excuse for racism are dead letters for most Americans.
In fact, most of the nation has turned the page on nearly everything that defined Democrats over the past decade.
That makes this a revolution — the Trump revolution.
It’s what he promised and it’s what he’s delivering.
The president is doing it by putting on a master class in the accumulation and use of power.
He’s commanding the airwaves and the public conversation with a nonstop stream of orders, actions and commentary.
The whole world is watching the Oval Office, which has become a beehive of activity and the scene of almost daily press conferences.
It’s live television and audiences have never seen anything like the spontaneous blowup with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump called it “great TV” and it was that and more — a rare, real-time view of the government sausage being made.
Try to imagine Biden’s behavior in an explosive event like that.
His handlers would have panicked and stopped it as soon as it went off script because he couldn’t function without cue cards and cheat sheets.
And what if it happened on a day where the former president had trouble staying awake?
His presidency would have ended there and then.
But the change from Biden to Trump isn’t the whole story.
Compared to his first term, this is also a different Trump.
He has said the near-miss of the Pennsylvania shooter gives him a greater sense of gratitude and a belief in divine purpose.
He’s definitely calmer, more focused and less likely to get blown off course by criticism or resistance.
Also, his choice of a Cabinet and top aides are better reflections of him than his first-term team was.
Like him, they are not wasting time by easing in to their jobs.
From Stephen Miller and Vice President J.D. Vance in the White House to Marco Rubio at the State Department and Linda McMahon at Education, they are embracing their assignments with a zeal that reflects the energy and purpose of the man who appointed them.
Then there’s the incomparable Elon Musk, who has turned the search for a more efficient government into an experience for the ages.
My view is that the four years where Trump was out of power made him better prepared to use that power effectively when he regained it.
This is the president he wanted to be.
The best example is the methodical way he’s dismantling the infrastructure of the permanent government, which also is a source of Democrat power.
Johns Hopkins University announced last week that it cut more than 2,000 jobs after losing $800 million in funding from the US Agency for International Development, an unaccountable outlet that Trump is reducing to a shadow of itself.
In a sign of the bloat, Johns Hopkins said most of those being let go were international employees, with 1,975 workers across 44 countries cut.
Only 247 jobs were ended in America.
The case of Columbia University demonstrates another blow to a Democrat stronghold.
The White House decision to cancel $400 million in contracts and grants because the Ivy League school violated the civil rights of Jewish students during riots and protests is shaking much of elite higher education.
Equally important are Trump’s efforts to deport foreign students who committed crimes and supported Hamas and Hezbollah.
With 60 other schools in the same crosshairs as Columbia, it’s clear that the goal is to extract a penalty for past failure and force them to do now what they were required to do all along.
Trump has also added pressure through a general reduction of research funds, which is sparking battles among faculty on various campuses about who and what will be cut and whether to cooperate or fight back.
Media panic
Meanwhile, the panic among the left-wing media is priceless as they see their progressive allies get jerked back to reality.
“Reign of terror: Universities freeze hiring, rescind offers, start layoffs amid Trump cuts,” screamed The Boston Globe.
It then lowered the volume, saying in the next sentence that “Trump has plunged the nation’s top research universities into a period of austerity.”
So which is it: a reign of terror or a period of austerity?
To the hate-Trump media, there’s no difference.
To be sure, setbacks are inevitable, with many federal judges eager to tie this president’s hands.
And Trump is playing with economic fire with his herky-jerky threats of tariffs.
Still, his start contains the seeds of a great presidency, even if the media approaches every day with a hair-on-fire attitude.
Coverage of his Friday speech at the Department of Justice illustrated the intentional distortion.
The claims that he is out for revenge because he accused Biden of weaponizing Justice and the courts for political purposes overlooks a key fact: Biden is guilty as charged.
Even the Times reported in 2022 that Biden made it known to Attorney General Merrick Garland that he wanted Trump prosecuted.
Garland obeyed and Trump was charged in four criminal cases — all by Democrat prosecutors.
Mere coincidence?
Hardly.
Finally and thankfully, the stables are being cleaned out.
