On Tuesday, the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View finally got their highly anticipated chance to rage and vent at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for leading nine other Democrats to vote for the Republican Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Their reactions ranged from simply asking “why” to questioning his ability to lead and suggesting he should “step aside” as a leader of the party and make way for younger radicals.
They kicked off the show with a conversation about who the options were to lead the party, with moderator Whoopi Goldberg making clear that the cast had a stake in it. “[W]hich Democrat do you see stepping up to lead the party?” she asked. “[Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) is] not wrong when he says the party is us and what are we going -- what are we prepared to do?”
When Schumer finally came on, over 10 minutes later, Goldberg immediately pressed him on why he wanted to avoid a government shutdown. “I'm just going to throw it out there. Why? What were you thinking, and why?” she asked simply.
“Okay. So look, I knew it was a difficult choice and I knew that I'd get a lot of criticism for my choice but I felt as a leader I had to do it,” Schumer defended himself. “And here's what would happen if we cut off government spending. It would be devastation like we have never seen.”
It did little to dissuade the angry liberal ladies.
Pretend independent Sara Haines came out swinging with a question questioning his leadership given he was only able to convince nine of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate to follow him:
You mentioned this is what a leader does and we were just talking in our last segment about we aren't seeing a clear leader of the party because – even though I agree with you, with your decision and I see why, but you were only able to get nine Democrats to go with you. How is that leadership?
Co-host Joy Behar was angry at Schumer over a Trump post on social media congratulating him on voting to fund the government, suggesting Trump managed to pull one over on him or that they possibly worked together. Schumer and other cast members had to explain to her that Trump was just trolling him (Click “expand”):
BEHAR: If what you're saying is true, how do you explain the fact that Friday Trump publicly congratulated you for this decision? He said you did the right thing he said your decision, quote, unquote, “took guts and courage.” Was he trying to trick you?
SCHUMER: Troll me.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: He's trolling.
SCHUMER: He was trolling me. I know this guy.
BEHAR: It's so confusing, though. People are reading that!
SCHUMER: Well he's trying to confuse people. He always tries to confuse people.
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin, who boasted about voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, came at Schumer from the left and pressed him on leaving Democratic leadership to get out of the way of up and coming radicals. She even cited his behind-the-scenes work to get former President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“There seems to be a disconnect between the younger generation and some of the newly elected Democrats and yours,” she prefaced. “Do you believe that the party has confidence in you to continue to serve as its leader, and as somebody who was influential in helping Biden's decision to step aside, do you think it might be for you too?”
The outrage directed at Schumer from co-host Sunny Hostin took on a more personal tone, especially after she lamented: “And it gives me no pleasure to say this to you because we are friends, but I think you caved.”
Adding: “I think you and nine other Democrats caved. I don’t think you showed the fight that this party needs right now, because you're playing by a rule book where the other party has thrown that rule book away.”
“Why did you lead Democratic senators to play by that book that the Republicans are not playing by?” she demanded to know.
Schumer also made headlines during the interview when he bitterly lashed out at Americans who wanted to keep their hard-earned money and didn’t want to pay excessive taxes. “You know what their attitude is, 'I made my money all by myself. How dare your government take my money from me?'” he decried. “They hate government, government is a barrier to people. A barrier to stop them from doing things."
Dem Senate leader Chuck Schumer mocks Americans who want to keep their hard-earned income and praises the government as a "barrier" to them:
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 18, 2025
"You know what their attitude is, 'I made my money all by myself. How dare your government take my money from me?' ... They hate… pic.twitter.com/vb4oDxPQ3V
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
March 18, 2025
11:03:36 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: And voters also said they're looking for leadership, you know. And so, I guess the question is, which Democrat do you see stepping up to lead the party? I mean, I don't know if this is -- I don't know you can wait for somebody to step up and lead the party. He's [Governor Tim Walz (D-MN)] not wrong when he says the party is us and what are we going -- what are we prepared to do?
(…)
11:14:44 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: I'm just going to throw it out there. Why? What were you thinking, and why?
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Okay. So look, I knew it was a difficult choice and I knew that I'd get a lot of criticism for my choice but I felt as a leader I had to do it. Here's why. The CR bill was bad, no question, and it allowed a slush fund which allowed money to be pushed around.
JOY BEHAR: Explain it for the people who don't know what CR means and what you did.
SCHUMER: CR means continue the government spending. A shutdown, the alternative is cut off the government spending. And here's what would happen if we cut off government spending. It would be devastation like we have never seen.
GOLDBERG: Worse than we're seeing now?
SCHUMER: Much.
(…)
11:17:33 a.m. Eastern
SARA HAINES: You mentioned this is what a leader does and we were just talking in our last segment about we aren't seeing a clear leader of the party because – even though I agree with you, with your decision and I see why, but you were only able to get nine Democrats to go with you. How is that leadership?
(…)
11:19:36 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: But if you're right -- if what you're saying is true, how do you explain the fact that Friday Trump publicly congratulated you for this decision? He said you did the right thing he said your decision, quote, unquote, “took guts and courage.” Was he trying to trick you?
SCHUMER: Troll me.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: He's trolling.
SCHUMER: He was trolling me. I know this guy.
BEHAR: It's so confusing, though. People are reading that!
SCHUMER: Well he's trying to confuse people. He always tries to confuse people.
(…)
11:21:02 a.m. Eastern
FARAH GRIFFIN: Senator, I want to ask you, because I actually agree with your decision to keep government open. I think no one wins, it costs the economy billions of dollars, federal workers are left in the lurch in a shut down, but I'm a Republican. I'm not really your core constituency.
SCHUMER: I have a lot of Republicans who are Republicans.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But some of the progressive members of your caucus – the House caucus are not with you, Jasmine Crockett questioned your leadership and Hakeem Jeffries dodged a question about your alignment over this and obviously voted the other direction. There seems to be a disconnect between the younger generation and some of the newly elected Democrats and yours. Do you believe that the party has confidence in you to continue to serve as its leader, and as somebody who was influential in helping Biden's decision to step aside, do you think it might be for you too?
(…)
11:29:36 a.m. Eastern
SUNNY HOSTIN: And it gives me no pleasure to say this to you because we are friends, but I think you caved. I think you and nine other Democrats caved. I don’t think you showed the fight that this party needs right now, because you're playing by a rule book where the other party has thrown that rule book away.
SCHUMER: True.
HOSTIN: And so, in my view what you did really was, in supporting that GOP partisan bill that Democrats had no input in, you cleared the way for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to gut Social Security, to gut Medicare, to gut Medicaid. Why did you lead Democratic senators to play by that book that the Republicans are not playing by?
SCHUMER: Okay, first I'd say, Sunny, no one wants to fight more than me and no one fights more than me. You got to fight smart.
(…)
