POLITICO Nightly: Chuck Schumer’s emergency media tour

 

By Ben Jacobs Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) calls on a reporter during a press conference at the Capitol on March 25. | Francis Chung/POLITICO ‘A 90’S DEMOCRAT’ — One of the most enduring and hackneyed lines in American politics is the most dangerous place in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a television camera. Long before Schumer had risen to become the top Democrat in the Senate, let alone even been elected to the Senate, the New Yorker was known for his zeal in pursuing earned media. His Sunday news conferences became landmarks and occasionally punchlines as he created content for reporters often focusing on local concerns that would be easily digestible for the 11 o’clock news with simple solutions that the government could take to address them. Who can forget his public crusade against Four Loko , the highly caffeinated malt liquor drink which was all the rage in the early Obama era? Schumer has continued to be a ubiquitous presence on television lately, only with a different end game. He’s undertaken a wide ranging media tour in the weeks since he enraged his party’s grassroots by voting for a continuing resolution that would keep the government open, and its success or failure could determine his fate as Democratic Senate leader. In an effort to deal with the intense blowback to his vote — and the calls for him to step down from his post — the New York Democrat has been making his case across television networks, appearing on cable news, Sunday shows and even The View to defend his decision and argue that keeping the government open was the lesser of two evils. As one former Schumer aide, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly, said, “it reminded me of those old days where the idea was, just get him on everywhere you possibly can, because he had, he has this sort of conviction that if he can just explain what he’s thinking or what he’s doing, people will be persuaded.” The aide cited a parallel to the PR strategy that Democrat Pete Buttigieg used during his long-shot presidential campaign where a constant array of media appearances elevated him from obscure Indiana mayor to the winner of the Iowa caucuses. For Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of Indivisible, the grassroots progressive group which has called on Schumer to step down after supporting the continuing resolution, the Senate Democratic leader had fundamentally misunderstood the moment. Levin argued that Schumer “doesn’t understand how the 21st century media ecosystem works, he’s fighting like a 1990s Democrat.” In other words, like Four Loko, Schumer’s model of flooding the media zone is a relic of the aughts. In Levin’s view — and in the view of many progressives — there are two leadership models, “either a charismatic effective spokesman who rallies the troops who convinces people on sidelines” or a savvy strategist and Schumer is neither. In particular, he contrasted Schumer with Mitch McConnell, Schumer’s longtime foil as leader of Senate Republicans. “McConnell is terrifyingly effective,” said Levin. In contrast, “what we saw from Schumer not just last week but over the last several months, is a non strategy of rolling over and playing dead.” Another former Schumer aide echoed the McConnell analogy, but for different reasons. “The [conservative] base hates McConnell and the Republican side until he gets a judge confirmed, and the [progressive] base is frustrated with Chuck until he shepherds through the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill, and all of a sudden they’re all saying that he’s the second coming of LBJ, yeah. And then you get into a shutdown fight, that’s not a winnable fight.” The former aide paraphrased Shakespeare in describing Schumer’s situation as “heavy lies the head that wears the crown.” Anthony Weiner, a former Schumer staffer who later replaced him in Congress after Schumer’s election to the Senate, observed that the Democratic leader has been in this position before. “I would have versions of this conversation with Chuck when I was in the House and he was in the Senate. And I would be campaigning for Medicare for all, and I would be campaigning for the public option, and I would be describing myself as from the fighting wing of the Democratic Party,” he said. Weiner recalled Schumer “climbing up my ass over that saying, ‘the implication I don’t fight is insulting, and it’s wrong. My job is to fight for a bigger thing and you have the benefit of being the guy on MSNBC.’ And my answer was, ‘yes, I’m not the fucking majority leader, and I’m an ambitious guy who cares a lot about the issue.’ And I freely admit, and I would say this, and I really admit that I had the ability and the latitude to say and do things that maybe he didn’t and he argues he was being the adult in the room.” The question now is whether being “the adult in the room” will pay off. As one former Schumer aide pointed out, “what he’s learned from his experience in the New York media market is to communicate your message to as many fucking people as you can. And if that means old school, go old school, if that means new school and do social that means that.” The problem is the medium isn’t relevant if the Democrats voters simply don’t like the message. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at bjacobs@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @Bencjacobs .   Cut through policy complexity and turn intelligence into action with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant—a new suite of tools designed to save you time and demonstrate your impact more easily than ever—available only to Pro subscribers. Save hours, uncover critical insights instantly, and stay ahead of the next big shift. Power your strategy today— learn more .     What'd I Miss? ****KAROLINE LEAVITT IS A BLEACH BLOND BRAIN DEAD INCOMPETENT***** — White House press secretary declines to rule out firings over Signal leak scandal: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t rule out that someone would lose their job over the Signal leak scandal during a briefing this afternoon. Leavitt was asked by a reporter if she would definitively say that no one would be fired after a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal thread with top U.S. officials discussing military plans. “What I can say definitively is what I just spoke to the president about, and he continues to have confidence in his national security team,” Leavitt said, evading the question. Leavitt confirmed that Trump has seen the entirety of the group chat messages released by The Atlantic and refused to call the information in the chat classified, instead referring to it as “a sensitive policy discussion.” ****TRUMP TRADE WAR WILL HAVE DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES - SEE  SMOOT-HAWLEY TARIFF ACT — EU expects Trump to set flat, double-digit tariff on April 2: Countries in the European Union are likely to face a flat, double-digit tariff on all goods as part of the “reciprocal” tariffs President Donald Trump has promised to unveil on April 2. The final tariff rate is still fluid, according to three diplomats, who were briefed on European trade chief Maroš Šefčovič’s Tuesday meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and were granted anonymity to share details of the private briefing. The tariffs are expected to kick in at midnight on April 3, the people were told. ****NATO LITHUANIA - NO DETAILS?**** — Four American soldiers who went missing in Lithuania have died, NATO leader says: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said today that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania have died , but that he did not yet know the details. A U.S. official would say only that the four soldiers were involved in a training accident. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on the status of the soldiers. ****DOG KILLER KRISTI NOEM & FEMA***** THIS IMPACTS RED STATES THAT HAVE SUFFERED FROM CATASTROPHIC EVENTS! **** — New Noem plan leaves FEMA on the chopping block : Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has privately voiced support for dramatically shrinking the Federal Emergency Management Agency , six people told POLITICO’s E&E News. Noem told Trump administration officials in a meeting Tuesday at Department of Homeland Security headquarters that she wants to eliminate FEMA’s role in funding long-term rebuilding efforts and halt multibillion-dollar grant programs that help communities prepare for disasters. No decisions have been made, and it is unclear if certain FEMA functions would be removed from the federal government or be relocated to another agency or department. ****TRUMP MINDLESS DEI BOOGEYMAN!****  IT'S CALLED RACISM! — Trump asks Supreme Court for OK to cut teacher-training money as part of anti-DEI push: The Trump administration today asked the Supreme Court to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training . A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage. An appeals court turned away a plea from the administration to allow them to resume. The government asked the high court to step in, arguing that the order is one of several issued by federal judges around the country wrongly forcing it to keep paying out millions in grant money. The Supreme Court called for a response to the appeal by Friday. AROUND THE WORLD Apartment buildings and houses are pictured in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 24. | Juliette Pavy/AFP via Getty Images ****GREENLAND UNWELCOME!**** ICY RECEPTION — The U.S. delegation’s toned-down Arctic itinerary has been met with cautious relief from Denmark and Greenland . The officials’ decision to only visit a U.S. military base instead of the initially planned broader trip — which was loudly decried as aggressive, considering Washington’s designs on the self-ruling Danish territory — is “wise,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. “I think it’s a much wiser decision to visit the military installation than to interfere in what is happening in Greenlandic politics — in a situation where no government has been formed,” Lund Poulsen said today. Vice President JD Vance said he would join his wife, U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance, on a modified trip to Greenland announced earlier this week. They will be accompanied by the U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. LOAN DENIAL — Southern European states are rebuffing a European Commission plan to turbocharge defense spending with cheap loans , fearing it would add to their already heavy debt burdens. The resistance, led by France, Italy and Spain, dealt a significant setback to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s drive to boost Europe’s military autonomy. Her proposal, which includes a €150 billion loan package and an emergency clause to loosen EU fiscal rules, was intended to unlock major new investments in defense and reduce the bloc’s reliance on U.S. protection. But the stalemate now risks derailing Brussels’ plan to funnel more weapons from Europe to Ukraine. Nightly Number $1 billion The amount of money that a group of private equity firms is paying to Dollar Tree for its suite of Family Dollar stores . Dollar Tree Inc. bought Family Dollar with its over 7,000 stores a decade ago for more than $8 billion. RADAR SWEEP SHOT AT THE BORDER — The Texas-Mexico border has long been of interest to filmmakers and television producers, but usually only in one context — violence. But as of late, there’s been a new push from local filmmakers along the Rio Grande to depict life in the area as is, largely free from cartel violence. It’s sparked a “Border New Wave” storytelling that has begun to dominate cinema in Texas and spread throughout the country. And it’s also shone a spotlight on many of the challenges that local filmmakers in Texas face. Ryan Cantú reports for The Texas Observer. Parting Image On this date in 1970: Members of the Apollo 13 crew leave the launch site after finishing a count down demonstration in the Apollo 13 spaceship at Cape Kennedy in Florida. The mission, which would have been the third moon landing, was ultimately aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module exploded two days in, forcing the astronauts to circle around the moon and return back to earth safely. | Bill Hudson/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   Follow us

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