Chuck Schumer has got to go
Plan beats no plan
"Let's go along with the option that hurts fewer people now" is the key delusion that drives opposition leaders to hand authoritarians the reigns to power. It is the one Minority Leader Schumer is now invoking to avoid a government shutdown.
The problem with this logic is that it gives no thought to what comes next. The Trump administration has been quite transparent about their goals, and even how they plan to go about accomplishing them. Impoundment began with USAID--a low hanging fruit because of the (mistaken) belief that it only hurts people abroad. Policing free speech has started with the deportation of a permanent resident with views many find disagreeable. Reigning in the academy has started with Columbia University for the same reason. The common theme is to start with the easy targets, because it keeps the opposition merely simmering and in disarray.
The continuing resolution is the budgeting version of this strategy. The cuts will be bad, but a government shutdown will be worse. This may well be true today, but it suffers from the myopia of thinking that's the end of the story. And a failure to think about what comes next, and preparing in advance, is ultimately why Chuck Schumer has to go.
A government shutdown will be terrible, but it is not clearly worse than the endpoint the Trump administration is steering us towards. Instead, it has the benefit of galvanizing the opposition in a single moment. The only hope we have is for everyone who will eventually be in the administration's crosshairs to realize it at the same time, before each individual group has been quietly disappeared. Schumer is now forfeiting this chance.
Now I understand reasonable people may disagree about this particular decision, and that Schumer has both more information than I do and a lifetime of political experience. So why should anyone pay any attention to a random economics professor?
The key problem I want to raise is that the events of the past week make perfectly clear that the Democrats are not executing a strategy. There is no plan. We are in the midst of a vote to give the Trump administration everything they want in the 11th hour. Had the minority leader not looked at his calendar? Did this catch him by surprise?
The alternative Schumer has been pushing for (and failing to achieve) is 30 more days of this lawless madness. Sorry, he wants an extension? Did he not know in mid-February that a budget deadline was coming up? It is not credible to argue that what we are witnessing is the result of Democratic leadership skillfully navigating a well-anticipated scenario. I would suggest there's both a lack of skill and anticipation.
The stakes are far too high to muddle through without a plan, and that is ultimately a question of leadership. Whether you believe the Democrats should withhold their cooperation with the Trump administration or not, it is inexcusable to proceed without a well-considered approach to what comes next.
Senator Schumer’s strategy is to choose the least bad option sitting in front of him, with no attention to how his decisions today affect what options will be left tomorrow. He’s got to go.