President Donald Trump in a strongly worded Truth Social post published on Saturday evening heavily criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, for his demands in exchange for ending his party’s filibuster of every nominee the president puts before the Senate.
Democrats are stalling the process, dragging it out and eating into the Senate recess and frustrating their counterparts across the aisle – as well as the president, who suggested the Republicans should tell Schumer and Democrats to “GO TO HELL!”
Newsweek reached out to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office by email outside of normal business hours on Saturday evening for comment.
Why It Matters
Trump still has a slate of nominees needing confirmation by the Senate, but Democrats have refused to simply pass them, even as Trump demands that his nominees “should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT” and serve his administration.
The Democrats have forced procedural votes on almost all of Trump’s picks, which means the Senate has to debate and approve the rules of voting before each nominee confirmation – a process that has forced the Senate to delay its annual August recess and forcing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to keep the Senate in session over the weekend to try and push through as many nominees as possible.
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What To Know
Thune ahead of the weekend said he would leave negotiations to Trump and Schumer, telling reporters on Friday: “That’s how this is going to get resolved. We’ll see where that leads.”
That approach has ultimately led to Trump lashing out at Schumer on Truth Social after a day of back and forth, thought it remains unclear what Schumer is asking of Trump in exchange for allowing the confirmations to proceed at a normal pace.
Trump instead blasted “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer” and claimed the senator was “demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our Country.”
“This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted,” Trump wrote. “It is political extortion, by any other name.”
“Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!” he continued. “Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
In a previous post, Trump said he was “Very proud of our great Republican Senators for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
He also said in that earlier post that the “Democrats want our Country to fail, because they have failed. Thank you to Senator John Thune and our Republican Warriors in the Senate. Fight and WIN. I am with you all the way!!!”
He later in the evening posted two further messages – one in which he called the Democrats “EXTORTIONISTS WHO ALMOST DESTROYED OUR COUNTRY,” and one in which he again praised “A great job done” by Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for their work on passing the One Big Beautiful Bill.
However, Democrats have indicated they have no desire to give in so quickly, even as they see a chance to retreat and regroup after months of unsuccessfully trying to get any concessions on Trump’s bill and failing to prevent the passage of a Recissions Bill, which has gutted some public funding.
Three Republicans have at times worked with Democrats throughout the process: Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine – and Trump has criticized all of them at various times throughout the week in Truth Social posts.
What Happens Next
The Senate still has to see to dozens of nominations, according to The Associated Press.
Confirming all of them with the current process that Democrats have pursued could take months, but the Senate may simply go on recess for August and return to fight it out again in September.
