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Gay, Jewish, GOP Presidential Candidate Fred Karger: Fred Who? Our Exclusive Interview

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Fred Karger is openly-gay, a life-long Republican, Jewish, and running for the GOP nomination for President of the United States of America. Long shot? Hey, you never know. Michael Talon in our exclusive interview explains.

“I am a unique individual, living as a gay man, who believes in basic fundamental principles that are at the core of the Republican Party,” said Karger. “Living in (…the politically charged bi-partisan world) for 30 years – made me a strong Republican, vetted with solid credentials. And yet I am a progressive and not just around LGBT issues.”

I will always remember it as a unique and oddly middle-of-the road introduction for a Republican nominee who is facing the steepest uphill battle. “I am running for the Republican Presidential nomination.” Declaring those words as an openly-gay, life-long Republican, Fred Karger, who isn’t a man with an axe to grind against the GOP, instead he is someone with a vision, plan and maybe a little dream – to become a President of the United States of America — for a party that he believes in, caused some of us to look up and take notice.

The idea that a proud and openly-gay man would want to run for the leadership of the country under the banner of the party that has over the past 30 years been on the forefront of the most devastating of blows to the LGBT community is an idea that makes someone stop and think. What motivates a person to do choose this course? Why take on the uphill battle from within the party let alone the battle from your own community against what some may view as a betrayal? Are we giving this a fair and frank analysis or are we allowing our bias and hurt to mar our opinions? I was determined to find out.

In September of 2010, Karger became a few firsts, beginning with putting in his bid for the nomination. A place in history that will forever be bear his name was carved out that day. He is the first Jewish person on a Republican ticket, and closest to home the first openly-gay man to run for the any major political party presidential race.

Many were quick to acknowledge the historical markers that Karger fulfilled, and even quicker to ask what would become a campaign slogan: Who is Fred?

From the Republican glory days under Reagan during some of the darkest of days for the LGBT community, to the battle in California on Prop 8, Karger has been front and center. With nine Presidential campaigns under his belt, time served in the White House under Reagan, Ford and Bush Sr., he has seen the gamut when it comes to the struggles of the American people.

Karger is running for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

I needed to know more about this man – and more importantly the answers to a few questions.

To understand who Karger is I really needed to understand who Karger was.

Who Karger Was

Karger was born on January 31, 1950, in Glencoe, Illinois, a place that most of us see in the movies that begin by boasting happy, white picket fence, “don’t rock the boat” American families. This story however twists when a boy named Fred is born to Jean, an active community volunteer, and Robert S. Karger, who owned a brokerage firm. This family was not one that viewed complacency and the acceptance of intolerance as par for the course, nor as a value of American citizens.

In the early 1900’s, Jewish families immigrated to the U.S. hoping of a world with full equality and understanding. Instead they faced an all too familiar battle against intolerance and hatred. Karger’s great-grandfather, Edwin Foreman helped found and served as the first President of the Associated Jewish Charities in Chicago. His son, Alfred, followed in his father’s footsteps. Here they began a legacy that was instilled in their descendants – help your fellow man and community, face any injustice and rectify it.

The family worked to prevent hate crimes and assist families who faced it. Employment and housing discrimination was a norm that many accepted the Foreman family did not feel that this was the United States that represented the diverse population or the hope and drive that was fueling its expansion.

Activists began to appear on the scene as it grew from a tradition among the family into a quality they admired and instilled in themselves. Jean Foreman Karger spent her entire adult life helping others by volunteering and working in whatever capacity her community needed her without hatred or judgment.

 

“My parents instilled in us as children the importance of helping when any person was in need and to fight, yes fight, for what is right not just what is easy.”

— Fred Karger

 

Karger began in politics during the 1960’s supporting as a volunteer Governor Rockefeller of NY. As a volunteer dealing with phone banks and recruitment he was front seat for learning the grueling hours and truth about campaigns, adrenaline and savvy are the key.

Throughout the 70’s he began to work for varying Republican committees throughout California and was fortunate enough to be part of President Ford’s White House advance staff. During this time he was groomed in the areas of communications and advertising for politicians, learning the key areas for targeting demographics and voter turnout.

From Press Secretary to Director of the Opposition Campaign in 1984 for Reagan, Karger excelled at responding and advancing policy and driving voters support. One such moment was during the Bush/Dukakis 1988 election was a commercial run that will forever immortalize the structure for campaigns today. Willie Horton became a household name that will forever be in the textbooks of every political science major. Many viewed the campaign ad as race baiting and an unfair representation of the responsibility that was held by the Governor in connection with the Willie Horton case. No matter what the opinion of Dukakis and his supporters, the ad worked to polarize a base that came out and voted Bush into office.

Working for 27 years with The Dolphin Group, Karger finally retired as Senior Vice President. With retirement freeing up time and constraints of the role as consultant to politicians, he turned his attention to gay rights. Californians Against Hate was brought to life in 2008 quickly working to publish the DishonorRoll revealing the names of large dollar donors to Prop8. They attempted boycotts of varying businesses, including the Manchester Grand Hyatt, with varied success. During this time, when it was revealed how heavily involved the Church of Latter Day Saints — the Mormon Church — was with the fight in California, Karger turned to the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) filing a complaint based on their financial involvement and the reporting that was done by the Church. After a formal investigation, they were found guilty of 13 different violations and have been ordered to pay fines.

Karger became an influential politico who managed to not only come out as gay during the 80’s, he did so as a Republican and learned that evolution was a lesson that many have still not learned from.

The Fred Karger Interview

Knowing the extent of communications and messaging skills that Karger possesses the concern grew over this interview. Was I going to be listening to another politician spout rhetoric, giving me what I wanted to hear rather than the truth? We requested this interview because of the great move forward this is: having a member of the gay community run in a presidential bid that has outlasted Pawlenty.

As a self-proclaimed progressive, who must reach out to progressive groups while courting the conservative, religious right will be a tight-rope walk few have accomplished. For this reason, The New Civil Rights Movement wanted to extend the opportunity to Karger to discuss this stand and the biggest questions that have remained a blank for many in our community, perhaps even the country. And we had questions…

How would you effectively change the minds of many progressives in this country from feeling that the Democrats equal the voice of the people, whereas the Republicans equal the voice of the White Rich Corporate Class?

Could you remain faithful to the large corporate backers of the Republican Party while maintaining forward, inclusive ideals that would move the country to an equal for all, middle of the road?

Will you be able to stand up to the members of GetEQUAL, RAN and other groups and tell them intolerance is not acceptable in America?

Ultimately, why run for a party that has a loud, omnipresent and controlling rhetoric and voting bloc that is anti-gay, anti-immigration and often times anti-choice?

Launching into the questions in a rapid fire succession, Karger didn’t miss a beat. Here’s what he had to say:

Fred Karger with former President Gerald Ford.

Today people compare it to a witch-hunt party, or one that keeps equality and progress down. If we look through history we see movement of people as the nation moved east to west. One of the largest changes to party platforms began with southern Democrats to the Republicans. With that switch we started to see Democratic intolerance of the time influence what most people try to claim is a Republican idea.

No matter where we stand, analyze, view history or vote presently we must acknowledge that the leaning towards one side or the other too heavily will bring about inequality for others. Equality and the fair treatment of others is not a party issue – it is a human issue.

I have met with and dealt with State leaders and the national leadership, most of whom are welcoming and honestly interested in seeing where this campaign will lead. There are progressive, forward thinking Americans in the Republican Party, who do not view this right-leaning religious rhetoric that is used to attack, as damaging to the whole country. Over the last few years many who think like I do, have become a little at a loss for a leader who can champion this voice. All they need is someone to stand up and lead, that is what I am attempting to do, show America that we can have differences of opinion, whether in opposite parties or within our own.

Democrats themselves must admit that there has always been dissention among their party when it comes to directions. This is a nation that will forever be growing and evolving, we aren’t done and we must never lose faith in that system. We have overcome so much as a young country and rose to the top, we have bumps along the way but I have never lost faith and I ask every individual to never lose faith in their fellow American.

It was becoming clear as he spoke that I was not going to get the typical talking points for answers. Most people view Fred Karger as a long shot at best, even with a growing online support for him being a new voice in the GOP. This knowledge provided him the ability to go out and speak more honestly. It bolstered the idea that perhaps he could pave the way to a new era for LGBT candidates across the country, since finally we had a viable, credible and experienced political person running on real issues and speaking to everyday Americans all across this country.

Democrats and Republicans alike finally had to face the fact that a gay candidate was not someone showing up in chaps, subverting the virtues of your children and stealing away your religion or God. Is this the man that as a community we could look to as an example of affecting the views in this country for the better?

Before I could come to that conclusion, I had to question him as a member of the gay community about his involvement in the Reagan administration in connection to the close to home issues of the 1980’s. Within our own community there continues to rage the animosity between those who choose to support the Republicans as gay persons and those who take the Reagan years as the line in sand you do not cross. Karger was caught in the middle of the battle.

The year 1981 brought about a change in this country that was so profound it caused a movement to form and the emergence of the “out” gay American. The first cases of HIV were being reported in record numbers, only to disastrously grow by the thousands. Once the CDC identified this as having a large effect on the gay community, there was large spread homophobia. No more was this true than from the administration itself. Pat Buchanan, Reagan’s communication director was quoted as saying that AIDS was “nature’s revenge on gay men.”

Reagan himself seemed to completely ignore the issue. It wasn’t until the very end of his second term in 1987, with 36,058 diagnosed cases of AIDS and 20,849 casualties to this epidemic. Due to the early cases having been identified as effecting only gay men, there was a rush and later a push by the new “moral right” support base, to keep this quiet and leave it in God’s hands.

Having lived through this decade and lost close personal friends, as many did, while working and watching the inner workings of this administration during this time, I wondered what were Karger’s feelings on this time. How would he explain Reagan and what happened?

President and Mrs. Reagan wih Gov. and Mrs. Pete Wilson and Fred Karger (center) at a Wilson fund-raising dinner in Los Angeles.

Reagan was slow to move. The fact that it was 1987 when he would finally address the issue of the deaths of thousands was inexcusable. I must say that it was a very different time and a confusing one for many. Many of us, especially those close to political circles, knew to not publicly come out. We weren’t out and proud in many cases. It was still often kept as the fact that everyone knew, yet no one would mention. You see if you kept quiet about it then the world could accept you.

The President had gay friends and many gay appointees and employees. He was always kind and welcoming and I never heard anything that was homophobic from him. While it was shameful and I will never know why he didn’t come out and take the lead on this as he had on so many other issues, I cannot help but look at the time period and wish that it was different.

This will not excuse what happened or heal the wounds that many in the gay community, myself included, have from the choices made under that administration but I do hope that we will never see the younger generations deal with the same hurt and loss. I knew Reagan for years and I do believe that he always regretted the deaths of so many of our friends and companions – our family.

Processing what had just been said took me a moment as I sat and looked at my notes. Learning from those in the community who had lived through the 80’s – people I respected and loved, some of whom I have lost over the past few years to AIDS – it occurred to me that we live in a time when we cannot forget our history. We have created activists, business leaders and voices for the struggles this world faces. Now we have produced an openly gay woman for U.S. Senate, and Karger running for candidacy for President of the United States.

I knew us discussing the present day, Obama, the other GOP candidates, his positions, and what he hopes to do would be the most interesting of all…

Come back tomorrow for Part Two!

 All images courtesy of Fred Karger. Used by permission. 

 

Growing up in Northern Ontario as a Jehovah’s Witness, Michael Talon experienced firsthand the struggle for equality. Now living in the U.S. with his partner, they work with advocates for federal equality, including immigration. Working side by side, Michael and his partner Brad, head of Luna Media Group, help to deliver messages for equality to the nation.

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News

‘Sounds Like Putin’: Trump Blasted for Declaring Top News Organizations ‘Illegal’

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March 14, 2025

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President Donald Trump, just 54 days into his second term, declared himself “the chief law enforcement officer in our country” and labeled two major news organizations, CNN and MSNBC, as “illegal,” while further denouncing their coverage as “illegal.” His remarks Thursday afternoon were delivered to officials at the U.S. Department of Justice, in an appearance that shattered a decades-old norm designed to insulate the department from political interference—a safeguard established in response to President Richard Nixon’s abuses of power. Trump’s statements have drawn sharp criticism for their authoritarian tone and direct attack on press freedom, sparking alarm.

“I believe that CNN and MSNDC,” said Trump (video below), using his own derogatory twist on MSNBC’s name, “who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal. What they do is illegal.”

Trump also “rallied against the press,” in general, “claiming they are influencing judges and, without any evidence, claiming the media works in coordination with political campaigns, which is not allowed in the news industry,” The Hill reported.

READ MORE: White House Caught Admitting Real Reason for Mass Firings: Experts

It has been widely reported that during his first term in office, Fox News host Sean Hannity spoke with Trump “nearly every weeknight.”

“These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative. And it has to stop, it has to be illegal, it’s influencing judges and it’s really, eh, changing law and it just cannot be legal. I don’t believe it’s legal and they do it in total coordination with each other,” the President alleged.

Trump’s remarks were just a part of a speech that lasted more than one hour, during which he “delivered an insult-laden speech that shattered the traditional notion of DOJ independence,” as Politico reported. During those remarks, Trump also “labeled his courtroom opponents ‘scum,’ judges ‘corrupt’ and the prosecutors who investigated him ‘deranged.'”

“With the DOJ logo directly behind him, Trump called for his legal tormentors to be sent to prison.”

It is not the first time the President, who is a convicted felon, has declared MSNBC “illegal.”

Last month, when MSNBC host Joy Reid left the news network, Trump unleashed a torrent of hatred.

“Lowlife Chairman of ‘Concast,’ Brian Roberts, the owner of Ratings Challenged NBC and MSDNC, has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform. “Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been ‘canned’ long ago, along with everyone else who works there. Also thrown out was Alex Wagner, the sub on the seriously failing Rachel Maddow show. Rachel rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid.”

READ MORE: ‘Team Fight’: Democrats Call for Schumer to Resign

Trump’s Friday afternoon assault on the media was swiftly criticized.

“This is what a dictator sounds like,” wrote U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI).

“Journalism is legal,” declared award-winning investigative journalist Lindsay Beyerstein. “Criticizing the president is legal. Being a Democrat is legal. Nothing Donald Trump is ranting about here is a crime and he’s disgracing himself and the Department of Justice by talking this way.”

Journalist Matt O’Brien observed, “Trump wants to get rid of freedom of speech because he wants to be a dictator. And unlike his first term, he now has a government full of fascists who are eager to make that a reality.”

Marlow Stern, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Journalism at Columbia University’s Columbia Journalism School wrote: “sounds like putin.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist Kyle Whitmire wrote simply: “Enemy of the Constitution.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Basically Underwater on Everything’: Trump in Big Trouble With Majority of Voters Poll Finds

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

 

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News

White House Caught Admitting Real Reason for Mass Firings: Experts

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March 14, 2025

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is “basically admitting” the White House “lied” about the mass firings of tens of thousands of federal government employees, a legal expert is alleging, based on her remarks on Friday. Many of not most of the terminated government workers were ordered to be reinstated by two separate federal courts on Thursday. Judges ruled the terminations were likely unlawful.

According to The New York Times, one judge “said in his lengthy ruling that the government’s contention that the firings of the probationary employees had been for cause, and not a mass layoff, ‘borders on the frivolous.'” Another judge “concluded much the same and made it clear that he thought the manner in which the Trump administration had fired the probationary workers was a ‘sham.'”

Leavitt previously has been criticized for having exhibited “a fundamental misunderstanding of the separation of powers enumerated in the U.S. Constitution since 1789,” and for making false claims in general.

READ MORE: ‘Team Fight’: Democrats Call for Schumer to Resign

On Friday, having been asked to clarify a previous statement, Leavitt told reporters that the Trump administration will be “fighting back” against those two rulings “by appealing, fighting back by using the full weight of the White House Counsel’s office and our lawyers at the federal government who believed that this injunction is entirely unconstitutional.”

Leavitt insisted that the injunction — presumably both injunctions blocking the administration from additional mass firings and requiring that the fired probational employees be reinstated — are unconstitutional.

She claimed that, “for anybody who has a basic understanding of the law, you cannot have a low level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States.”

That is false, and violates the separation of powers, as legal experts and Supreme Court cases have made clear, although it is a claim the Trump administration has repeatedly asserted.

“That is completely absurd, and as the executive of the executive branch, the president has the ability to fire or hire. And you have these lower level judges who are trying to, uh, block this president’s agenda,” she stated (video below).

That appears to be the remark that drew the attention of attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration policy expert and senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.

READ MORE: ‘Basically Underwater on Everything’: Trump in Big Trouble With Majority of Voters Poll Finds

“Pay attention here to how the White House is basically admitting to have lied about why these people were fired,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote. “Now they claim this was the President’s command and must not be overruled. But when the firings were happening, they claimed on paper it was for ‘performance’ reasons.”

Andrew Heineman, legislative director for U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) wrote: “It sounds very much like Leavitt just admitted that the firings were part of Trump’s ‘agenda.'”

Leavitt went on to suggest that there is a conspiracy of activist judges working to “block” President Trump.

“It’s very clear, and as I just cited, I was appalled by the statistic when I saw it this morning in three or, uh, in one month in February, there have been 15 injunctions of this administration in our agenda,” she said.

“In three years under the Biden administration, there were 14 injunctions. So, uh, it’s very clear that there are judicial activists throughout our judicial branch who are trying to block this president’s executive authority.”

She went on to praise President Trump and his legal team, saying that despite being “indicted nearly 200 times,” he was able to become President.

Trump has not been indicted nearly 200 times. He was indicted four times, and faced a total of 91 felony charges.

“We are going to fight back,” she insisted, “and as anyone who saw President Trump up in his legal team fighting back, they know how to do it. He was indicted nearly 200 times, and he’s in the Oval Office now because all of the indictments, all of these injunctions have always been unconstitutional and unfair.”

“They are led by partisan activists, who are trying to usurp the will of this president and we’re not going to stand for it.”

Critics blasted Leavitt’s grasp of the law.

Semafor’s David Weigel posted headlines of federal judges, or, “low level district court” judges, as she said, blocking other President’s actions.

“You sure about that? You sure about that?” he asked, mockingly.

Attorney and Democratic activist Aaron Parnas, responding to Leavitt’s claim that you cannot have a  judge block a president’s wishes, responded: “You actually can. That’s why we have three branches of government.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Entire World Ripping Us Off’: Trump Quotes FDR in Angry Tariff War Meltdown

Image via Reuters

 

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OPINION

‘Team Fight’: Democrats Call for Schumer to Resign

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March 14, 2025

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Democrats across the political spectrum—liberal, moderate, and progressive—appear united in their outrage over Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to back the Republican-led bill to fund the government and prevent a shutdown. They argue that the legislation enables President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to continue dismantling the federal government while jeopardizing health care and veterans’ benefits. Without a signed bill, the federal government will shut down at 12:01 AM on Saturday.

Calls are mounting for Leader Schumer to resign. There appears to be a movement on social media demanding his resignation, across platforms including X, Bluesky, and TikTok.

Protestors in New York City are chanting, “Vote no, it’s time to go,” while some hold up signs that read, “Schumer — Be a fighter not a collaborator,” and, “Don’t be a Schumer chicken s—.”

SENATOR AOC?

Some are calling for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the popular progressive Democrat from New York, to primary the 74-year old Schumer, who was first elected to Congress in 1981.

“I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Thursday. “And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board. The entire party. There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States, who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. Just to see some Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think it is a huge slap in the face, and I think that there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as as currently planned.”

READ MORE: ‘Basically Underwater on Everything’: Trump in Big Trouble With Majority of Voters Poll Finds

Some House Democrats “are so infuriated with Schumer’s decision” that they have begun encouraging Ocasio-Cortez “to run against Schumer in a primary,” CNN reported Thursday night. “Multiple Democrats in the Congressional Progressive Caucus and others directly encouraged Ocasio-Cortez to run on Thursday night after Schumer’s announcement.”

One member said that Democrats were “so mad,” CNN added, “that even centrist Democrats were ‘ready to write checks for AOC for Senate,’ adding that they have ‘never seen people so mad.'”

SCHUMER’S ‘STRATEGY’

When in the minority, Democrats for years have handed Republicans enough votes to help pass numerous “continuing resolutions,” bills that keep the federal government’s lights on, but this time it’s different. Right now, Democrats are aching for a leader who will fight the Trump/Musk/MAGA machine.

Their anger erupted Thursday night.

Leader Schumer on Wednesday had announced that it did not appear there would be enough Democratic votes to help Senate Republicans pass the House bill, and instead that they would filibuster it. But on Thursday afternoon he declared he would support the legislation, suggesting there would be enough votes to pass it.

Schumer’s reasoning is not wrong, many are willing to admit. Elon Musk reportedly wants the shutdown because if the government stays closed for 30 days, he can then mass fire even more government employees.

But Democrats are saying Schumer’s rationale does not meet the moment. They want someone to fight, not cave.

Adam Jentleson is a writer, political commentator, and the former deputy chief of staff to the late U.S. Senator Harry Reid. Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, was an extraordinarily successful Senate Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015.

READ MORE: ‘Entire World Ripping Us Off’: Trump Quotes FDR in Angry Tariff War Meltdown

“There is a lot of ‘what would Harry Reid have done?’ and sadly we will never know,” Jentleson wrote late Friday morning. “But I can say that we won the 2013 shutdown because we spent months laying track on a clear message about health care. The terms of the shutdown were well-defined before it happened.”

Critics say that’s what’s missing — that Leader Schumer hasn’t bothered to do that.

Pointing to a late Friday morning report indicating that Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune said that he and Leader Schumer have not even spoken, Democratic strategist Matt McDermott writes, “The problem here is that all evidence suggests @SenSchumer has no strategy whatsoever. Absolutely stunning that he hasn’t talked to the Senate Majority leader, even to attempt to negotiate concessions.”

McDermott also offered this insight:

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Thursday night sat down with Schumer, and summed up the situation for him.

“I’ve seen a lot of House members, and across an ideological range, interestingly enough, urging the Senate to filibuster this, saying, look, this is existential about whether we control the power of the purse or not. We cannot essentially sign off on this DOGE unilateral arrogation of this power,” Hayes explained.

The Democratic Leader’s response was that “it’s different in the Senate,” because voting against the bill in the House would not have led to a shutdown. But that’s incorrect. If the House bill failed, and no other passed, that would have absolutely led to a shutdown.

“I felt so strongly that the shutdown would be the greatest disaster we face with these arrogant, arrogant autocrats that we had to avoid the shutdown and fight and many of the other things, every other issue that we have,” Schumer added.

‘TEAM FIGHT’ — ‘MISREAD THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL’

Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker issued a statement explaining his opposition to passing the continuing resolution, but his chief of staff late Thursday night served up an analysis of what Democrats are feeling.

“The fight going on in the Democratic Party right now is not between hard left, left and moderate,” explained Anne Caprara. “It’s between those who want to fight and those who want to cave. And Team Fight stretches across all ideological aspects of the Party. Misread this at your own peril.”

Right now, it appears there might be enough Senate Democrats willing to vote in favor of the continuing resolution, or at least, vote for “cloture,” meaning to allow debate on the bill.

One who is not voting yes is U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), largely considered a moderate Democrat.

“When I saw the House bill on Sunday, I said, ‘Hell no,’ because I just was not interested in voting for something that was going to enable these guys to fire more veterans and cut education and health programs, screw up air safety, tank the economy,” Senator Kaine said Thursday morning on MSNBC. “Why would I do it?”

Kaine noted that during an Armed Services Committee,”the Pentagon looked us in the face and said, this House CR will hurt national security, will weaken our ability to maintain ships and subs. It’s going to do damage to us. And then my Republican colleagues on the committee said, we agree with you, this is going to hurt national security, but it’s better than a shutdown.”

He criticized Speaker Johnson f0r sending House members home after passing the continuing resolution this week, because there’s now little means to alter the bill.

“And I decided then, when the Republicans are trashing this, but acting like they have to go along, I’m not going along.”

“I went back to my days in living in Honduras,” Kaine shared, “when it was a military dictatorship, and I learned something very important. That a bully can take something from you but you shouldn’t hand it over to him, so I’m voting no.”

Kaine also said, “we’re winning cases in court right now against things that Trump is doing. But if we vote for this bill and sort of say, ‘Okay, we’re going to put our imprimatur on some of this,’ I even worry it might make it harder for us to prevail in court on some of these battles.”

PRAISE FROM TRUMP

Critics from across the Democratic spectrum continue to blast Senator Schumer.

“Schumer’s decision is an unconscionable surrender that shows he does not have what it takes to meet this moment,” explained MeidasTouch co-founder Brett Meiselas on Thursday night. “Time for new leadership in the Democratic Party.”

“It is clear that some of us understand the present danger & some don’t! I stand by the NO vote on the blank check for Trump & Elon,” wrote U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). “I’ve got no explanation nor agreement with Senate Dems being complicit in Trump’s Tyranny.”

SiriusXM host Qasim Rashid, Esq. wrote: “Schumer thinks he’s smart to vote with GOP now because ‘in 6 months Trump will be unpopular.'”

“What’s Schumer smoking to think THIS time is different? Schumer—resign & retire.”

“How badly do you have to f— up being the Democratic leader that Trump is praising and congratulating you????” an astonished Elie Mystal, the justice correspondent for The Nation, asked on Friday.

Indeed, President Trump is praising Leader Schumer.

“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage!” Trump wrote on Friday morning. “The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights. Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning! DJT.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Not Above the Law’: Fist-Pounding Democrat Explodes Asking ‘Where’s Elon Musk?’

Image via Reuters

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