Democrats routed Republicans in this month’s midterm elections. The likely 40 House seats that flipped are the most for Democrats since Watergate.
Democratic House candidates received a historic amount of votes across the country and broke the unified Republican control of U.S. government under President Donald Trump.
Enter Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The New York Democrat, who has made a series of pointless deals allowing confirmations of dozens of Trump judicial nominees, said on Tuesday that he’s willing to offer Trump $1.6 billion for border security.
CNN’s Manu Raju reported that Schumer was willing to provide the president with $1.6 billion in funding for his border wall, but later clarified that the offer was for border security funding.
Schumer’s office says the $1.6 billion in funding Democrats want is for border security generally – fencing, not a concrete wall as Trump wants to spend $5B for. Schumer at presser: “The $1.6 billion for border security negotiated by Democrats and Republicans is our position” https://t.co/nU38Z3Onv8
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 27, 2018
Schumer has previously offered Trump funding for the border wall that he keeps falsely claiming is already under construction.
The Senate minority leader has supported the GOP president’s agenda over a quarter of the time despite representing a state that Trump lost by over 22 points in 2016.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reacted to Schumer’s remarks with a GIF.
This is the correct position on funding the wall. pic.twitter.com/8Q2HTCz77B
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 27, 2018
HuffPost’s Ashley Feinberg dreamed of a world in which Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) runs a primary challenge against the New York senator in 2022.
just sitting here daydreaming about AOC primarying the hell out of Schumer https://t.co/Xrq41693DL
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) November 27, 2018
Schumer memes were making the rounds on Twitter.
— 1.20.21 Project (@Project12021) November 22, 2018
In addition to clearing the way for numerous Trump judicial nominations, Schumer has condemned fellow Democrats while calling for more “civility” in politics, enabled the repeal of financial regulations put in place after the Great Recession, praised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), praised the president for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel, backed the confirmations of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, FBI director Christopher Wray, CIA director Mike Pompeo, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Veteran Affairs Secretaries David Shulkin and Robert Wilkie, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Schumer, who reportedly tried to shut down potential congressional regulation of Facebook — where his daughter is employed — was re-elected as minority leader shortly after the midterms in which Republicans expanded their Senate majority.
This piece has been updated to reflect Schumer’s full comment on the border security funding.