MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes got tense on Tuesday night (March 18) as host Chris Hayes grew visibly frustrated with his guest, New York Democrat Chuck Schumer.
Schumer appeared on the show amid calls for him to step down as Senate Minority Leader following his refusal to shutdown the government over President Trump‘s continuing resolution budget bill. Schumer defended his position on All In, telling Hayes the Democratic leaders haven’t yet seen the right “moments” to slow down or stop Republican priorities, nor has democracy in America been threatened “yet.”
“What is the strategic plan?” asked Hayes.
Schumer claimed his party is “fighting relentlessly” in the Senate, saying, “[Trump’s] numbers have started to go down from 51 to 47. If we keep at it and keep at it and keep at it, his numbers will be much lower. He will not only be less popular but less effective.”
He added, “There will be times just like this instance, where people will say, ‘Don’t give them the votes, because you have the leverage.’ It will be… there will be instances not like this, where a shutdown would ensue, but we will have the higher ground and we’re going to do it. Watch us.”
Hayes fired back, saying those tactics “sound like good politics” if, say, “Mitt Romney were president,” but the MSNBC anchor added that Trump and his administration “are acting in this totally new way… in which they are ambitiously trying to seize all power and create a presidential dictatorship in the United States of America, and the Democratic opposition is acting like, ‘Well, if we can get the report rate down a few points.’ Then what happens?”
Schumer responded, “What happens is, look, first we get it way down… this worked in 2017. You say that ‘now it’s a different government,’…”
This was when Hayes grew exasperated, replying, “It is different, though. My God.” The host went on to say, “In a genuine, sort of good faith way, that there’s a lot of people, and I think I probably count myself, who think that that’s where we are right now.”
Schumer disagreed, saying, “You may be right. I don’t think so… We’re not there. You know, I think we’re getting there. We have to be really vigilant. I just had a meet up today with the Judiciary Committee to decide how we’re working through this. As it goes further, it hasn’t been up to the Supreme Court yet, which would be the classic, ‘if they disobey the Supreme Court,’ we’re on our way there. God, God forbid. But I think we are, and we’ll have to go at it and at it and at it.”
You can watch the interview in the video above. Skip to around the 10 minute mark for the tense conversation.
All In With Chris Hayes, Weeknights, 8 pm et, MSNBC
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