The Daily Populous Monday April 21st, 2025 day edition
Authored by newrepublic.com and submitted by newsspotter

But when I reached out to Schumer’s office late Monday, the senator hadn’t even posted a response to the news yet. Eventually his office put out a boilerplate statement, which they emailed to me: “The law is clear, due process was grossly violated, and the Supreme Court has clearly spoken that the Trump administration must facilitate and effectuate the return of Abrego Garcia. He should be returned to the U.S. immediately. Due process and the rule of law are cornerstones of American society for citizens and noncitizens alike and not to follow that is dangerous and outrageous. A threat to one is a threat to all.” In reply, I referenced Schumer’s statement that “we will all have to take extraordinary action” if Trump defied the court, and asked if he had any additional comments about the kind of action needed right now. His office has not responded.

This failure of leadership is particularly maddening from the leader of the opposition party in the Senate, because the upper chamber remains an institution that, as Mitch McConnell demonstrated, provides incredibly powerful tools to the minority party. We know what Senate Democrats could be doing if they decided “to take extraordinary action.” Just a few weeks ago we saw just one senator, Cory Booker, grind the chamber to a standstill for over 24 hours—an impressive effort, though arbitrary and undirected. Can you imagine how much more powerful it would be if Senate Democrats came together to organize a filibuster relay team that could continuously gum up the Senate until Trump agreed to follow the Supreme Court’s order?

While there have been a few individual demonstrations of courage—like Senator Chris Van Hollen’s commitment to travel to El Salvador to push for Abrego Garcia’s release—there has been no indication of plans or preparations for “extraordinary action” by the party. Is Schumer’s banal press statement really the best that Democratic leadership can do?

old_french_whore on April 20th, 2025 at 23:50 UTC »

Lead, follow, or get out of the way. If you're going to do absolutely nothing at all, then fucking resign so that one of the countless (probably much younger) people who are willing to stand up and make some noise can actually use the power of your office.

Does your office have the power to single-handedly stop the Trump agenda? No. But your position as one of only 100 US senators affords you considerable power to rally public support, public protest, and media attention. Look at what AOC and Bernie are doing with rallies around the country. Look at the coordinated protests happening in every major city. You aren't here. Look at Van Hollen traveling to El Salvador to advocate for his constituent. You aren't there. If you can't obstruct, then you must raise public support and raise holy hell in the media. You aren't doing any of that.

Look at where your "leadership" has gotten us. Resign, you useless fucking fossil.

Gustapher00 on April 20th, 2025 at 23:16 UTC »

He’s calling Susan Collins to ask for help with a press release.

newsspotter on April 20th, 2025 at 23:15 UTC »

> But when I reached out to Schumer’s office late Monday, the senator hadn’t even posted a response to the news yet. Eventually his office put out a boilerplate statement, which they emailed to me: “The law is clear, due process was grossly violated, and the Supreme Court has clearly spoken that the Trump administration must facilitate and effectuate the return of Abrego Garcia. He should be returned to the U.S. immediately." [...]

> Is Schumer’s banal press statement really the best that Democratic leadership can do? [...] We are witnessing in real time what the descent into fascism looks like. Trump is defying a 9–0 order by a right-wing Supreme Court.(...)We need a Democratic Party that is led by leaders who understand this.

Van Hollen says leaders who don’t fight for Constitution don’t deserve to lead (April 20, 2025)

> Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) argued that elected officials and politicians on both sides of the aisle need to step up to fight for the Constitution, and if they don’t, they don’t deserve to lead.[...] “I don’t think it’s ever wrong to fight for the constitutional rights of one person, because if we give up on one person’s rights, we threaten everybody’s rights,” he said. “And I would say that anyone who’s not prepared to stand up and fight for the Constitution doesn’t deserve to lead.” The Hill

Edit: PS: According to other news articles, e.g. forbes , van Hollen was asked about Newsom's characterization of the Garcia case as a distraction.