The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
In this historical moment, as President Donald Trump and his fascist allies are dismantling American democracy, I’m frequently unsure what the best progressive strategy moving forward is. One thing of which I’m certain, though, is Democratic congressional leadership, in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, must be replaced.
They’ve proven themselves to be wildly out of step with their party’s base. The pair are more interested in fighting leftists in their own ranks than the right-wing authoritarian menace engulfing this country and setting us back generations. It’s a particularly shameful state of affairs, given both of these conservative Democrats are from New York, which should be a progressive powerhouse.
For instance, both Schumer and Jeffries have so far refused to endorse the winner of the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist. The Big Apple, of course, is home to a massive number of people who voted for them and their party. The pair’s Mamdani snub is a betrayal of these voters, who have clearly expressed their preference in the contest.
Vice President Kamala Harris was to my right on just about every issue. Still, I voted for her in the 2024 presidential race, and urged others to do the same, in the name of unity against a looming fascist threat. How will Schumer and Jeffries have any creditability urging leftists to rally behind a centrist primary winner, at any level, if they won’t back Mamdani, when the shoe is on the other foot?
More recently, Schumer voted against a resolution put forward by Senator Bernie Sanders, blocking the sale of bombs to Israel. I’m by no means an expert on foreign policy or the precise scholarly definition of genocide, but how can you see what’s happening in Gaza as anything less than a deliberate effort to exterminate an unwanted ethnic group or force them to move elsewhere?
Beyond the profound moral emptiness of Schumer’s stance, from a political perspective, he’s completely out of step with the mainstream of the party he nominally leads. Poll after poll show Democratic voters are opposed to Israel’s one-sided ‘war.’ I have no reason to believe Jeffries — a longtime, unquestioning supporter of Israel — would have taken a different position from Schumer.
The Democratic Party’s progressive base has a wide variety of policy goals. For example, as an animal activist, I’d like to see a massive infusion of state and federal funding into cultivated-meat research. The new protein is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. However, none of our goals can be achieved under fascist rule, which Trump and his gang of criminals is trying to establish.
Unfortunately, Schumer and Jeffries are willing to sacrifice party unity and political effectiveness in order to retain their vision of a conservative Democratic Party. They have shown themselves fundamentally incapable of standing up to right-wing authoritarianism, perhaps because they view leftists as a greater threat. We have to replace these two so-called leaders of the opposition.
Jon Hochschartner lives in Connecticut. He is the author of a number of books, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front.
