'They're saying you're not fighting!' MSNBC host presses top Dem after break with party

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s strategy for fighting back against the Trump administration was subjected to a thorough grilling from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who didn’t hide his feelings on the Democratic leader's performance so far.

The exchange unfolded Thursday night on Hayes’ eponymous show, “All In With Chris Hayes,” just as the New York lawmaker announced that he would not seek to block a GOP-led continuing resolution to restore government funding. The move will likely help House Republicans advance their funding bill and avoid a government shutdown Saturday.

“There’s not a ton of leverage,” Hayes said to Schumer. “There’s essentially an unconstitutional assault on the government right now – and I think you’d agree with that.”

“There is,” Schumer responded, adding: “These guys are the worst, and we have to fight them every step of the way.”

That’s when Hayes, clearly frustrated by the Democratic leader’s lifeline to Republicans, snapped back.

“But they’re saying you’re not fighting!” Hayes told Schumer.

“We are fighting!” Schumer responded.

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Hayes continued: “But Russ Vought is already telling people…he’s telling people on the floor, ‘we are not even going to listen to this CR’…if that’s the case, how is voting for cloture not essentially an imprimatur on the very same assault on the constitutional order?” he asked of President Donald Trump’s acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Schumer responded by saying Republicans “are already doing it” even without the resolution, referencing the dismantling of the Department of Education.

“But I can tell you, I’ve been through shutdowns before, it’s not that this CR is good, it’s not that voting for it is good – it’s horrible – but the alternative is worse,” Schumer said. “And we have to look just a month ahead and see how bad a shutdown would be for all the things we believe in.”

Schumer added that Trump, Vought, Musk and DOGE were “drooling with happiness and desire to get a government shutdown.”

“They’ve said they want it – why?” he asked as he raised his voice. “Not for doing anything good I’ll tell you that. These guys are authoritarians.”

Watch the clip below or at this link: