Former NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd expressed astonishment Thursday when Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna bluntly told him how much Americans dislike Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Khanna has been traveling on his “Benefits over Billionaires” tour, speaking at town halls around the nation. He told Todd on “The Chuck ToddCast” that as he travels, he finds Americans are so outraged at Schumer that they are more critical of him than Vice President JD Vance.
“Chuck Schumer has squandered any goodwill he had,” Khanna said. “I mean, in terms of when I go around the country, people just are very upset at—”
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Todd cut in, startled by the remark.
“Wow. Let me pause that. That was very matter-of-fact of you just now … I have sensed that myself, but you’re the one traveling a lot more than I am right now,” the host said. “So Schumer’s brand is — Schumer’s trust levels have really collapsed with Democrats?”
“It’s shocking to me, right? They’ll criticize [Elon] Musk first, [President Donald] Trump second and then Schumer more than even JD Vance,” Khanna asserted. “I was like, ‘Can’t we turn our fire on Vance or [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio?’”
Todd uttered “wow” twice more while Khanna was speaking. The congressman then argued it was unusual for a Senate minority leader to draw so much ire, since it’s typically not a high-profile position.
Todd interrupted again to ask whether Schumer was catching flak as a stand-in for former President Joe Biden.
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“Is this Biden hangover stuff? Meaning he’s the last, quote-unquote, old guy still in leadership, and they’re so angry at this generation that didn’t leave, you know, in time, frankly, arguably,” Todd said. “And Schumer, in some way, is — because he’s still there, he’s getting a little bit of the anger at Biden for not stepping aside sooner?”
Khanna agreed that frustration with Biden was part of it, but also pointed to Schumer’s March “capitulation” when he voted to advance a GOP-backed spending bill in March to avert a government shutdown.
“Now, whatever you think about it, he just didn’t do a good job explaining himself,” Khanna said. “People felt he should have stood up. He should have had a fight. It’s kind of a sense that he’s operating in normal times.”
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Moreover, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten warned Schumer on April 24 that he should be panicking about his political future as his support from the New York Democrats had plummeted.
“New York Democrats on Chuck Schumer — view him favorably in December of 2024. That was just a few months ago — it was 73%,” Enten said. “Look at where that number has fallen to in just a few months. It is now down to just 52%. That is the lowest I could ever find in Siena College on how Democrats in Chuck Schumer’s home state view him.”
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
