The Democrats are boiling mad after today. You can tell because they’re using four-letter words on social media to express themselves. And they’ve all decided that Chuck Schumer is the man to blame for it all.

After Schumer acknowledged that he had been checkmated by Speaker Mike Johnson, the question became whether or not enough Senate Democrats would follow his lead. Sixty votes were needed for cloture, in order to move toward the final vote on the continuing resolution. The final vote, though, could be passed by simple majority – which meant that Democrats didn’t need to vote for it. The cloture vote – required by the rules of the Senate – was the big hurdle. And enough of the Democrats made the hurdle.

Sen Shaheen also a YES.

DEM YES VOTES:
1) Durbin
2) King
3) Schatz
4) Schumer
5) Cortez Masto
6) Fetterman
7) Peters
8) Hassan
9) Gillibrand
10) Shaheen

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) March 14, 2025

The final vote was 62-38, with ten Democrats joining all the Republicans except Rand Paul (who voted against the CR because he wanted BIGGER cuts – Paul is basically the Senate version of Representative Thomas Massie).

At that point, the passage of the bill was a done deal. Due to the fact that only a simple majority was needed to pass the final vote, Democrats were then free to vote however they wanted. Two chose to still support the bill.

Senators voted 54-46 to pass the stopgap spending bill, which only needed 51 votes to be approved. Nearly all Republicans backed the measure, with only Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., opposing. All Democrats opposed it, with the exception of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted to pass the bill.

The entire performance of voting for cloture, but not voting for the final bill, was supposed to be the Senate Democrats’ way of splitting the political hair. They moved the continuing resolution forward – thus preventing the government shutdown – but didn’t support it in the end. That parsing is not going over well with the hard left, and it’s now obvious that there are cracks in the Democrat party.

Schumer, for his part, is trying to smooth over the cracks by ignoring the knives that Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi shoved in his back earlier today by refocusing on the dangers of a shutdown.

Schumer calls his shutdown vote "an act of strength"
Watch the full video here: https://t.co/gyUFtznBFf pic.twitter.com/NYSBhn94E4

— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) March 14, 2025

Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper Friday evening that he “always knew there would be disagreements,” but maintained that a “government shutdown would be far worse” than voting for the GOP-led measure.

“My job as leader is to lead the party and if there’s going to be danger in the near future, to protect the party. And I’m proud I did it, I knew I did the right thing, and I knew there would be some disagreements. That’s how it always is,” he said.

Schumer also defended his leadership position, saying, “My caucus and I are in sync.”

Many, many Democrats don’t see it that way. Pragmatism has gone the way of the dinosaur, and leftist rage has replaced it.

After the GOP bill advanced Friday, Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Greg Casar said in a statement that “we need more leaders from the stand and fight wing of the Democratic Party.” MoveOn warned that the liberal group’s “members will be demanding answers from their elected officials” about the vote. The progressive organization Justice Democrats sent a text to supporters reading “F*ck Chuck Schumer.”

Also on Friday, dozens of protesters organized by the Sunrise Movement descended on Schumer’s office in the Hart Senate building holding signs that read: “Schumer: step up or step aside,” demanding he reverse course on supporting the bill. The group said 11 people were arrested.

“We have to reckon with the fact that young people, working-class people, people of color — the backbone of the Democratic Party — are moving away from the party,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, the organization’s political director. “Chuck Schumer is part of that reason.”

The Sunrise Movement trying to protest Schumer and getting arrested for it is, frankly, one of the funniest images that has come out of Washington DC in a long, long time.

BREAKING: Chuck Schumer arrested 11 young people who were at his office demanding he fight for our generation and block Trump's disastrous budget. He wouldn't even face them.

No more cowardice. Step up or step aside. pic.twitter.com/aflH1x2G2H

— Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) March 14, 2025

The Democrat talking heads are blown away by what Schumer did. They aren’t listening to what John Fetterman said earlier today about not having an “exit ramp” if the government was shut down. They wanted performative outrage, even if that did lead to a government shutdown. They honestly seem to think that a shutdown would have been better for them politically, because they still think they could have pinned a shutdown on President Trump. They’re mad that they got outplayed.

Schumer, for his part, realized he was living out his own personal Kobiyashi Maru – the no-win scenario. Block the vote, and the shutdown and its consequences are on his shoulders. Let the vote happen, and take the blame for giving Donald Trump and the GOP the win. Now we get to see if he can manage to ride out this storm. I’m betting that he will, but Democrats are now more demoralized than ever. They just lost a big battle to the Bad Orange Man – and they know it. They completely underestimated Speaker Johnson, and he boxed them in. The continuing resolution isn’t perfect, at all, but it will now serve as an object lesson going forward. Even with a miniscule majority, the Republicans in the House managed to deliver a win – because they stuck together. This should help convince Republicans to do what they can to make sure the next budget bill is a success. And it should also warn Democrats that they had better come up with better solutions than using profanity and proclaiming “ORANGE MAN BAD” at the top of their lungs, or they will end up spending a long, long time out in the political desert.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click