Sen. Brian Schatz cautioned that if Democrats win big in next month’s elections, it would be because of President Donald Trump — and Democrats will need to work hard to come up with an agenda to keep voters on their side.
“What’s happening out there in the world is not that we unlocked the proper slogan or messaging technique to make sure that people give us a chance, but rather that Donald Trump himself is our best messenger,” Schatz said on the latest episode of The Washington Sun Cast. Trump “has sort of driven people into our arms, and if people give us a chance, we should understand that we’re sort of the rebound boyfriend.”
“They’re going to give us a first date. They’re not trying to marry us. They are just sort of being forced into our arms,” Schatz said.
Schatz, the likely No. 2 Senate Democrat next year, said Democrats will have to prove that they are worthy of their future support.
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“Now we have to essentially close the deal over another couple of years, where people settle into, ‘OK. I’m pissed off at the Republicans, I don’t like what I’m going through economically, I don’t like all this corruption, I’ll give these guys a chance,’” Schatz said. “Then we have to be very judicious, very precise, very humble about what we do with that power.”
Schatz said “job one” in a Democratic-controlled Senate would be exerting leverage to end the war in Iran, followed by restoring cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“I think people will have voted for divided government, and so we need to recognize that what that means is that we’re going to be a check against the excesses of this administration and the excesses of unified control, Republican control of Washington,” Schatz said.
Schatz urged a “planful approach” to things like impeaching Trump or members of his Cabinet, even if there are impeachable offenses to pursue.
“It might be emotionally satisfying for 10 seconds, for instance, to impeach the president a third time and then have him be not convicted in the Senate,” Schatz said. “But I’m not sure what that would get us.”
“I think the question at hand is how do you use that solemn responsibility and power in a way that gives the people what they’ve been asking for, which is to slow down all this corruption and all this madness,” Schatz said.
Schatz said that a Democratic majority in Congress should instead use the appropriations process to reshape the trajectory of the federal government.
“We already got the legislative text written to constrain the chief executive, and I think if we take power, that’s going to be part of the process of getting appropriations done,” Schatz said. “I just think we have to use those powers not to punish anyone in particular but to kind of recalibrate things so that the government itself is stabilized.”
With some Democratic candidates having called for a change in leadership, Schatz said he still expects Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to pursue another session atop the caucus.
“I’m not his spokesperson,” Schatz said. “I’m trying to be the whip, but I’m not whipping for him, that’s his job,” Schatz said.
Schatz also said he has “no indication” that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) is considering changing parties after he recently brushed off a question about being the caucus’ 51st vote. Schatz said he will continue to “double check that everybody’s part of the coalition.
The Washington Sun Cast is a weekly podcast where Washington Sun reporters talk to lawmakers about their work in Washington and what motivates them. You can download or listen here.
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