Chuck Schumer Slams GOP Loyalty to Trump as Fears of Authoritarianism Grow
Democrat Chuck Schumer stormed back onto the Senate floor this week, unleashing a fiery warning. “Will Senate Republicans continue to kowtow to a leader they know is dragging the country down? That they know is a pathological liar? Or will they stand up, as the Founding Fathers intended, and help us fight America’s slide into authoritarianism?”
His words highlighted the growing alarm over how Donald Trump has spent the past eight months expanding presidential power at the expense of Congress and other institutions. Trump has already signed 200 executive orders – more than Joe Biden did in four years – deployed national guard troops in Washington, unleashed investigators on his rivals, and sought control over academic, financial, legal, and cultural institutions.
The pace of capitulation has been faster and deeper than many critics imagined, leaving opponents scrambling for democratic guardrails. Yet, as Congress returned to Washington, only faint signs emerged that lawmakers might push back.
With Republicans controlling narrow majorities in both chambers, loyalty to Trump runs strong. House Speaker Mike Johnson even praised him in May as “arguably the most powerful, the most successful, and the most respected president in modern US history.” In effect, Congress has become Trump’s rubber stamp.
Larry Jacobs, a political scholar, was blunt: “For the next year and a half, a Republican-led Congress won’t check Trump. Fear of Trump in midterms, his massive campaign war chest, and even physical threats have tamed Republicans in Congress. I have no hope they’ll stand up to him.”
Still, cracks are beginning to show. Congressman Thomas Massie, joined by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace, filed a petition to force a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. When Trump dismissed the issue as a “Democratic hoax,” Greene shot back: “It’s not a hoax because Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted pedophile.”
Tensions are also rising over Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and his anti-vaccine crusade. Senator John Barrasso, himself a doctor, told Kennedy he was “deeply concerned” about his leadership at the CDC.
Meanwhile, Republicans are facing backlash in town halls, with polls showing Trump’s rebranded Working Families Tax Cuts Act as one of the most unpopular bills in a generation. The latest jobs report only deepened economic worries. If this trend continues, swing-state Republicans may start distancing themselves ahead of the midterms – and treat Trump like a lame duck as 2028 looms.
Thom Hartmann, author of The Last American President, believes Trump’s grip may be weaker than it seems. “Five or six Republicans in the House and just a handful in the Senate could stop Trump cold. With his approval tanking across the economy, military, and governance, eventually some Republicans will choose survival over loyalty. That day can’t come soon enough.”
For Democrats, the challenge is different. Trapped in the minority, their tools are limited. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are under fire from their own base to show more fight. Schumer was blasted in March for helping pass a Republican-led spending bill to avoid a shutdown – a move many saw as surrender. With another budget showdown looming, Schumer faces pressure not to cave again.
Reed Galen, president of pro-democracy coalition The Union, warned: “If Democrats argue we’re already sliding into authoritarianism, then why not risk a shutdown? If Schumer gives in without real concessions, it’ll be an ugly fall and winter for him and the party. Democrats will ask: if you’re not going to fight, why are you even there?”
Energy within the Democratic Party is shifting toward governors like Gavin Newsom and JB Pritzker, who are loudly taking on Trump and positioning themselves as possible 2028 contenders. Activists crave their firepower. As Hartmann put it: “Democrats want a leader in the mold of Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson – fighters who got things done despite opposition.”
But while Democrats debate their strategy, Trump continues steamrolling Congress. He bypassed bipartisan laws, ignored Supreme Court rulings, shut down USAID, deployed military force against protesters in Los Angeles, and even clawed back federal funds Congress had already approved.
Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution believes the courts, not Congress, may be the last safeguard. “The president has made extraordinary claims of executive power that raise constitutional questions. Ultimately, only the Supreme Court can settle them. For now, that is the only reed Democrats can cling to – because their minority power in Congress won’t change anytime soon.”