After hours of deliberation over President Donald Trump’s stalled nominees, tensions between Senate Democrats and the White House reached a boiling point on Saturday evening. In a row that spilled over to social media, the President said that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can “go to hell.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump instructed Republicans not to make a deal with the Democrats, who he claimed were making “egregious and unprecedented” demands in order to “approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees.”
“Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the radical left lunatics, to go to hell,” Trump said. “Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our country.”
The stalemate is particularly poignant as the Senate has now embarked on its monthlong August recess.
Democrats have largely denied fast unanimous consent votes regarding Trump’s nominees, instead opting for roll calls. Addressing the Republican Party’s complaints over this, Schumer said on Saturday: “Historically bad nominees deserve historic levels of scrutiny. We have never seen nominees as flawed, as compromised, as unqualified as Trump’s.”
Schumer also addressed Trump’s social media commentary, during which the President instructed Republicans to “go home” and called for Schumer to “go to hell.”
“Donald Trump attempted to steamroll the Senate to put in place his historically unqualified nominees, but Senate Democrats wouldn’t let him,” Schumer said in a filmed address. “In a fit of rage, Trump threw in the towel, sent Republicans home, and was unable to do the basic work of negotiating. Is this the ‘art of the deal?’”
“Trump tried to bully us, go around us, threaten us, call us names, but he got nothing. He walked away with his tail between his legs.”
The lack of progress ahead of the August recess comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday accused Democrats of deciding “to slow-walk every single civilian nomination from the President.” Thune said that in recent history, Presidents have had the majority of their nominees approved by unanimous consent or voice vote, but that “zero” of Trump’s civilian nominees had been confirmed by those means by Democrats this Congress.
Thune vowed that Republicans would “figure out a way to change it” if there’s no progress moving forward.
Shortly before Trump called time on the negotiations on Saturday, some GOP Senators aired ideas for alternative ways to advance Trump’s nominees.
Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said: “The Senate should immediately adjourn and let President Trump use recess appointments to enact the agenda 77M Americans voted for.”
Recess appointments refer to when a President can “make temporary appointments when the Senate is not in session,” according to the Constitution. It enables a President to appoint their chosen nominees without Senate confirmation.
Shortly after his election in November, Trump spoke out in favor of recess appointments.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted leadership position in the United States Senate must agree to recess appointments (in the Senate), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” he said via a post on Truth Social.
Later that same month, Thune said that “all the options” would remain on the table to help the advancement of Trump’s picks.
There have also been reports that GOP Senators could, at some point, seek to change the Senate rules in order to confirm more Trump nominees.
Amid discussion surrounding this earlier in the week, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, a Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, urged caution.
“We can and should have thoughtful, bipartisan conversations in the Rules Committee on updating the confirmation process for the future, but Republicans should keep in mind that if they choose to go nuclear—yet again—it will have consequences long beyond Donald Trump’s presidency,” Padilla warned in an online statement.
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