Democratic governors criticize Chuck Schumer for weak resistance to Trump

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has reportedly been criticised by some of the party’s state governors for not resisting Donald Trump’s agenda and cabinet nominees strongly enough.

The exchange took place in a conference between Schumer and six Democratic governors that laid bare differences within the party over how to counteract a seemingly rampant Trump as he wreaks upheaval across the political landscape with an avalanche of executive orders, the New York Times reported.

The governors, led by JB Pritzker of Illinois and Maura Healey of Massachusetts, pleaded with Schumer to slow down the confirmation of Trump’s cabinet by persuading fellow senators to vote against his nominees wherever possible. They said the party needed to generate more public opposition than senators had managed in the chamber so far.

The appeal came in the week the Senate is meeting to confirm two of Trump’s most contentious cabinet picks, Robert F Kennedy Jr, as health and human services secretary, and Tulsi Gabbard, for the role of national intelligence director.

In response, Schumer said Democrats had damaged the political standing of the new defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, during his hearings, in which he was narrowly confirmed, and of Kennedy in the opening day of his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

The conference call followed a controversial memo from the office of management and budget ordering a “pause” on trillions of dollars of federal funds used for vital spending programmes. The order was rescinded on Wednesday following a fierce backlash that led to a court ruling stalling it.

After the meeting, Schumer’s office issued a statement saying the memo’s reversal was “thanks to Democrats’ work”.

Andy Beshear, the Kentucky governor, reportedly told the meeting that Democrats needed to focus less on Trump’s “desecration” of American democracy in favour of a message that his administration was making life harder for ordinary Americans, which was the only way they would learn never to vote for someone like him again.

Trump appeared more animated by the prospect of acquiring Greenland than on tackling the high prices of eggs and other groceries, which he promised to bring down on “day one” during his presidential campaign, Beshear reportedly said.

In fact, Schumer addressed the rising egg prices and the effects of bird flu and challenged Trump to act in a Senate floor speech on Monday.

Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who was running mate of the defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in last November’s election, said the party needed a higher television profile to project its governing alternative, rather than simply complaining about Trump’s actions.

The Kansas governor, Laura Kelly, called for a “down and dirty” digital strategy to cope with the social media outreach of Trump and his supporters. Schumer responded by praising the work of Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator who is charge of Senate Democrats’ social media strategy.

Healey also lamented that the state governors were bearing the brunt of constituents’ complaints about the effect of Trump’s policies and leading the Democrats’ pushback – as reflected in the cases filed by state attorneys general against the attempt to cancel birthright citizenship and the freeze on federal grants and loans.