It's been 35 days of Chuck Schumer's TACO Tuesdays and the Schumer Shutdown follies. After five weeks of playing chicken with the federal budget, Donald Trump still hasn't chickened out. And last night on 60 Minutes, Trump made it clear that he would not agree to negotiate on anything, even on ObamaCare subsidies in which he has some interest, until Democrats pass a clean CR and reopen government.
Trump told Norah O'Donnell that he has no intention of rewarding Schumer and his extortion methods. Rather than apply the 'game of chicken' analogy to Schumer's strategy, Trump used his recent trip to Japan to come up with an even more insulting analogy:
President Trump: "I'm not going to do it by being extorted by the Democrats. There is something wrong with these people. Schumer is a basket case. He has nothing to lose. I just left Japan. He has become a kamikaze pilot." 😂 pic.twitter.com/X3qxUQgFwy
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 3, 2025
The Associated Press cleaned up Trump's actual remarks, removing the part about kamikaze pilots and basket cases. Nevertheless, the point gets across clearly enough. Trump loves to make deals, but he hates ultimatums, and he wants to make Schumer pay for this strategy:
President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday that he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats who are demanding negotiations to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year for millions of Americans. Echoing congressional Republicans, the president said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” he’ll negotiate only when the government is reopened.
Trump’s comments signal the shutdown could drag on for some time as federal workers, including air traffic controllers, are set to miss additional paychecks and there’s uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who receive federal food aid will be able to access the assistance. Senate Democrats have voted 13 times against reopening the government, insisting they need Trump and Republicans to negotiate with them first.
The president said Democrats “have lost their way” and predicted they’ll capitulate to Republicans.
“I think they have to,” Trump said. “And if they don’t vote, it’s their problem.”
That poured cold water all over reports that Senate Democrats had made 'progress' in getting Trump to negotiate. The Wall Street Journal claimed earlier on Sunday that Democrats had engaged Senate Republicans in side negotiations, but nothing would happen until Trump gave them the sit-down they demanded and a comprehensive deal:
Democratic senators again urged President Trump to get involved directly in talks to end the government shutdown as the impasse entered a crucial week, with the lapse set to become the longest ever while pain for American households and travelers is deepening.
Lawmakers indicated late last week that they were finally making progress on talks to reopen the government and begin discussions about how to address expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to leave millions of Americans with sharply higher health-insurance bills. Democrats, who have repeatedly blocked a GOP measure to reopen the government, have made talks on healthcare a condition for voting to end the shutdown.
They later updated it to include some of Trump's responses in the 60 Minutes interview, but notably not the "extortion" or "kamikaze pilot" remarks:
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night, Trump said he believed Democrats would eventually vote to reopen the government and repeated his call to bypass them if they don’t. “The Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want,” he said.
In other words, pound sand. How's that for TACO Tuesday?
Schumer and his caucus may still want to spin this as Trump's shutdown, but the truth is making its way around -- even on TikTok:
Just a reminder about the
— Farm Girl Carrie 👩🌾 (@FarmGirlCarrie) November 3, 2025
Gov’t shutdown…
“The reason the government is still shut down is bc the Senate Dems have voted ‘No’ for the 13th time.
And while they sit and try to convince you that Trump’s ballroom is the priority,
which has nothing to do with your tax $$…” pic.twitter.com/0U4WsGezAN
After Trump's refusal to submit to Schumer's extortion, what's next? Initially I found Trump's "I will not be extorted" to be an amusing echo of a Glenn Close line from Fatal Attraction, but I wonder whether Schumer will borrow his next tactic from Close's character, too. Maybe someone needs to watch the rabbits at the White House ...
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is still here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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