If there’s one thing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has mastered, it’s the art of spinning a narrative—often at the expense of the facts.
He’s done it before, and he’s doing it again, this time trying to pin the blame for a century-old newspaper’s closure on President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But as usual, a closer look at the situation tells a very different story.
Schumer’s latest attempt at historical revisionism came in response to the closure of The Cortland Standard, a 158-year-old family-owned newspaper in upstate New York. According to Schumer, the paper’s demise was a direct result of “increased costs from chaos caused by Trump’s tariffs.” His heartfelt tribute on X, lamenting the loss of the storied publication, would have been touching—if it had any basis in reality.
A quick glance at the farewell letter written by The Cortland Standard’s publisher, Evan C. Geibel, makes one thing abundantly clear: Trump’s tariffs were not the cause of the paper’s downfall.
Nowhere in his detailed explanation of the paper’s financial struggles does Geibel mention tariffs. Instead, he points to the same economic pressures that have shuttered newspapers across the country: declining print readership, sluggish digital subscription growth, and rising costs for essential business expenses like software, fuel, and newsprint.
This isn’t speculation—it’s a well-documented trend. Newspapers have been folding at a rate of two per week in the U.S., according to Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council President Karen Kerrigan.
The reality is that traditional journalism has been struggling for years, and many media outlets have been unable to adapt to the new digital landscape. But in the case of The Cortland Standard, there was an added layer of difficulty: it was operating in a state that has become increasingly hostile to small businesses.
New York’s high taxes and suffocating regulations have made it nearly impossible for local businesses to thrive. Kerrigan, who is also a SUNY Cortland alum, pointed out that other states are modernizing their economies, cutting taxes, and attracting new businesses, while New York has remained stuck in a cycle of overregulation and financial strain. It’s no mystery why people and businesses are leaving the Empire State in droves.
Yet Schumer, ever the political opportunist, conveniently ignored all of this in his rush to place the blame squarely on Trump. This is the same Chuck Schumer who, just a month ago, tried to distance himself from linking FAA staffing cuts to a Delta jet crash—despite having directly made the connection in a tweet. It’s a familiar pattern: Schumer makes a sweeping, baseless claim, the media runs with it, and by the time the facts emerge, the damage has already been done.