Well, the Senate just hit pause for summer, but not before the whole thing turned into a political standoff that had Donald Trump unloading both barrels on Chuck Schumer and the Democrats.
Here’s the setup: Republicans have been working to push through a slate of Trump’s nominees, but Democrats — led by Schumer — weren’t going to make it easy.
According to Trump, Schumer tried to strike a deal: if Republicans agreed to unfreeze more than $1 billion for the National Institutes of Health and foreign aid (and promised not to claw back previously allocated funds), Democrats wouldn’t obstruct the process of confirming “a small number” of Trump’s “highly qualified” picks. In Trump’s words? “Political extortion.” And he didn’t mince any words about what he thought of it.
“This demand is egregious and unprecedented,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It is political extortion, by any other name. Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!”
The president didn’t stop there. He told Senate Republicans to skip the deal, head home, and make sure their constituents know just how bad the Democrats are playing this game. “Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he added.
This is a bit of a pivot for Trump, who had been urging Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Republicans to stay in D.C. and keep working through the backlog of nominees. But now? He’s giving them the green light to pack up — with marching orders to hit the road and sell their case.
Of course, Schumer had his own spin. “Donald Trump attempted to steamroll the Senate to put in place his historically unqualified nominees. But Senate Democrats wouldn’t let him,” Schumer posted on X.
For now, the Senate is out until September 2, holding only pro forma sessions to block Trump from making any recess appointments. They did manage to confirm some of his nominees before leaving, including Jeanine Pirro as U.S. attorney for D.C., and even passed a few fiscal 2026 appropriations bills ahead of the looming September 30 deadline.
Trump closed out the weekend by praising “our great Republican Senators for fighting… to get my great Appointments approved” and once again blasting Democrats for “doing everything possible to DELAY these wonderful and talented people.”