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One name came up repeatedly: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Vance argued that Schumer dug in harder than anyone else, even at the cost of his own political standing. According to Vance, Schumer “probably ended his career, and he was the person who was fighting more than anybody to keep the government shut down.” And once the deal was inked, Democrats immediately turned on him—candidates, activist groups, and even sitting officials began demanding he be ousted as Senate leader.
Despite the unrest brewing in his own party, Schumer continued to resist the bill President Trump finally signed. His obsession with protecting expiring Obamacare subsidies drove the shutdown well past the breaking point. Vance said the radical faction pressing Schumer was never going to accept compromise: “So, the far left, they are never going to be satisfied unless the Democrats are willing to burn down the entire country. Luckily, there were a few moderate Democrats who allowed reason to prevail.”
As details of the negotiations emerged, the demands coming from the extreme left were even more shocking. Vance described the proposals as not only unreasonable, but outright dangerous for the country. “They wanted $1.5 trillion, a lot of that [to fund] health care benefits for illegal aliens. They wanted us to undo all of the great border policy we have been doing. They wanted us to refund NPR and PBS,” he explained.
According to the vice president, far-left Democrats essentially told Republicans they wanted total ideological surrender—otherwise they were content to let the nation buckle. “They were basically saying that we want the far left’s priorities to dominate in the Trump administration, and unless that happens we are going to set the entire country on fire. A really disgraceful moment for the far left of the Democrats and, frankly, a very revealing moment for the American people.”
Vance even highlighted one of the more outrageous ultimatums laid out during internal talks. “They were talking about, ‘Give us $1.5 trillion for health care benefits for illegal aliens, and unless you do that we are going to make it impossible for you to fly home to see your family on Thanksgiving,’” he said, referencing the severe air-travel disruptions caused by the shutdown. “It’s just craziness that that was ever their position, but it was.”
As the dust settles, Hannity asked the obvious question: How fast can the federal government recover? Vance warned that the restoration won’t be instantaneous. “It’s going to take a little bit of time to get everything fully up and running,” he said.
He also revealed that President Trump made the decision late Wednesday night—rather than waiting until morning—to speed up the reopening process. According to Vance, Trump chose to sign immediately to restore operations “as quickly as possible.”
Vance closed the interview by contrasting the administration’s focus with that of the Democrats. “It goes to show the entire time the president, the entire administration, we were focused on getting the government turned back on, getting critical services actually funded so the government could function for the American people,” he said. “The Democrats were focused on, ‘We want to take you hostage. We want to make it hard for you to get home to see your family on Thanksgiving so that we can give your health care benefits to illegal aliens.’ What an incredible juxtaposition of priorities.”
