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Back in March, Schumer briefly worked with Republicans to keep the government funded. It was the right thing to do — but his own base erupted in fury. Progressive activists branded him a traitor, turning on him for daring to act like a grown-up in Washington.
Johnson described what came next in striking detail: “So Schumer doesn’t want to be in this situation again. So he said, ‘My gosh,’ he got his staff together, and the far-left wing of the party said, ‘What do you want? What do you want me to fight on?’ So they created a red herring.”
That “red herring,” Johnson revealed, was healthcare. Not because it was an emergency, but because Schumer needed a fight — any fight — to prove his loyalty to the left.
“These are two totally separate things,” Johnson clarified.
Johnson went on to expose how Democrats deliberately manufactured a “healthcare crisis” to justify another round of shutdown drama.
He pointed out that the healthcare tax credit expiring on December 31 had been known for months — and that serious debate had already been underway.
“The tax credit – the subsidy you’ve heard about that expires December 31st – there’s a lot of thoughtful debate and discussion that has already been going on about that and will go on about that,” Johnson explained.
Republicans, he noted, have been working for months on real healthcare reforms as part of a larger tax reform effort. A clean continuing resolution, Johnson said, would give lawmakers the time to continue that work.
“The clean continuing resolution would simply keep the lights on so that the members in the House and Senate can have those debates on health care,” he said.
“Health care is broken in America. It’s too expensive. The quality of care needs to rise. We need more access for more people, and we have lots of ideas to do that,” Johnson continued. “But that issue is for debate in the next three months. It always was. We have members working on that.”
Then he delivered the blow that Democrats can’t escape: “A red herring is a distraction,” he said. “They decided that they would pick a fight on health care.”
The timeline says it all. For months, Democrats ignored the issue while Republicans developed solutions. Then, as the deadline approached, Schumer suddenly claimed a crisis and threatened a shutdown.
That’s not leadership — it’s performance politics. And it’s all because Schumer fears the same left-wing activists who attacked him earlier this year.
Johnson summarized it perfectly: “But that’s a December 31 issue. So Chuck Schumer is scrambling. He has to have an issue. None of their policies are very popular, so they decided to latch on to health care, and he decided to claim to all of you that that is the issue with government funding.”
The Washington Examiner photo tells the story Democrats don’t want voters to remember — when one of their own tried to govern responsibly, his base destroyed him.
Now, Schumer is desperate to avoid a repeat. Instead of focusing on policy, he’s fueling another round of shutdown hysteria to protect his political image.
The healthcare issue was never the crisis Democrats claimed. It was always going to be handled by year’s end through the normal legislative process. Republicans were already working on it — quietly, diligently, and responsibly.
But instead of governing, Schumer chose grandstanding. Instead of solutions, he chose headlines.
And as Johnson made clear, American taxpayers are the ones now footing the bill for Chuck Schumer’s political cowardice.
This is what happens when Democrats put party optics before public service — and the truth before the cameras doesn’t lie.
