I'll throw my 2 cents of criticism in here

[EarlG]

77. Maybe the answer is, as Barack Obama put it, that "we are the ones we've been waiting for"

I will say that I find it somewhat irksome how many Democrats are framing this as "Democrats voting FOR the CR." We know that Democrats will not actually vote for the CR (with the possible exception of Fetterman). What we are arguing about here is whether or not to filibuster. Filibustering is the "strong" move -- it shuts down the government, albeit without an endgame to open it up again. Not filibustering -- allowing a normal majority vote to take place (which, by the way, is something Democrats have been advocating for for decades) -- is the "weak" move. The "cave."

But ultimately, maybe all this parliamentary maneuvering is beside the point. I don't disagree with this: "He is failing to adequately rally the base at a time when the full active participation of all Americans of good faith in defense of our democracy is required. Even worse, he is alienating many of them."

The fact is that our institutions are likely not going to save us. Senate Democrats are in this position because Trump is tearing down the guideposts of our society and is trying to replace them with something distinctly un-American. It's starting to look like the only people who can stop this are regular Americans. We are already seeing Trump's approval ratings starting to crash, and we're seeing widespread anger at town halls across the country -- people are acting on their own initiative, stepping up and taking action.

As a long-time member of a fading establishment, Schumer does seem to be the wrong person for this moment in history. Senate Democrats are doing a poor job explaining all of this to their own base, let alone to all Americans. But perhaps this is a cue for rank-and-file Democrats to stop waiting for our leaders to get us where we need to be, and take the lead ourselves. Keep showing up at town halls. Keep the fight going at the local level, where we can reach real voters who are really hurting. It's situations like this that create new leaders.