Schumer says he didn't know Trump would 'screw up so soon'

Weighing in on the Trump administration's actions of the past week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he didn’t know President Trump would “screw up so soon.”

The comment, published Monday by Semafor, followed an issued-then-rescinded Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo that called for a federal loan and grant pause, which caused a political uproar, and the weekend announcement of weighty tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, which also resulted in mass frustration.

“There’s a long way to go. This is going to be a pattern," he added.

On Wednesday, Schumer went after Trump over the memo and gave credit to the American people for causing its reversal.

“Today, we saw what happens when Americans fight back against disastrous policies,” Schumer said during a press conference. “Americans made their voices heard. Donald Trump rescinded the OMB order.”

In the Semafor report, Schumer also said Democrats are “going to do a lot better in the Senate than people think” in the 2026 elections and that “as long as” he is “good at it,” the New York Democrat will continue in his current role.

However, Democrats have recently been frustrated about their party’s early response to Trump, with strategists saying that the reaction to the president is not consistent and not as confrontational to combat Trump.

“Democratic leadership acts like it’s permanently 2006, a year when, yes, we took back the Senate, but also before the Republican Party found a cult leader and lost its collective minds,” Democratic strategist Christy Setzer said, according to a Monday report from The Hill.

“We don’t live in that world anymore; we have a lifelong conman and convicted felon in the Oval Office who tries every day to turn this country into a dictatorship. Let’s start acting like it,” Seltzer added.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

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