It’s not every day that Van Jones — one of CNN’s more loyal Democratic commentators — openly calls out his own party for shooting itself in the foot. But that’s exactly what happened on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, when Jones revealed that just three months ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer personally told him that shutting down the government was “stupid.” 

Now, that same Chuck Schumer is the one who did exactly that.

Jones recounted his earlier conversation with Schumer, saying, “The weird thing is, I talked to Chuck Schumer about this, like, three months ago, and he was kicking me in the butt because I had been tough on him for not allowing the government to shut down. And he convinced me that shutting the government down is stupid. Then I turn on the TV and he says, ‘We’re now shutting the government down.’ So, hold on a second, guys.”

Jones’ frustration was clear: Democrats, in his view, are once again managing to do “the wrong thing at the wrong time for the right reason.” In other words, they may think they’re standing on principle, but politically, it’s an act of self-sabotage.

Jones explained the supposed logic behind Schumer’s move. Democrats didn’t want to pass a clean funding resolution, because doing so would reveal the painful truth that health insurance premiums were about to skyrocket this month. As Jones put it, if they allowed that to happen, “by the time you get to the end of November, you would have Americans marching in the streets saying, ‘I can’t pay 150% more for my insurance premiums.’” So rather than face the outrage over rising premiums, Democrats decided to shut the government down — a move Jones warns will only make matters worse.

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“The base wants us to do something — please do something, do anything,” he said. “But the ‘something’ probably shouldn’t be throwing a bunch of people out of work at the federal government and crushing America’s government’s ability to function right before the pain was about to start.” It’s a sad commentary on the modern Democratic Party when one of their most visible pundits has to spell out that torching the government to hide policy failures isn’t exactly sound strategy.

The political reality isn’t on Schumer’s side, either. Most Americans don’t feel much impact from a government shutdown—only federal workers do, and they already lean Democrat. That means Republicans have little to lose politically, while gaining a chance to highlight Democrat-driven dysfunction and blame Schumer’s side for the chaos.

And what are Democrats shutting the government down for? 

Not to defend national security or protect taxpayers, but to keep funneling money into pet projects such as healthcare for illegal immigrants. Schumer’s party is burning political capital to defend the indefensible—pouring taxpayer dollars into benefits for non-citizens.

That’s not the behavior of a party fighting for “working people.” It’s the panicked thrashing of a party that’s lost them. Van Jones may not have meant to expose how incoherent the Democratic strategy has become, but he did—and when even their media allies are shaking their heads, you can be sure voters are, too.

Chuck Schumer and radical Democrats chose healthcare for illegals over the American people—and now Washington is closed for business. They own this mess. Help us shine a light on the truth. Use promo code POTUS47 to take 74% off your VIP membership.