Progressive Democrats Create ‘Grow a Spine’ Gift List for Chuck Schumer

Image by getty images

By Daniel J. Solomon January 26, 2017

Progressive activists want Chuck Schumer to get serious about standing up to President Trump — and they want your help.

They’ve set up a toungue-in-cheek Amazon.com wedding registry to encourage members of the Democratic Party grassroots to buy gifts that might stiffen the Senate Majority Leader’s resolve.

“He’s the Democratic Senate leader, but he keeps voting to confirm Trump’s nominees, no matter how unqualified,” the description on the site reads, faulting the New York Senator for his votes in favor Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. “C’mon Chuck, show some spine. Here are some things that will help you grow one!”

The registry includes three books about courage, spine health supplements, a “Cowardly Lion” costume, a “liquid courage” liquor flask and a map and compass.

Schumer has riled some in the grassroots with his seeming willingness to compromise on Cabinet picks and policy matters like infrastructure with President Donald Trump. He’s got a reputation as less of a die-on-the-hill partisan and more of a dealmaker.

But who knows? Maybe these blandishments will help him find his inner trench fighter.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO