Schumer is pressed by Democratic governors to fight more against Trump

A group of six Democratic governors pressed Senator Chuck Schumer from New York during a tense called Wednesday night to be more aggressive in the fight against nominees and the president Trump’s agenda, almost begging the minority leader to persuade the Democrats of the Senate to block what they could.

The call, described in detailed notes, as well as interviews with two participants and five other people informed about the conversation, revealed the growing tensions among the Democrats on how with force they should oppose Mr. Trump.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts told each Schumer that Senate Democrats should not vote for Mr. Trump’s nominees after the administration issued a memorandum that froze billions of dollars in subsidies and federal loans, which was Backed on Wednesday.

Mrs. Healey urged Mr. Schumer to reduce the speed of the votes of the Senate and create more public opposition than the Democrats in the Chamber have generated so far. He also regretted that the democratic governors were with the worst part of the calls of the voters affected by the policies of Mr. Trump, while also led the legal effort to block them.

Governor Tim Walz de Minnesota, who was chosen as the Democratic candidate for the vice president last year largely on the basis of his ability to articulate the message of the party in cable news, said the Democrats should be more visible in The television that presented an alternative vision of governing – not only complain about what Trump is doing. Walz argued that the Democrats should occupy both space in the media and Mr. Trump and the Republicans have been doing.

Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky said that the Democratic governors whose states had Republican general prosecutors needed a separate legal and communications strategy to combat Mr. Trump’s policies. He argued that Trump had seemed more focused on acquiring Greenland than on the price of eggs and said that Democrats needed to focus not on what they see how the desecration of American democracy as much as Trump was making people’s lives difficult.

Mr. Beshear said that the most difficult part of dealing with the new administration was that the American people would have to feel the pain of Mr. Trump’s actions so they could not make the mistake of choosing someone like him again. Governor Kathy Hochul from New York said the Democrats were not willing to inflict pain to her constituents, but that people needed to understand the consequences of choosing Mr. Trump.

Governor Laura Kelly de Kansas, the president of the Association of Democratic Governors and helped organize the call along with Mr. Pritzker, said her party needed to do a better job with her digital scope in response to Mr. Trump. He asked that the Democrats’s online strategy become “damn and dirty.”

Schumer replied that Senator Cory Booker in New Jersey was in charge of the social networks of the Senate Democrats and praised the work he was doing.

Last week, Mr. Booker delivered a PowerPoint presentation to other Democrats on how to deliver his message online. On the slides, which were obtained by the New York Times, Mr. Booker offered guidance to his colleagues on how often publish on each platform. Instagram: once or twice a day. Facebook: once a day. LinkedIn: Three to five times a week. X: Two or five times a day. Tiktok: one or four times a day.

During Wednesday’s call, Mr. Schumer defended the position of Senate Democrats to Trump. He said that Senate Democrats had damaged Pete Hegseth’s political position, who was confirmed last week as Secretary of Defense, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who faced a hematoma audience On Wednesday for his nomination to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services of Mr. Trump.

Schumer told the governors that he could not force all Senate Democrats to oppose all Trump nominees, but that he could unite the Caucus to oppose certain high -profile named. He said that the combined outrage of the Democrats for Trump’s effort to stop federal government funds to a wide range of schools, hospitals, non -profit organizations and other groups had succeeded and had forced the administration to leave their plans .

The Senate Democratic leader told the governors that the Republican elected officials in New York were asking for advice on the best way to respond to the actions of Mr. Trump.

He also said there had to be an assigned personnel to coordinate messages related to Trump for Democratic governors, their counterparts in the Senate and the general prosecutors of the State of the party.

Schumer urged the governors to promote Republicans in the delegations of the Congress of their states to oppose Mr. Trump’s policies and their administration that could damage their states.

The assistants in the offices of Mr. Pritzker, Mr. Walz, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. Beshear and Mrs. Healey declined to comment for this article. A spokeswoman for Mrs. Hochul could not be contacted on Wednesday night. Mr. Schumer’s office, in an official accounting of the call, said the group had discussed the best ways in which Senate Democrats could support their party’s efforts to combat Mr. Trump’s policies and allies like Russell T. Vought, his nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

“The leader Schumer said that, thanks to the work of the Democrats, Donald Trump and Russell Voucht hit the road today, but we must continue fighting and work together to ensure that they are not successful and hurt millions of Americans,” the Mr. Schumer’s office said.