Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has reportedly scrapped his upcoming book tour — citing concerns for his own safety — amid a wave of backlash over his eleventh-hour decision to support the Republican-led Continuing Resolution that passed on Friday, funding the federal government through September.
The New York Times published a report on Monday stating that the Senate Minority Leader was canceling a multi-city tour — that was supposed to include stops in several California cities in addition to Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York — during which he had planned to promote his new book, “Antisemitism In America: A Warning.”
According to a spokesperson for Schumer, the tour was going to be rescheduled due to “security concerns” — but even before he voted Friday to avert a government shutdown, there were protests planned to coincide with the launch of the book.
At least one planned protest stemmed from the fact that some Jewish activists blame Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, for the failure of the Antisemitism Awareness Act — aimed at reining in rampant anti-Semitism on college campuses — after he and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reached an impasse regarding how it should be done.
“The only thing Chuck Schumer knows about Antisemitism is how to spread it,” said Jewish activist Aliza Licht. “The Jewish community will not allow Schumer to masquerade as the self-proclaimed ‘shomer of the Jews’ when he has fueled Antisemitism in America with his double-speak and failure to protect Jewish Civil Rights.”
Democratic activists angry that Schumer has not done enough to “stand up to” President Donald Trump had also, according to The Times, planned protests at every stop on his planned book tour.
CNN Congressional correspondent Manu Raju discussed the issue with “The Situation Room” anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, and he pointed out that Schumer’s vote on the CR had come just as polls indicated voters were already angry with the direction Democrats were taking the party.
A recent CNN poll said that more than half of Democrats (52%) believed their party was headed in the wrong direction, and an NBC News poll released over the weekend indicated that only about one-fourth (27%) of voters held a “positive view” of the Democratic Party. Even fewer — just 7% — said that view was “very positive.”
