I hope and pray that Trump will sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill. That's how it's always been done in the past. That's how shutdowns have been avoided in the past. And if he doesn't, I'm just confirming here you will vote no. [00:00:15] - Is that correct? - We are hoping. We are hoping that he will negotiate with us. So it's fair. It's a fair title because he just said. He just said we're hoping and praying that Trump will sit down with us [00:00:34] the way that it's always been done. Although since he's come on the map politically, nothing's the way it's used to be done. So we're facing yet another government shutdown with federal funding set to expire September 30th. But luckily we have strong leaders like Chuck Schumer. [00:00:52] By the way. He does have some cool new glasses that I think do, did you notice those? I think look, I don't want to say anything nice about Chuck Schumer because I'm kind of in the same camp, but they did give him a little bit of a sharper feel. - Yeah. - Okay. Sharper feel, but not necessarily a sharper sound. [00:01:09] He's banking on hopes and prayers, bringing Donald Trump to the negotiating table. Last week, the Senate rejected both Republican and Democratic proposals to keep the government funded, at least temporarily, raising the likelihood of a potential shutdown. [00:01:24] Democrats are demanding that funding legislation include an extension of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced tax credits, which are currently set to expire at the end of 2025. They also want a reversal of the Medicaid cuts included in Trump's so-called [00:01:41] big beautiful bill earlier this year. They have some leverage since any legislation will need 60 votes to pass. That means some Democrats would need to vote with Republicans to clear that threshold and keep the government funded. Schumer and Jeffries sent a strongly worded letter to Trump over the weekend [00:02:02] in which they wrote, and before you put it up, I just quickly. Do you think he read it? Do you think he read it, Mark? Of course not. Of course not. Of course. Not. - Letter. - Yeah. - Come on. - If you can't get. If they can't get on Fox News Channel, then he's not knowing about it. He doesn't need. He didn't read it. [00:02:18] It was probably not even delivered to him. Okay. Here's what they wrote. We write to demand a meeting in connection with your decision to shut down the federal government. Because of the Republican desire to continue to gut the health care [00:02:33] of the American people. Democrats are ready to work toward a bipartisan spending agreement that improves the lives of American families and addresses the Republican health care crisis. Well, this is not a letter written for Donald Trump. [00:02:50] They just look at the verbiage. It's a letter written to be talked about on TV and republished in the New York Times. Yeah. And I hope they didn't waste one of those forever stamps or a messenger. You know, you can through Uber Eats. I message things to my daughter at school. You just. [00:03:06] It's a different button. It's a package button. I hope they didn't waste $1 on this stop. But Republicans haven't signaled any willingness to negotiate. In an exchange with reporters on Saturday, Trump suggested that he was open to a meeting but said nothing was likely to come from it. [00:03:23] Listen. Will you meet with Democratic leaders to talk about how to avert a shutdown? Well, I will, but they don't care about crime. They want to keep men and women's sports. They want all this stuff. They don't change. They haven't learned from the biggest meeting they've ever taken, just about, [00:03:40] I'd love to meet with them, but I don't think it's going to have any impact. Hey, guys, let's just cancel the meeting. Just cancel the meeting now. There are fears that Schumer will once again buckle under the pressure like he did back in March. Despite outrage from his own caucus, he bolstered those fears in this interview [00:03:58] with CNN's Dana Bash, in which he repeatedly refused to say whether or not he would vote to prevent the shutdown. Nothing changes. Are you going to vote no and urge your Democratic colleagues to vote no, which will end with the shutdown? Look, we we we hope it doesn't come to that. [00:04:17] But what if it does? Because everyone knows the American people. The American people are on our side. Dana, by almost 2 to 1, they believe if there's a shutdown, it's going to be caused by Trump because they know how much they want relief in the health care issue. And they know he's not negotiating. So it's up to them. [00:04:34] And if he doesn't, I'm just confirming here you will vote no. - Is that correct? - We are hoping, Dana. We are hoping that he will negotiate with us. - And if he. - Doesn't, he hasn't. And we've had two bills in the House and Senate and neither of them have passed. [00:04:53] Our Democrats are firm. We need to get something done to relieve the distress the American people are in. Now, see, I've gotten a better look at the glasses. You're absolutely right, Mark. But again, she doesn't even comment on them. Shame on her. You know. [00:05:09] Come on. He looks more like a leader, but he sounds like. - The same old guy. - Yeah, the same old guy. How confident are you that Schumer will be able to get any concessions out of Trump, like even one? I think there'll be maybe some superficial concessions, if there are any. [00:05:28] I don't think he's confident of something that he's said in there, and that is that. Well, the American people it's shown are 2 to 1, blaming Trump if there is a shutdown. If he really thought that were true, I think there would be, [00:05:44] less aversion to a shutdown. I mean, I think Democrats are always about trying to keep the government open, just in general. They just believe in government and the power of what government can do, the good that government can do, if you will. I mean, that's always sort of been a Democratic thing. And the GOP has sort of the overreach of government. [00:06:01] I mean, again, those are sort of the broad strokes. And my point is simply, I think they want to keep it open. But if they really believe that the American people would cleanly rest blame at Trump's feet. I think they'd let it rip, man, I really do, and I think they're not sure about that because people aren't sure. [00:06:18] - I mean, nobody's sure. - Nobody's sure. And their messaging has proven ineffective. I mean, it's just not been something that's been persuasive. Even when the American people see doom and gloom, they can't pay their bills. Jimmy Kimmel's off the air. [00:06:34] This latest nonsense, the political rhetoric. People are dying up, and yet you can't break through with a little bit of messaging that says, yeah, we're on your side. I'll give you the last word. Yeah. I think the the frustrating thing for us looking in and for all of us [00:06:54] watching what's going on, is that it is sort of the same old dance. We have the same old political figures who seem to be ineffective, sort of tepid in their responses. Hope and pray. I mean, he's always going to default to that verbiage, [00:07:10] but that's just not the, the new America. The media landscape demands much, much stronger stuff. And you may have to lean in even harder. I mean, you can make an argument for shutting the government down if you're the Democrats for letting it happen. I hate to see it, because I think a lot of innocents are swept under in that. [00:07:28] And then on some level, Trump can get away with a lot more with a government that's closed down than he can with a government that is powered up as it is with even sort of the minimal, watchdogs in effect, if you want to think of it that way. [00:07:43] It's it's a tough spot that Schumer finds himself in, but as usual, he's not rising to the occasion. No. And it's it's a throwback. It's nothing new. I get why people are sick of the same old. They're like, stuck in the 80s. Exactly. I was I literally was thinking, it feels like a couple of decades ago. [00:07:59] Yeah, that's exactly right. It's. They're stuck. Do something different. Show me what you got instead. Nothing. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.