Watch: Hakeem Jeffries Embarrasses Himself in Incredibly Bad Effort to Justify Schumer Shutdown

Democrats are up a creek without a paddle when it comes to trying to justify their Schumer Shutdown.

There has been a clean continuing resolution on the table, so they can't argue against it. Yet, they still want to appeal to their radical base because Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is afraid of a challenge to his seat from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

So when CNBC's Joe Kernen put House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on the spot with a great question showing how ridiculous the Democrats' position was, it was something else to watch just how badly Jeffries handled it.

🚨 BREAKING: Hakeem Jeffries was just EMBARRASSED for holding the government hostage...holy smokes. This was bad.

CNBC: "There was an ELECTION. Republicans were able to pass the Big Beautiful Bill. To then say, 'We don't like that, so we're gonna shut down the government until… pic.twitter.com/wlcxytaZC6
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 9, 2025

Kernen said there was an election, and Republicans passed the "Big Beautiful Bill."

"To then say, 'We don't like that, so we're gonna shut down the government until you take back all the things you duly passed...If the GOP did that to the Inflation Reduction Act, or any of the Biden acts, shut down the government because we don't like it, not pay military, not allow the government to open until you do what we want, after an election when the American people put Democrats in power, you'd be going crazy!" [....]
"It's not how it works! It's bad, it's bad precedent! It's clear. And you're talking about the House? You've already passed this! The Senate has a bill to reopen the government right now, with 5 more Democrats."

Jeffries claimed that the Republicans could open the government now. But they don't have the votes - that's dependent on Democrats.

So Kernen demanded to know, "How?"

Jeffries claimed he just explained it when, of course, he had not done so. He then claimed they should "sit down and negotiate a path forward."

He was then put on the spot again by another CNBC cohost, Becky Quick: "Sounds like they are willing to negotiate."

The president previously even had Jeffries and Schumer in to talk.

Jeffries had his 15 different hand motions, but no real answer to the host's question. He's completely out of his league. He and the Democrats are the ones who refuse to come together to get the government open.

This is the Democrats now. They have no principles and no purpose except to be anti-Trump. They don't care about the American people who might be hurt. How could anyone vote for them? They're so incompetent - they're likely to push even more people to vote Republican.

This just exposes how completely the Democrats own this shutdown, and how they have no excuses.

Good on CNBC for asking the right questions. When Jeffries is embarrassed like this on national television, he should reexamine his approach instead of sinking further into absurdity.

But he won't.

He's about to start physically crying
— A Bourgeois (@RealABourgeois) October 9, 2025

Poor guy is running out of gas for his light….. https://t.co/vUz5xRy44J
— That Isn’t What Phobia Means 🙄 (@976babe8675309) October 9, 2025

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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