Senator Bernie Sanders clashed with a Republican college student — an intern at Americans for Tax Reform — during a CNN town hall Wednesday night over Chuck Schumer’s disastrous handling of what’s now being called the “Schumer Shutdown.”
The exchange quickly turned heated, with Sanders trying and failing to defend the obstruction from the party he caucuses while the student pressed him on why Democrats keep blocking a clean bill to reopen the government.
Rohan Naval, a student from American University — one of the most liberal campuses in the country — put Senator Sanders on the spot during the CNN town hall, asking how the Schumer Shutdown reflected on Chuck Schumer’s so-called “leadership.”
“Well, I think it reflects more on Mike Johnson‘s leadership and President Trump‘s leadership,” Sanders replied. “This is a leadership that said it‘s okay to give a…well, how do you feel? You tell me. You think it‘s a good idea to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the richest people in the country and then make massive cuts to healthcare for working-class people?”
“I think Chuck Schumer has voted for continuing resolutions 13 times in the last four years, and he has the opportunity to vote for one again, but he‘s refusing to come to the table,” Naval responded.
“I think…look, as I have said, there are 53 Republicans in the Senate, correct?” Sanders said. “They need 60. What does that mean? It means you have to talk to the other side. Mike Johnson is not talking. John Thune is not talking. President Trump is not talking. That is the problem.”
Crazy Bernie just got wrecked on national television ? pic.twitter.com/G5Emm2gY6v
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 16, 2025
Actually, no…
The “problem” is Schumer and Democrats are demanding $1.5 trillion in new spending, with hundreds of billions going to healthcare for illegal aliens. Yes, yes, “the law” forbids illegal aliens from accessing Medicaid and other federal healthcare benefits directly, but they often simply go to an emergency room where they cannot be refused service or care and then those bills are often paid for by American tax dollars.
Democrats are still trying to shift blame for the so-called “Schumer Shutdown” onto Republicans, claiming the stalemate stems from the GOP’s refusal to fund an Obamacare expansion in the Republican-led spending bill. But as the shutdown hits its 16th day on Thursday, it’s becoming increasingly obvious to the public who’s really responsible — and it isn’t the GOP.
Incredibly, Schumer has even suggested the shutdown is politically beneficial for Democrats, boasting that it’s “making things better” for his party.
“Every day gets better for us,” Schumer reportedly told Punchbowl News. “It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance, and we knew that healthcare would be the focal point on Sept. 30, and we prepared for it… Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.”
That statement alone shows just how detached Democratic leadership has become from the everyday Americans suffering because of their political games. Good on young Mr. Naval for holding the leader of Bernie’s caucus party to account.
