It’s been 35 days of Chuck Schumer’s “TACO Tuesdays” and the never-ending Schumer Shutdown circus. After five weeks of political games and budget brinkmanship, Donald Trump still hasn’t blinked. And on 60 Minutes last night, he made it crystal clear: there will be no negotiations — not even on ObamaCare subsidies he’s open to discussing — until Democrats stop holding the government hostage and pass a clean Continuing Resolution.
Trump told Norah O’Donnell he has no plans to reward Chuck Schumer’s political extortion tactics. Instead of calling it a “game of chicken,” as the media likes to do, Trump drew from his recent trip to Japan to offer an even sharper — and far more insulting — analogy for Schumer’s approach:
President Trump: "I'm not going to do it by being extorted by the Democrats. There is something wrong with these people. Schumer is a basket case. He has nothing to lose. I just left Japan. He has become a kamikaze pilot." ? pic.twitter.com/X3qxUQgFwy
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 3, 2025
The Associated Press couldn’t resist cleaning up Trump’s remarks — cutting out his sharper references to “kamikaze pilots” and “basket cases.” But the message still came through loud and clear. Trump loves making deals, but he refuses to bow to ultimatums. And this time, he’s intent on making Chuck Schumer pay the political price for trying to strong-arm him:
President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday that he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats who are demanding negotiations to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year for millions of Americans. Echoing congressional Republicans, the president said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” he’ll negotiate only when the government is reopened.
Trump’s comments signal the shutdown could drag on for some time as federal workers, including air traffic controllers, are set to miss additional paychecks and there’s uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who receive federal food aid will be able to access the assistance. Senate Democrats have voted 13 times against reopening the government, insisting they need Trump and Republicans to negotiate with them first.
The president said Democrats “have lost their way” and predicted they’ll capitulate to Republicans.
“I think they have to,” Trump said. “And if they don’t vote, it’s their problem.”
That revelation doused cold water on the media’s breathless claims that Senate Democrats were making “progress” in pressuring Trump to the table. Earlier on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Democrats were trying to work Senate Republicans through backchannel talks — but the truth is, nothing’s moving until Trump agrees to their demands for a sit-down and a sweeping deal. And that’s not happening anytime soon:
Democratic senators again urged President Trump to get involved directly in talks to end the government shutdown as the impasse entered a crucial week, with the lapse set to become the longest ever while pain for American households and travelers is deepening.
Lawmakers indicated late last week that they were finally making progress on talks to reopen the government and begin discussions about how to address expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to leave millions of Americans with sharply higher health-insurance bills. Democrats, who have repeatedly blocked a GOP measure to reopen the government, have made talks on healthcare a condition for voting to end the shutdown.
They later updated it to include some of Trump’s responses in the 60 Minutes interview, but of course, not the “extortion” or “kamikaze pilot” remarks:
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night, Trump said he believed Democrats would eventually vote to reopen the government and repeated his call to bypass them if they don’t. “The Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want,” he said.
In short, go spit, Chuckie. How’s that for Taco Tuesday?
