Ain’t much of ANYTHING Schumer can do in the US Senate….

Confirming the Cabinet: A Senate Democrats FAQ

Jonathan Berstein…..

Q: Are you telling me that there’s nothing more the Democrats can do? They’re US Senators!

A: On nominations? Really, there’s not much. They could do a better job at pushing public opinion, of course. Schumer isn’t very good at messaging (few party leaders in Congress have been), but several Senators are better at it, and they could be more creative and effective than they’ve been so far. They should do that.

But seriously: there is no magic button. They can and perhaps will keep ratcheting up foot-dragging, which might make a small difference down the road. They certainly can, and probably will, continue the filibuster-everything pattern.

Q: Anything else?

I will be harshly critical with congressional Democrats on one thing. Yes, they’re getting a lot of constituent phone calls and other pressure from individuals and organized groups, asking them to do things they can’t actually do. One thing they can do, however, is shut up and listen. Democratic groups are frustrated, angry, and scared right now, and of course they’re going to push on their elected representatives to do more without really knowing whether it’s possible or not. Yes, this can be annoying (especially to staff who have to deal with the bulk of it), but so be it. I don’t care whether they’re mistakenly urging congressional Democrats to press non-existent magic buttons or asking why they haven’t said the thing that they’ve repeated until they’re blue in the face. It’s always good for the party when their rank-and-file get activated, and it never helps to whine about it. Especially not to reporters.

The bottom line on nominations, however, is that the fault here is entirely with Trump and with Senate Republicans.