After extended Senate negotiations over President Donald Trump’s nominees stalled yet again, tensions between Democrats and the White House erupted Saturday evening, with Trump telling Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to “go to hell.”
Posting on Truth Social, Trump instructed Republicans to walk away from the negotiating table, claiming Democrats were making “egregious and unprecedented” demands just to approve “a small number of our highly qualified nominees.”
“Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the radical left lunatics, to go to hell,” Trump wrote. “Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our country.”
The gridlock comes as the Senate begins its monthlong August recess.
Democrats have been blocking fast-track votes for Trump’s nominees, favoring roll calls instead. On Saturday, Schumer defended the move, stating: “Historically bad nominees deserve historic levels of scrutiny. We have never seen nominees as flawed, as compromised, as unqualified as Trump’s.”
Schumer also addressed Trump’s fiery social media post. “Donald Trump attempted to steamroll the Senate to put in place his historically unqualified nominees, but Senate Democrats wouldn’t let him,” he said in a video statement. “In a fit of rage, Trump threw in the towel, sent Republicans home, and was unable to do the basic work of negotiating. Is this the ‘art of the deal?’”
“Trump tried to bully us, go around us, threaten us, call us names, but he got nothing. He walked away with his tail between his legs.”
Republicans, for their part, blamed Democrats for the holdup. Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday said the opposition had chosen to “slow-walk every single civilian nomination from the President.” He pointed out that, traditionally, most presidential nominees are approved by unanimous consent or voice vote, but this Congress had confirmed “zero” of Trump’s civilian nominees that way.
Thune warned that if the stalemate continued, Republicans would “figure out a way to change it.”
Before Trump officially pulled the plug on negotiations Saturday, some GOP Senators floated alternative paths forward.
Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said the Senate should adjourn immediately and allow Trump to make recess appointments to fulfill the agenda supported by 77 million voters.
Recess appointments, enabled by the Constitution, allow the President to temporarily fill vacancies while the Senate is out of session—without needing confirmation.
Trump has previously endorsed the tactic. Shortly after winning the 2024 election, he said on Truth Social: “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted leadership position in the United States Senate must agree to recess appointments (in the Senate), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner.”
Later that month, Thune emphasized that “all the options” would stay on the table for advancing Trump’s nominees.
Some GOP lawmakers have even discussed changing Senate rules to expedite confirmations—though that approach faces internal resistance.
Sen. Alex Padilla of California, a Democrat and senior member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, warned Republicans against taking drastic steps.
“We can and should have thoughtful, bipartisan conversations in the Rules Committee on updating the confirmation process for the future,” Padilla said in a statement, “but Republicans should keep in mind that if they choose to go nuclear—yet again—it will have consequences long beyond Donald Trump’s presidency.”
