Really having trouble understanding Chuck on this one. (Or most of the time, come to think of it. He seems as out of touch with the Universe as Romney was.) It would've been an awesome maneuver if he thought there was a big chance the Republicans would implode and fail to undo the shutdown in the House or if Trump was going to have a dummy spit and refuse to sign, then the shutdown would've been 100%+ Republicans, and they would have zero credibility as adults, let alone Government. Didn't happen though, and didn't look like happening, so couldn't be that. And the DACA promises were weak as shit, so when nothing happens there, it'll be hard to blame the Republicans when it fails, and the CHIP and DACA 'hostage' narrative isn't being put forward enough, and isn't sticking. You know - when crowdfunding sites first opened up and contemptible douche-bags would post a photo of a puppy and say they were going to eat it (or worse) unless they got $10,000 from emo-kids and bleeding-heart liberals (and gullible morons). That's what the Republicans are doing with DACA and CHIP. Sure there's a handful of insane fuckwits who genuinely do want to eat the puppy, but the rest of it was just holding these programmes (and people) hostage to get some sweeteners, and so far the public hasn't called them out on it.
Yes the "DACA needs weeks of negotiating, and has nothing to do with the budget line" was sticking, but the counter narrative of - "we're doing this because you can't trust Republicans to do the right thing", wasn't put forward enough, and it really needed to be.
Which leads to the next three weeks. Is the focus now solely going to be on the wannabe puppy killers? DACA and CHIP are popular, even among sane Republicans (Heck, even popularish amongst the basest base going.) The Republicans are not going to look good if they try to fuck this up, but all they're going to do is talk (lie/make shit up) about security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security, security. It's going to be 3 weeks of build the wall scaremongering and an avalanche of Dumbo-shit talking points, and the Democrats are going to get pasted with a shit-blaster for not capitulating to anything and everything the rabid right wants, because it's not about DACA, it's about all the other rubbish that's going to be attached to the bill, and Schumer just gave them the go ahead to talk about exactly that. 3 weeks of democrats talking about principles and 3 weeks of hate-mongering towards everyone except the dreamers (who won't get mentioned) by the Republicans and insane rider after insane rider and attachment.
And so in three weeks, when there is no deal, no only is the narrative going to be it's the Democrats fault for wanting immigrants to kill you in your bed and rape your children in front of your eyes, and if they then try to attach it to the budget, they've already capitulated on the precedent for doing so, and it will look terrible, both for that, and moreso because it will look like they're admitting they lost the DACA debate too, and are now trying to hold the Government hostage to fit their 'extreme' views in.
If Schumer thought he was giving the Republicans enough rope to hang themselves, he's in for one really nasty surprise - he just gave a lynch-mob a rope and a permission slip to use it in any way they see fit.
And as much as I wish I was wrong, it really fits with how poorly he judges everything else.
(There is of course the outside possibility that something will pass, but given he has just given all the ground and the upper hand to the Republicans, and the extreme right were running this unmitigated shit-show already, which is why the saner (but still extremely shitty) bipartisan compromises went nowhere, this is frankly a ridiculous thing to expect. You don't give ground to bigots and zealots and expect them to reciprocate - it just encourages them to double or triple their efforts.)
The other option is playing the martyr, bowing out quietly, and watching ICE trying to deport dreamers before the mid-terms. That is a destructive and stupid thing to do, and frankly if you normalise it, it's saner than half of Trumps other shit, so blow-back could be a lot, LOT less than they're banking on - not to mention you just can't do that to people (or puppies), and they'd also be blaming the Democrats (for not paying the $10,000). We gave them a chance to save the dreamers and they didn't. They chose not to. They chose to put politics over people. (You know, like the people who created the situation in the first place, but ssssh on that bit.) Also the SCOTUS might reinstate DACA before then.