And When He Was Elected To The State Assembly In 1974
Schumer is often referred to as “the Senator from Wall Street” but it wasn't always that way. When he was first elected to the state legislature (from my district in Brooklyn), he very briefly toyed with the idea of presenting himself as a progressive populist. He even attacked Wall Street once. But they barked so loudly at him, that, always the political coward with his own career trajectory uppermost in his mind, he immediately raised the white flag and never crossed them again.
In the mid-'70s, the young assemblyman decided to strut his stuff by proposing a tax on stock transfers— a move that sent Wall Street into an uproar. At the time, New York had an existing but largely symbolic stock transfer tax, as much of the revenue was rebated back to traders. Schumer suggested eliminating the rebate and making the tax fully effective, arguing that it would generate significant revenue for the state. But as soon as he floated the idea, Wall Street executives mobilized aggressively against him, warning that such a move would drive financial firms out of New York and cripple the city’s economy. The backlash was so severe that Schumer swiftly retreated, abandoning the proposal and never again seriously challenging Wall Street’s dominance.
That moment effectively marked the beginning of Schumer’s transformation into the polished industry-friendly lackey he is today. Instead of confronting Wall Street, he worked to cultivate relationships with the banksters and their shady, unctuous lobbyists, positioning himself as their key advocate in Washington. By the time he reached the Senate in 1998, he was firmly aligned with the financial industry, pushing deregulatory policies like the repeal of Glass-Steagall and opposing progressive financial reforms.
That helps explain why he engineered the big GOP win last week. Not enough conservative Dems— the GOP needed 8— would agree to take the fall, so Schumer had to do it himself to get enough others to go along. But now, what everybody knows about him is that he rolled over, making sure the CR passed without a fight. This capitulation wasn’t some strategic maneuver— it was a straight-up surrender, just like his entire career of caving to Wall Street. He happily learned early that power rewards compliance, not resistance. Now the Democratic base either teaches him that he learned the wrong lesson or it will be eating Trump and Musk’s shit with him for years to come. Schumer must be forced to step down as minority leader.
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