Conservatives on social media joined White House accounts in blasting Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders over an exchange where he pressed a town hall audience member on who is to blame for the government shutdown.
‘How do you think this shutdown reflects on Chuck Schumer’s leadership?’ Sanders was asked by an audience member, Rohan Naval, during a CNN town hall on Wednesday night.
Sanders responded by saying the shutdown ‘reflects more on Mike Johnson’s leadership’ along with the leadership of President Donald Trump, which prompted a smirk from the audience member.
‘Well, tell me how do you feel?’ Sanders said. ‘You tell me, you think it’s a good idea to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the richest people in the country and then make massive cuts to healthcare for working-class people?’
Naval, an intern at Americans for Tax Reform, responded, ‘I think Chuck Schumer has voted for a continuing resolution 13 times in the last four years, and he has the opportunity to vote for one again, but he’s refusing to come to the table.’
The exchange quickly made waves on social media, with White House accounts and conservatives praising Naval’s response to the Vermont senator.
‘Crazy Bernie just got wrecked on national television,’ the White House Rapid Response team posted on X.
‘Bingo,’ GOP Rep. Ken Calvert posted on X. ‘The Schumer Shutdown is all about politics.’
‘Bernie Sanders got embarrassed HARD,’ Florida’s Voice News assistant director Eric Daugherty posted on X.
‘LOL this kid just rekt Crazy Bernie,’ White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson posted on X.
‘Bernie got COOKED,’ Townhall.com posted on X. ‘This guy just calmly smacked Bernie Sanders down in a single sentence. BRUTAL.’
‘Bernie Sanders gets owned by a man who calls out Chuck Schumer for repeatedly voting for continuing resolutions and now suddenly not,’ conservative influencer Paul A. Szypula posted on X. ‘The only reason Schumer isn’t funding the government is because he’s afraid of losing his Senate seat to brainless AOC.’
After Naval’s response, Sanders replied, ‘Look, here’s what I have said. There are 53 Republican senators, correct? They need 60. It means you have to talk to the other side. Mike Johnson is not talking. John Thune is not talking. President Trump is not talking. That is the problem.’
On Thursday, Senate Democrats for a 10th time blocked Republicans’ attempts to reopen the government.
Sen. John Thune is determined to continue on the same course of action to keep bringing the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), which would reopen the government until Nov. 21, up for a vote again and again.
Though some in the GOP are mulling a new end date for the CR, that would require the House, which has been out of session for nearly a month, to come back and pass a new one.
While Thune and Republicans are adamant that their plan is the only pathway to ending the shutdown, now on Day 16, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Senate Democratic caucus still want to hammer out a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies — and they want Trump to get directly involved in negotiations.
‘The bottom line is [Republicans] won’t even negotiate with us,’ Schumer said. ‘So that’s a premature question. But of course, I’m not going to negotiate in public. We need to address the crisis that has afflicted, and that’s the right word, the American people.’
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.