‘Privately, We Were Having Conversations’: JD Vance Reveals What Democrats Really Said About Far Left During Shutdown

Vice President JD Vance told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday that he had several conversations with Democrats during the recently concluded 43-day government shutdown, noting they were “held hostage” by their party’s left flank.

President Donald Trump signed a continuing resolution (CR) late Wednesday night to end the shutdown, just days after five Senate Democrats defied Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and voted for the measure — after having blocked its passage 14 consecutive times over the past several weeks. Hannity asked Vance if he had discussions with Democrats “behind the scenes” while the standoff was taking place.

“Of course. Privately we were having conversations all the time. And, frankly, privately, the Democrats would recognize the position of their far left was crazy. But they all feel a little bit like they are being held hostage by their far left,” the vice president said on “Hannity.” (RELATED: ‘All Made Sense’: Democrats Won Shutdown Messaging War Even With Deal In Place, Analysts Say)

Vance added that Schumer “probably ended his career, and he was the person who was fighting more than anybody to keep the government shut down.”

After a deal to end the shutdown was reached Sunday, a chorus of Democratic elected officials, candidates and groups called for Schumer’s removal as the party’s leader in the Senate. However, the New York Democrat did not support the CR that Trump eventually signed. Schumer consistently led the vast majority of his caucus in holding out to keep the government shut down over expiring Obamacare subsidies.

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“So, the far left, they are never going to be satisfied unless the Democrats are willing to burn down the entire country. Luckily, there were a few moderate Democrats who allowed reason to prevail,” Vance said.

He went on to call some Democrats’ demands during the shutdown “crazy.”

“They wanted $1.5 trillion, a lot of that [to fund] health care benefits for illegal aliens. They wanted us to undo all of the great border policy we have been doing. They wanted us to refund NPR and PBS,” Vance said. “They were basically saying that we want the far left’s priorities to dominate in the Trump administration, and unless that happens we are going to set the entire country on fire. A really disgraceful moment for the far left of the Democrats and, frankly, a very revealing moment for the American people.”

“They were talking about, ‘Give us $1.5 trillion for health care benefits for illegal aliens, and unless you do that we are going to make it impossible for you to fly home to see your family on Thanksgiving,’” the vice president added, appearing to refer to the devastating impact the shutdown had on air travel. “It’s just craziness that that was ever their position, but it was.”

Hannity asked Vance if the government would get “back up and running fast.”

“It’s going to take a little bit of time to get everything fully up and running,” Vance told Hannity. The vice president added that Trump told him he decided to sign the CR in the late hours of Wednesday night as opposed to Thursday morning to get the government reopened “as quickly as possible.”

“It goes to show the entire time the president, the entire administration, we were focused on getting the government turned back on, getting critical services actually funded so the government could function for the American people,” Vance said. “The Democrats were focused on, ‘We want to take you hostage. We want to make it hard for you to get home to see your family on Thanksgiving so that we can give your health care benefits to illegal aliens.’ What an incredible juxtaposition of priorities.”

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