Stripped from power due to its rank unpopularity with the American people, all the left has left is street violence and “pearl clutching” over a White House ballroom, Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt says.

“They haven’t gotten the memo that people don’t like their ideas. They’re terrible,” Schmitt tells The Heartlander in an exclusive interview Thursday. “But all they have, the only play they have in the playbook, is to fight Trump. That’s it. That’s all they have.”

The Democrats’ incongruous sound and fury over President Trump’s addition of a ballroom to the White House is particularly telling, Schmitt says.

“It’s just the outrage of the week from the left, who’s just endlessly pearl clutching and humorless scolds.

“I was over there this week. We had lunch with the president in the Rose Garden. And look, renovations of the White House aren’t anything new. It’s been done 13 times since 1900. Harry Truman did a full renovation of the White House. And the truth is, it has to be adapted to sort of modern times. 

“There’s not a room in that place that holds 100 people. And when you’re hosting state dinners or you have foreign dignitaries coming, they just need more space. And President Trump has taken the lead on this. It’s all privately funded. There’s no taxpayer dollars involved. I think it’ll be a nice addition.”

Arguing over a ballroom?

The Heartlander asked Schmitt why he thinks Democrats are making such a big deal out of the ballroom, especially with the extended federal government shutdown and so many other things going on around the world.

“I think it’s just another symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” he opines. “It’s just that they’re just obsessed. They’re just taking the opposite position on everything. And I don’t think that’s worked out for them. I don’t think it will work out for them. I think the American people see it as just an obstructionist party that has no energy and no ideas and no message and no messenger.”

A new Quinnipiac University poll says 45% of Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown, versus 39% who fault Democrats. Meanwhile, CNN reports Democrats are “still winning the blame game.”

“In a Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted October 15-20,” the network reported Tuesday, “Americans blamed congressional Republicans more than Democrats, 50%-43%.

“The gap was larger in a CNBC poll conducted October 8-12. It showed Americans blamed Trump and the Republicans over Democrats, 53%-37%.”

Yet, it’s Democrats who won’t agree on a routine “clean bill” to keep the government funded.

Why are Republicans still losing the public relations battle?

“I’ve seen the polling, and it’s pretty evenly split,” Schmitt says. “It’s within the margin of error, at least what I saw yesterday.  

“I think the legacy media is doing their bidding once again, but it’s really hard to argue with the facts here. The facts are, Republicans have offered a clean funding bill: no less spending, no more spending, no partisan riders, just flat funding while we work on appropriations bills. 

“That’s very non-controversial, and it’s something the Democrats have done 13 times, and they did it this spring. The difference is that their left-wing radical base is demanding they fight Trump and be obstructionists. And that’s what they’re doing. 

“That’s not in the interest of the American people. You know, real people are being affected. The Capitol Police is going without paychecks. Air traffic control is going without paychecks. This is ridiculous. 

“We need reform, where this never happens again. But in the meantime, Democrats need to just suck it up and vote to fund the government while we work on other things.”

When people go hungry

With most polls on their side, is there any chance Democrats will cave?

“Not this week,” Schmitt reports from the inside. “It’s possible next week. I think Nov. 1, when the SNAP [food stamp] benefits are affected, that might be enough for them to come to the table. I hope so. 

“Again, this is all just pointless. There’s no exit ramp for them, because the exit ramp for these shutdown showdown fights is usually, OK, everybody kind of drops their partisan demands and you end up back to a clean funding bill. Well, that’s where we’ve been the whole time. So, I don’t understand it, but that’s where they’re at. 

“It’s irrational. So, to try to inject rationality into an analysis of when they come to the table, it just doesn’t work.”

Republicans have savaged Democrat House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts, for admitting in an interview “there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer [from the shutdown]. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have …”

House Speaker Mike Johnson was among Republicans who pounced on Clark’s candid admission, writing in a press release: “By their own admission, Democrats are using American families as ‘leverage’ in their shutdown.”

“They actually put on paper what they want,” Johnson expounded in an interview. “They want $1.5 trillion of wasteful spending. They want to prop up leftist news organizations with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with a half a billion dollars. They want to send billions of dollars back overseas for social programs in foreign countries.

“We’re not doing that.

“And importantly, they want to extend those Obamacare subsidies permanently without any reforms. Oh, by the way, restoring health care to illegal aliens, again, that’s $200 billion of their demand. That’s what they’re leveraging. They’re using the American people as pawns in this game and as leverage to get all of that.”

Schmitt noted that Democrats feel they’re getting ahead – both politically and financially – by closing the government under Trump.

“Yeah, [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer said ‘every day helps us [Democrats].’ [Clark] said this is a point of leverage. I mean, they’re just holding the American people hostage – and for their partisan whims.

“Now, they’re raising a lot of money. [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Bernie Sanders are raising record amounts of money at being ‘the resistance.’ But most people are living their lives and aren’t interested in that nonsense. It’s going to affect them, and they don’t deserve to be put in that position. But this is not a serious party right now. They’ve been captured by the left.”

Domestic terror hearing upcoming

Meanwhile, leftists such as terrorist organization Antifa continue to fight in the streets against the federal government’s crime prevention and illegal immigrant deportation efforts in Democrat-run cities across the country.

And that will soon be the subject of a Senate inquiry.

“Attacks on ICE agents are up 1,000% this year,” Schmitt says. “I think it’s a manifestation of a group of people that have been led to believe that borders don’t matter. It’s this globalist view: we’re all world citizens, everybody has a right to be here and nobody should have to leave if they’re here illegally. And they don’t like the fact that you have people who are enforcing the law. 

“These ICE agents, they have wives, they have husbands, they have kids, they are being doxed, their families are being affected, their lives are being threatened, they’re being firebombed and harassed. I mean, this is just wrong, but it’s an anarchist movement. They don’t care about our nation’s laws. They don’t care about the sovereignty of the United States of America.  

“And most people out there do. A vast majority of people do. But [the leftists] have lost at every round of the elections. So, at this point, what they have to do is violence. 

“And Antifa, we’re going to have a hearing next week on left-wing political violence. Antifa is going to be in the spotlight, so stay tuned.”