Schumer’s telephony

A headline in The New York Times: “Young Democrats’ Anger Boils Over as Schumer Retreats on Shutdown.” That makes me a young Democrat!

Below the headline, a photograph of Chuck Schumer, sitting in a wing chair, ottoman in front of him, marble fireplace and gilt-framed mirror behind him, talking on a flip phone. Was the photograph chosen to make a point?

I read on. It was:

Younger Democrats are chafing at and increasingly complaining about what they see as the feebleness of the old guard’s efforts to push back against President Trump. They are second-guessing how the party’s leaders — like Mr. Schumer, who brandishes his flip phone as a point of pride — are communicating their message in the TikTok era, as Republicans dominate the digital town square.

Yep. I can understand why a young Luddite or a celebrity might choose to use a flip phone. But for a seventy-four-year-old politician to carry a flip phone as “a point of pride” — that’s just curmudgeonly, and bad optics.

A Google search for chuck schumer and flip phone reveals that Schumer’s choice in telephony has been often noticed.