CNBC’s Joe Kernen Berates Hakeem Jeffries Over Democratic Shutdown Strategy

CNBC Squawk Box host Joe Kernen raged Thursday that House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the Democratic Party were setting a “bad precedent” with their government shutdown strategy to Jeffries’s face, telling the congressional leader he’d be “going crazy” if Republicans did the same.

The government shutdown blame game boiled over during a CNBC interview with Jeffries, with Kernen fuming at the Democrats who he said were effectively holding the government hostage to reverse Republican legislation.

“There was an election, and the Republicans were put in a position where they were able to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, or as you call it the ‘Big Ugly Bill.’ To then say, we don’t like any of that, so we’re going to shut down the government until you take back all the things that you duly passed through legislation – ” the host began.