Overnight, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., made history with the longest speech on the Senate floor in history. For 25 hours and five minutes from Monday into Tuesday, he showed Democrats what a protest in Donald Trump’s second presidency should look like.
But it’s not enough.
“I’ve been hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation, calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment,” Booker said in an X post before taking the floor Monday night. He quoted the late Rep. John Lewis, a Civil Rights Movement titan, saying he felt the responsibility to cause “good trouble.”
While Booker’s speech is an exemplary form of protest in the Senate, it does not change the fact that Democrats – namely those in leadership positions, like New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries – need to be doing all they can to show Americans that they are standing up to the cruel realities of the Trump regime.
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Cory Booker’s stand should move Democrats to action
Prior to this, I had been disappointed by Democrats’ lack of action in Congress. Their decision to hold up signs during Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress last month was honestly more embarrassing than empowering.
The shining moment for Democrats from that day came from Texas Rep. Al Green, who stood up and shouted down Trump until he was escorted out of the House chamber.
There have been plenty of calls for Democrats to do more. I’ve certainly questioned why Schumer and Jeffries, my representatives and two of the most influential figures in the party, aren’t holding daily news conferences or demonstrations against the administration.
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If Democrats believe that Trumpism is genuinely akin to fascism, as former Vice President Kamala Harris said on the campaign trail, Democratic leaders need to channel that urgency into everything they do.
Sen. Booker seems to know what’s at stake.
Booker’s speech was a historic moment
Booker’s Senate speech is monumental for more than just standing against Trump. There’s also the fact that Booker broke a record previously held by segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond, who in 1957 spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
“I’m not here, though, because of his speech,” Booker said just before breaking the record set by Thurmond. “I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.”
Beating Thurmond’s record signals American voters that hate will not prevail. It reminds us how far we have come as a country – and how far we still have to go now that Trump is trying to reset things.
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Will Democrats now organize against MAGA or keep sitting still?
Democrats should look to Booker as an example, not the beginning and end of their activism. The same day the senator completed his speech, Republicans won two House seats in a special election in Florida.
There’s a lot more work to be done.
Like Rep. Lewis famously said, Democrats must “get in good trouble.” They must show the American people that they are standing up to the destruction of our democracy.
They also need to be organizing across the country, down to the local level, so that they can empower voters and show them that the party cares about more than pearl-clutching when Trump says something genuinely concerning.
Booker’s speech is a start to what could be a pivotal moment for the party. The rest of the Democrats must not let it pass by. They have to organize, protest and show the country that there is a party fighting for those of us who are dismayed by the direction this country is headed.
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