By Michael Woyton
As we wait for the grifter-in-chief’s announcement of “temper tariffs,” as Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-California, called them, let’s reflect on the remarkable 25-plus hours that Sen. Cory Booker spent on the floor of the Senate.
The New Jersey Democrat talked for more than a day about the “grave and urgent” threat to the nation that is President Donald J. Felon.
Booker’s filibuster bested the record of Sen. Strom Thurmond, who gave a speech in the Senate that last 24 hours, 18 minutes in 1957, according to NBC News.
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The New Jersey senator, a Black man, spoke for 25 hours, four minutes about making things better for the country while Thurmond, a white racist Democrat from South Carolina, spent his time trying to prevent the Civil Rights Act of 1957 from ever becoming law.
Ending with “It’s not left or right; it’s right or wrong,” Booker said as the clock approached 8:04 p.m. Tuesday, “Let’s get in good trouble.”
The senator’s TikTok account, which was showing a live feed of his speech, had more than 350 million likes, per Booker’s office, and more than 28,000 voicemails of encouragement were received.
Booker wasn’t alone during his effort, which demanded he remain standing and in the chamber until he relinquished the floor.
Of the 47 Democratic senators, at least 39 joined him, according to Joan Walsh of The Nation, not including John Fetterman or Bernie Sanders. Some of the senators who showed up asked him questions, giving Booker a chance to rest his voice briefly.
Walsh mentioned in her column something that occurred toward the end of the filibuster, when Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto told Booker about the massive layoffs of Health and Human Services personnel that happened Tuesday while he was otherwise occupied.
In response, the senator from New Jersey told a personal story about having to help his father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, to use a public restroom.
Walsh wrote, “When he said, ‘There is no much heartbreak in this country now,’ it resonated with me and and hundreds of other people on social media, because it’s true.”
Booker used his time throughout giving voice to Americans who stand to be or are being harmed by the current administration.
Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette D. Clarke, D-NY, said in a statement that the caucus was proud “of the profound fortitude of our friend and colleague, Senator Cory Booker, who, in the spirit of ‘good trouble,’ has now held the longest speaking filibuster in history by a lone Senator to disrupt Republicans’ agenda and defend our communities from the corruption and abuse of the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans.”
She said that Booker understands that the president, Elon Musk and the GOP have “made it their mission to dismantle the federal government and cut programs that are the difference of life and death for millions of Americans like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and SNAP,” and that “we must challenge extremism with unconventional measures.”
Booker accomplished what he set out to do: calling attention to the abnormality and cruelty of what is happening in the United States.
“This is not a partisan moment,” he said. “It is a moral moment. Where do you stand?”
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Turns out $25 million doesn’t get ya what it used to.
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Lead art: Screen grab from C-Span.
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