Senator Cory Booker is from New Jersey, and before he was elected to the US Senate, he was a popular mayor and considered the future of the New Jersey Democratic Party. He’s gotten a lot of national buzz as well, and in their time together in the Senate, he was especially close friends with Kamala Harris. I don’t know if there’s still national buzz or any kind of energy towards a presidential run, but Booker is definitely trying to take a more proactive approach to the sh-tshow currently facing America. Booker is (as I’m writing this) doing a one-man marathon speech on the Senate floor, and all he’s talking about is how much Trump f–king sucks.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. is continuing a marathon speech Tuesday morning that is stretching into more than 14 hours on the Senate floor. Starting at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, Booker began criticizing President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Although it is not considered a filibuster as he is not attempting to stall or block legislation, the Senate floor will remain open so long as he is speaking.
Booker, the former mayor of Newark serving his second full term in the Senate, has said he plans to speak as long as he is “physically able.” As of Tuesday morning, Booker has been speaking for more than 13 hours.
In a pre-recorded video posted to X while Booker is simultaneously on the floor, Booker said he is speaking about “what Donald Trump is doing to our nation.”
I’m including the live video below. He’s fully calling out the demagoguery of the Trump administration. I’m also including some photos of what Donald Trump was up to yesterday, just hours before Sen. Booker’s speech began. Trump invited Kid Rock into the Oval Office (again).
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- United States Senator Cory Booker (Democrat of New Jersey) at a press conference with United States Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat of New York) following a vote on Right to IVF Act in the US Capitol. Featuring: United States Senator Cory Booker (Democrat of New Jersey) Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 13 Jun 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Singer Kid Rock, left, and US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 31, 2025. The order directs the Federal Trade Commission to work with the Department of Justice to ensure that competition laws are enforced in the concert and entertainment industry, and pushes state consumer protection authorities on enforcement. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Kid Rock Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 31 Mar 2025 Credit: Al Drago/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- Singer Kid Rock, left, and US President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, March 31, 2025. The order directs the Federal Trade Commission to work with the Department of Justice to ensure that competition laws are enforced in the concert and entertainment industry, and pushes state consumer protection authorities on enforcement. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Kid Rock Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 31 Mar 2025 Credit: Al Drago/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
Why aren’t all the Democrats in Congress doing this? Stand up and make a statement, in whatever way you can do it. When the Republicans have been in the minority, Mitch McConnell was always ready with a press conference and coordinated talking points among his caucus to give in interviews. Time to make big moves, Democrats. The People are waiting for you.
💯
They all should have been lining up to take over for him when he stopped. I was so inspired and thankful for the level of sanity he brought to the podium. 25 hours on his feet and talking with only water and no bathroom breaks and still more eloquent and intelligent than all the rest combined.
I can only assume that the dem donor’s that are institutions are in agreement with Trumps admin changes! Another option is Trump admin have agreed to leave their pet projects alone so the dem party Shadow people have agreed to not fight at all.
It’s obvious they have told/made the lower level dems to step down. No one wants to grab some spot light. It would be real easy to make a name for themself. Just like Lauren boebart did on the republican side.
I firmly believe that the threats to Ilan Omar and Rashida tlibi have been deem credible and that’s why we don’t see them. I will take it further and say Rashida Tlabi has been banned from the news.
God love him. I am so grateful and I’m going to have this playing in the background while I work.
He began by saying: “Tonight I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble. I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” Sen. Cory Booker said near the beginning of his speech. “I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis.”
I’ve been watching him speak since last night and he’s still going – he’s telling it like it is. He’s sharing letters from people in New Jersey and other states, and their stories about healthcare, food insecurity, and social security are really powerful.
He’s not perfect, but he’s really trying to bring the country together and help those who need it most.
I’ve had my criticisms of Booker in the past but I’ve never doubted the fact that he genuinely cares. I love that he’s sharing people’s very real stories–love that he’s being a voice for us.
Didn’t he do that thing where he was living on the equivalent of social security? Something like that.. A bit of a stunt but to shed light on how hard it was? Remember him being huge a number of years ago then seemed to be turned on or fizzled out. Wasn’t Oprah behind him? And crazy rumours about Gail. That’s probably the last time I heard of him.
@Bronco, Booker lived for a week on about $30 — to call attention to what it was like to manage on under $4 a day then allotted by the SNAP program. Booker was one of several politicians who did this publicly in the face of Republican efforts to get rid of programs like SNAP by demonizing the program with anecdotal claims by people like Reagan — that SNAP beneficiaries were living extravagantly well on public benefits.
Ah Snap! Thank you @blithe! I’m not American so I don’t always remember the references but I knew he did something. Those kind of actions work because they get a lot of attention.
Time to rewatch John Lewis Good Trouble, too.
I heard the emotion in his voice as he started. A few hours later, I tuned in & the emotion is still there. This is real, this is raw, and I applaud him for it. This is what we needed on the floor.
Kid Rock holding an executive order in the Oval
Office dressed as a clown with Trump grinning is all the world needs to see how much has gone awry and off the rails in this country. A truly very very dangerous horror show.
Bless you Cory Booker.
Idiocracy is no longer satire.
What a contrast between Trump and his dancing monkey making a mockery out of the Oval and Sen Booker, gravely outlining the fascistic direction our country is taking in a marathon filibuster.
It probably won’t make for a story that dominates the whiplash news cycle unfortunately but between stunts like Booker holding the floor and Jayapal’s Resistance Labs, I’m happy to see some Dems being proactive. Defiance can take many forms and We The People need to start getting organized, strategic and prepared as Trump vows to crack down on protestors. There’s power in numbers and I hope that folks will attend the Hands Off protests that are happening in various cities this weekend. I know my husband and I will be….
The contrast is indeed stunning but I fear it doesn’t matter. Too many people get a kick out of owning the libs, it seems, that a demented clown show is just fine.
I’m glad CB covered this, I didn’t even know about Booker’s filibuster until a friend texted me about it this morning. We need a lot more “good trouble.” I’ll be attending a Hands Off protest, too. Power to the people!
I share your same fears–100%. I realized long ago that we cannot change the hearts and minds of his most fervent supporters–they need to come to the conclusion on their own. Part of me believes that they’ll be faced with a brutal hangover once we hit a full economic recession and another part of me believes that they’ll still trust in their Master’s grand plan and will follow this guy off a fucking cliff.
The thing I fear the most is Americans being cowed into compliance. Large protests validate people’s discontent with this administration. It makes them feel that they’re not alone and maybe even right to hate what’s happening. I’m hoping that within the 50% of Americans who support him there is a malleable 15-20% who we might get through to…..but as I always say, ask me again tomorrow…feeling slightly optimistic at the moment.
@Kitten I’m a little optimistic myself. Not hugely, this is a dumpster fire and we’re headed for some dark times, but I’m having a glimmer of hope. Elon wouldn’t be so panicked about Wisconsin if he thought his judge was a shoo-in. Trump wouldn’t have pulled Stefanik’s nomination if he thought the Rs were guaranteed the house. etc. I know the florida races are a long shot but the fact that they are so close must have the Rs really nervous.
And the thing is, in 2026, if there are elections (a big IF, I know) – we dont need to swing all of his voters. He really didn’t win by that much. We need to swing a small percentage AND get those who stayed home to the polls. I think we can do it – IF there are elections. At this point, I’m not sure.
@ Beacks1–Agreed. I’m clear-eyed about where we’re going but now I feel prepared to fight. I think we all needed to give ourselves some time post-election to be angry and disappointed…some time to lick our wounds. But now the time has come to organize.
If we go down I want to look back and at least say that I did what I could within my power to try to stop this; to send a message to the world that we reject this mess of an administration.
Being realistic is imperative but hope matters too….it’s one small way to stave off complacency.
Wow a real Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment.
Thank you, Mr Booker. You effort is respected and appreciated. The oval office and authority of the White House has been dimished during this endless 💩 show. Good lort. The same people who bad mouthed a prime minister at war refusing to play dress up to meet an orange clown and his minions while his people suffer Russian tyranny gleefully celebrated this bizarre display. What the absolute fuck happened to magat critical thinking skills? Good lort. It has only been less than 2 and a half months since his inauguration.
I’ve watched the West Wing about 5x so I know the rules of a filibuster, is this the same? As an older woman all I think about is needing to pee.
But good on CB for doing this. It’s making news all over and he’s putting the attention where it needs to be rather than on that other shit show (or clown show given the apt description of Kid Rs attire and behaviour)
Very much appreciated! His fellow D senators have been offering words of praise and encouragement, so perhaps he’s shown them how to start some good trouble of their own. At the very least, thank you for leading the way, giving some hope, and itemizing what is so terribly wrong.
Go Cory!!
And of course the media is barely covering it.
I did a quick google search ‘Booker filibuster’ & all the corporate media are covering it. Maybe not at the beginning–I don’t know–but they are now.
The coverage is in the politics section of the Times but it’s not on the homepage of the Times or the WaPo (easy to understand in the case of the latter).
They have been mentioning it on NPR in their news briefs, which I guess is better than nothing.
And that is just one of the reasons why funding for NPR and PBS is now being threatened under the current administration.
He’s getting support from his fellow Dem senators too so he can get a few moments of rest. The thing is, according to the rules, they can only ask him questions which they couch in little speeches and he then yields for the question while retaining his right to hold the floor. This can get a little awkward but it is still effective. Will anyone care? Idk, but the “do something” caucus, which itself represents people who do nothing, is already criticizing Cory, calling it a “stunt” and a “performance”. I think anyone bashing the Senator should try standing up and speaking for 15+ hours straight.
Something important to realize is that everything he is reading becomes part of the historic record of the Senate. He is standing there and making sure that each and everyone of the things that Trump has done is noted and recorded and what the consequences were.
This is important in so many ways as it provides a real record of what has occurred and puts it into context. It isn’t just a random news article that will get lost in the bustle of history. These records live on and inform future lawmakers, are used when writing history books, are referenced for decades if not hundreds of years to come. He is making sure that the injustice of Trump will not be forgotten by history and even with all their propaganda there will be a record of what happened.
Dumpster fire will order the rethugs to demand the removal of this from the record. And they’ll vote to do it.
Right. He’s already doing it with his hostile takeover of the bipartisan agency National Archives. During his first term he deleted anything that didn’t make him look good including his ICE policies and this time around, he’ll just kill the agency entirely so there’s no record of all the insanely unconstitutional shit he’s doing. Dicktator.
Thanks for covering! It gave me a kick in the pants to get engaged—had honestly detached for a little while.
I think this is so important. People have been screaming for the Dems to do something and he is. Is it performative? Yes. but part of politics IS performance. He’s showing those who oppose the administration that they are not alone, that there is a powerful voice willing to speak out, that he is willing to put all the atrocities of this administration on the record, and that he is willing to do so for hours and hours on end.
Given the scheduled protests this weekend, I hope this will motivate people to show up who may have been feeling like our leaders don’t care about what’s happening or are greeting things with a shrug.
Exactly. Filibustering is a political tool and yes it is also a stunt–and that’s a good thing. Dems need to do more of this–they need to steal the attention away from Trump and his never-ending madness and remind their constituency why we voted for them. It’s an important aspect of re-building enthusiasm and trust in the Dems after party leadership has broken it (looking at you, Schumer).
It really is annoying to hear dO SoMeThiNg and then when a Dem actually, ya know, does something they get criticized for it smdh.
Kitten, I don’t see calling it a stunt bad.. It IS a stunt but they actually work to some extent. How else do you draw attention? But he’s so passionate, so sincere. Like the snap thing he did was a stunt. But as becks said politics is showmanship. Not as if we haven’t seen that in the 10 years?
“It’s not a Democratic moment — it’s a MORAL moment”.
It’s heartening to witness Senator Booker’s valiant effort — and the support that he’s getting from his fellow Senators. I’m especially proud to see the Senators that I voted to elect among them. As others have said, it’s critically important that these speeches are being read into the official Senate records. Facts matter.
I was in college with him— admired him then and even more so now.
If only President Zelenskyy had worn a Kid Rock outfit…
If you go to The Other 98% on FB, there is video from the house floor of other congress members also doing the same but it isnt getting national media coverage. It’s on C-Span channels.
wtf media? The Atlantic cannot be the only journalism going on out here!
Democrats are finally getting the message that they are either going to fight like hell for us or be replaced with people who will. While I applaud Senator Booker for this, one man isn’t going to be able to save us at this late date. Every single elected Democrat should have been doing actions like this, and MORE, every single day after January 6th that Trump and his co-conspirators weren’t arrested after their coup attempt. (Merrick Garland was a complete and utter disappointment. What a waste of air that man turned out to be. He was one of so many we were told were going to save us when it is clear there was never anybody who would.
I’ve been writing my democratic representatives every time they ask me for money that they will not see another penny from me until they grow a backbone and stand up to these bullies. It’s also clear from the lack of coverage on any mainstream media that the 4th Estate (the press) has fallen.
I sincerely hope everybody who is white (black folks deserve their rest) has plans for outdoor activities this upcoming Saturday. It’s really up to us now to stop this madness. IYKYK
I want an inquire on who told the prosecutors to “hold off” prosecuting Trump.
Out of all of them I feel the worst for jack smith. He was completely left to dry. He said he could bring a case like 5 years ago. Then had to “hold off”. Then Biden left office without giving any of the prosecutors a pardon.
Fani Willis is a local celebrity. The rest can kinda hide and work for others. Jack smith was left in limbo with nothing to show. He wasn’t on the news a lot so I think that’s the only thing that will help. They told him to stand down really quick. I think he had a good chance at winning a real case.
Good we’re all exhausted and they should all be as well!
He is a good man doing all that he can do at this point and I thank him.
We will be at a “hands off” protest this weekend and hope there will be a sea of bodies there. Keeping it large and loud and in their face is the only tactic most citizens have right now. I pray those that face an election within their state will help stop the bleeding.
We were at a serious crossroads in the last election. It didn’t have to be like this. Democrats were not pure enough of deed, policy, or personality for some who could’ve made a difference, so they voted to destroy this flawed, fragile democracy instead. I’m pissed to be dragged into this and shake my head in frustration and sadness every dystopian day.
I’ve been watching on and off for the last hour. It’s something, at least. I appreciate him
You go, Senator Booker!!!!
He’s going to break Strom Thurmond’s record for the longest senate speech. The concept of a black senator breaking a record belonging to that rotten southern racist is a thing of beauty.
True dat!
Meh, good for him and I support this cause and am grateful a democrat is finally speaking up!
That said, I’m still a bit grumpy bc he was my university graduation speaker nearly a decade ago. He rambled about himself and went 45 min over time alotted — which was a bit irksome, but then bad weather set in and they had to cut the ceremony short, which meant the last 2 scheduled speakers were not able to give their remarks. It was disappointing because it came off as very self-centered and inconsiderate that the others didn’t get a turn (that they had prepared for). My parents still complain about it whenever he shows up in the news !
Just made me chuckle that he’s in the news for a long speech — been there, done that 😉
Thank you for your passion and conviction Senator Cory Booker! John Lewis would be cheering you on for being a good trouble shooter…Bravo! You are an inspiration for Democracy and the fight against corruption in these dark and dangerous days.
He got over 350M likes in tik tok! Omg 👏👏
People are mad everywhere! And the election results in Wisconsin showed how people really don’t like Elon.