Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images
An adrift Democratic Party received a much-needed jolt of energy this week when Democratic senator Cory Booker took to the Senate floor to speak in protest of the Trump administration’s policies, vowing to hold it for as long as he was physically able. Over the course of 25 hours, Booker railed against the Trump administration’s handling of immigration and education and the looming threats to Social Security and Medicare, urging his fellow Democrats to seize this “moral moment” and, in the words of the late congressman John Lewis, to get into some “good trouble.” Booker’s marathon speech officially broke the record set decades earlier by South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond, the notorious segregationist who took part in a day-long filibuster in protest of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
One day after his record-breaking speech, I spoke to Booker about why he decided to speak, how his Republican colleagues responded, and where Democrats go from here.
What compelled you to do this?
My constituents and people around the country. People who are hurting as a result of his policies, people who’ve lost health care or have had their Social Security payments undermined by the service cuts that they’re doing, the veterans that are being laid off, the people around the world who, frankly because America is not there, are facing the most incomprehensible horrors. People were demanding that I do more and the demand was sinking into me that even though we were trying — my staff is working, for these last 71 days, working longer hours doing everything we can — it was not enough. As I said in my speech, it was insufficient. Especially after the very contentious fight over the continuing resolution that, I think, left a lot of people just even more discouraged with what Democrats were doing. I just said, okay, I’ve got to think really hard here about other tactics and strategies I could put forward.
Your remarks focused on the impact that the White House’s policies are having on everyday Americans. You shared letters from your own constituents about their concerns. What has the reaction from voters been like?
I mean, that was very important to me. I didn’t want to be one elected leader just talking about another elected leader. I really wanted to elevate the voices of the people affected. I wanted to center their stories. I wanted to try to trigger a more courageous empathy. When people heard these courageous people who would write to me and laid bare their pride, their hurt, their anger, their frustrations, their fears. I mean, those stories were so raw and so real and such a damning indictment of how this administration’s policies over the last 71 days are really affecting people. I’ve just learned that in my whole career — and I’m talking beyond my career in elected office — that speaking from the heart, speaking your own personal truth, is so compelling. And so, that was what we decided to do. A few things shaped the way we organized our official remarks, the ones that were written out. I ended up speaking a lot even away from the binders we’d prepared. But we said, number one, we want to center the voices of Americans who are affected. There were some elected leaders, there were some policy people, think tanks and the like. And then the number-two guiding thing that we said is we want to elevate voices from the right. That we want to quote Republican governors. We want to quote Republican think tanks. We want to talk about everybody from the Manhattan Institute to the Cato Institute and how they themselves are condemning a lot of the actions that are being taken because we didn’t want this to become a call to the Democratic base. No, we wanted to speak to a higher moral calling, to common sense, to the character of our country which, I believe, is far beyond the partisan lines that divide us. I think the character of our country is something that we share in common. It lays the groundwork for our common cause and common purpose.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, one of your Republican colleagues, made a point to congratulate you on Twitter after you broke the Senate record while the White House, unsurprisingly, mocked your speech. What has the response been across the aisle, and has there been anything that’s surprised you?
This may surprise you, but it has been extraordinarily affirming and really sincere extensions of congratulations, respect, and even comments I would describe as admiring of the physical feat. You saw Lisa’s tweet, but she came up to me at the end and gave me a huge hug. We joked about it today because I was smelling quite ripe, and it was fortifying to me. Senator John Curtis, who was in the chair, slipped me a note beforehand and nobody could see it on TV, but in the chamber, you could see that as I thanked him, he put his hand over his heart and gave me a nod.
I live in a community as a senator where I try to focus on policies and not people. I try to focus on the issues and elevate those, and not demean and degrade other people. I’ve learned that I may have fierce disagreements with you, but if I can find lines of humanity and connection, I can draw upon those at times to get to a compromise. I can draw upon those at times to even get some latitude in getting something done that I might not be able to get done if I didn’t treat people well. And that’s why in the speech, it was important to me to talk about not hating the opposition, about not letting somebody drag you so low as you become what you’re working against.
I saw Curtis on the steps today. It was the first time since I saw him at the end and he kept the parliamentarian’s final instructions to him. He pulled it out and he read it, and he goes, “You know what? I think this is something that I’m going to put in my scrapbook. Would you sign it?” And then when I went to sign it, I saw it had his handwriting on it — in quotes, the words “no hate.” And I looked at that and I knew he wrote that in real time. I said at the end about Strom Thurmond that as much as this segregationist was doing everything he could, not just so nobody like me would serve in the Senate, but that nobody like me would get equality — that moment when I said we shouldn’t hate him, no hate, I think Curtis wrote it down.
I have to say, the journey of 25 hours was healing for me. It was great to be able to confess to my constituents and, indeed my country, that Democrats have made real mistakes. We are where we are because of a lot of mistakes that people made, not just Democrats, but others. It was good to confess to people that I had hit a point where I knew that what I was doing was inadequate. It was insufficient, I think was the word I used. That was important to say on the journey that I took that night towards trying to be someone that is making a difference in inspiring, empowering, encouraging, or even begging all of us to do more in what I believe is a moral moment in our country.
Some have likened your speech to a stunt, pointing out that it didn’t block legislation or a nomination, for example. What were you actually hoping to achieve?
First of all, I wanted to take the floor and as I said explicitly, to let us not do business as usual. This is not normal. What we’re seeing is not normal and it’s important for me that we don’t normalize it. And I wanted to take an opportunity to speak directly to the challenges that this nation is facing in the most detailed way possible, to bring before the American people the voices of those who are really suffering and struggling as a result of the decisions this President has made. So, I wanted to disrupt the normal order and center the people in this country who are struggling and try to call to the conscience of the country for all of us to see them, hear them, and do more for them, for each other, for ourselves, for our country.
Do I feel like I achieved our goal of raising consciousness, of breaking through with a really powerful message, and elevating, really breaking through with a powerful message, and the powerful voices of my own constituents? I succeeded far beyond what I thought possible. The fact that hundreds of millions of people on one platform tuned in. Or when I sat down today and my staff started playing me news and the coverage from multiple different countries. The letters I’m getting, from text messages to emails to what I see online when I’m going there — I’m seeing people that are not just saying kind things about me, but I’m seeing people who are showing their new conviction to fight, to stand up, to do what I asked people to do, in the spirit of our ancestors, and one in particular, to cause good trouble.
Your speech comes at a moment when voters are questioning the direction of the Democratic Party, with many feeling as if their leaders are playing it too safe. What can and should the party do to meet the urgency of this moment?
It’s hard when I hear that. We’re not a homogeneous Democratic Party. I was texting with a state legislator today in Iowa. I communicate regularly with my state attorney general, who’s a Democrat. People treat Democrats and Republicans as homogeneous organizations controlled by one leader. There’s a lot of diversity there. But here in Washington, it’s clear. The Democrats who are in the House and the Senate are faced with legislation that we don’t have the numbers to stop. But that should not stop us from being imaginative, creative in the way that we try to get that legislation stopped. What I mean by that is we did not have the numbers to stop Donald Trump’s attempts to take down the Affordable Care Act, but when we started engaging with other leaders, people around the country to elevate the voices of Americans — when little lobbyists, these beautiful children with disabilities were rolling their wheelchairs around the halls of Congress, when breast-cancer survivors and people with rare diseases were showing up with their medical equipment in tow to talk about preexisting conditions — suddenly, this love army came out from around this country demanding that Democrats and Republicans don’t let this legislation pass. And minds were changed.
So, this is a moment that demands all of us to figure out how can we be better catalytic agents, so that we may not have the elected leaders to stop something but that we call to something greater, which is the conscience of our country, the moral imagination of a nation, the better angels of the nature of the people that do have the power. I read a lot about John McCain that night because I think he was a profile in courage. I read his whole speech that he gave after he put his thumb down and it was as if he was talking to us in this moment. I know that your question was about this party and that party. But I said during the 25 hours that this is a moral moment. It is bigger than right or left. It is right or wrong and we have to shift our thinking away from traditional politics and start talking about what we stand for and who we are. And when we start with that, it makes it very hard for people to justify taking away health care from 70 million people in Medicaid cuts in order to get more tax cuts that go disproportionately to billionaires. That’s not who we are and I must have repeated that for a dozen or two examples and that’s what I want us to get back to.
And as a Democratic Party, as a leader amongst this party, I want our party to learn from its mistakes, to be bolder in its vision, to not define itself by who they’re against, but define themselves by who they’re fighting for, and define themselves not about where we are but what the possibilities are for where we can go. I think it’s time for a new generation in our country. I really do. The baby boomers are slowly leaving the stage, called home by John Lewis. Who’s going to stand up in the next generations, the millennials and Gen Z who are just starting to take official positions of leadership? I want us to dream America anew, redeem the dream that people feel like needs some redemption now. I’m excited about the future. I know we’re in very difficult times. I know what Donald Trump is doing has hurt people already and I know what he intends to do will hurt the character of our country, not to mention people’s health care, people’s retirement security, and more. But I love the fact that in the heat of the painful political times of my parents, what that generation did is not just point at the unacceptable segregation of people like Strom Thurmond, of people like Bull Connor, of people like George Wallace. They also used that moment, that painful moral moment of their generation to go onto a mountaintop and tell America, it is time to dream again. It’s time to think more boldly again. It’s time to use our moral imagination again. That’s the inspiration my parents gave me, and by God, if that’s our inheritance in this generation, we should take some leadership from that, some instruction from that, and yes, fight these tough battles. March, demonstrate, just like our parents did. But never forget to start telling people to stop just looking right or left. It’s time for America to look up again and get our dream back again and inspire some people, so that we can leave the next generation a little bit better, just like my parents did for me.
You mentioned your mother frequently during your remarks, talking about how she was watching back home in Nevada and sharing your family’s own personal experiences like your father’s battle with Parkinson’s disease. What was it like for her to witness her son making history?
I called all the Las Vegas crew, my mom, her siblings. I think there’s nothing better in this world to give your mom nachas. I don’t know if you know that word, but one of the things I think is a blessing is to make your mother proud. She lived a life of breaking barriers and overcoming challenges and suffering indignities during a whole different generation because she was a woman, because she was Black. My parents were so hard on my brother and I to appreciate the blessings that we had, to never forget what had to happen to have what we have and that we had to pay it back by paying it forward. I know that’s always been the measure my mom has of me, and to hear one of the last voices before I went to bed last night that my mom was proud of me. That meant a lot.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
