The floor of the United States Senate has witnessed filibusters for great causes and terrible causes, Save Jerseyans. Leave it to Cory Booker to set a record while advocating for no cause in particular (other than the aggrandizement of Cory Booker).
New Jersey’s senior senator spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes from Monday evening into Tuesday night in what is now the longest filibuster in the history of the world’s premier deliberative body. That’s longer than the late U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina who, in 1957, held the floor for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act. Filibusters are typically related to a single bill or issue less sexy than civil rights; U.S. Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin went for 16 hours and 12 minutes in 1981 to protest legislation to raise the debt ceiling and, in so doing, expand the national debt. In 1953, Wayne Morse of Oregon spoke for 22 hours and 26 minutes to delay the passage of something called the Tidelands Oil bill.
What was Cory Booker protesting?
Hard to say. Elon Musk? Donald Trump? ‘Threats to democracy’? Threats to funding for transgender mice?
He spoke quite a bit about his own biography and (imagined) favorable comparisons between himself and the late John Lewis, an icon of the Left.
“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker squeaked at some point on Monday. “And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
Said another way: it was a filibuster about nothing. The Seinfeld of senatorial-level grandstanding.
But for all of Booker’s performative vapidity, his marathon street theater routine will stand up as a perfect reflection of the 2025 Democrat Party. The Democrats presently stand for nothing, or at least nothing of particularly compelling importance towards tackling the challenges bedeviling our nation.
Transing young kids. Defending Ukraine’s borders. Burning Teslas. Protecting tax dollars giveaways for Leftist causes and corrupt organizations. These are their priorities.
Congress has a 21% approval rating for a reason. Americans didn’t love what they saw from Democrats during President Trump’s recent address to a joint session of Congress. There’s no reason to think Booker’s performance will land any differently, but it’s unlikely he really cares. The bragging rights are worth more than the impact for an Olympic-level narcissist like Cory.
