Democrats Might Finally Be Learning an Important Lesson. Will They Run With It?

This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.

“I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes that have given lane to this demagogue.” —New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, speaking from the Senate floor during a marathon speech that lasted 25 hours

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker finally gave voters the kind of protest they’ve been pleading for ever since Donald Trump became president for the second time. He stood up on the Senate floor and denounced the president’s assault on Social Security, Medicare, the judiciary, and much more for 25 consecutive hours. Hopefully, his party was taking notes.

On Monday evening, Booker set up camp on the Senate floor with only a lectern and his notes. He began a speech that would stretch into the following day, touching on everything from the Department of Government Efficiency’s unlawful assault on the federal government to the White House’s erasure of U.S. Civil Rights history. At one point, Booker reflected inward and made a brutally honest admission: “I confess that I have been imperfect. I confess that I’ve been inadequate to the moment,” Booker proclaimed. “I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes that have given lane to this demagogue.”

Finally.

For months now, voters have been demanding that their elected members of Congress do something to stop the current Trump administration. Instead, the party has been in denial and slow to organize a strategy to combat Trump. They allowed all of his Cabinet picks to be confirmed, protested the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress with a spattering of paddles that was largely deemed an embarrassing failure, and, most recently, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer actually whipped Democratic votes to pass Republicans’ government spending bill without securing a single Democratic priority.

Booker’s marathon speech was a stark break from his party’s uninspiring messaging for Trump 2.0 and seems to have struck a chord with the public. His office said his speech attracted more than 350 million likes on TikTok and inspired over 28,000 voicemails from supporters. Over on YouTube, he apparently garnered over 100,000 viewers. On Tuesday afternoon, the comment section of the YouTube livestream was moving so rapidly I could barely read the messages. I managed to catch one commenter saying “LORD BLESS HIS LIVER.” Another one proclaimed, “DEMOCRACY IS DEMOCRACYING!!!!!”

While this was not technically a filibuster because Booker was not protesting a specific piece of legislation, he did break a record for holding the longest continuous speech on the Senate floor. He beat out Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes to protest the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Democrats may not hold a majority in the Senate or House, but Booker’s decision to loudly and publicly call out the Trump administration for its attempt to gut Social Security and Medicare, unlawfully deport immigrants, erase critical moments of Civil Rights history, and much, much more, was exactly the unfiltered and unafraid leadership Democrats have been failing to show. Instead, up until Booker’s speech, the party has seemed to prefer working with Republicans in a bipartisan way, despite the GOP rarely—if ever, at least in recent history—operating with a similar level of respect. Just a few months ago, when Democrats held a majority in all three branches of government, plenty of Republicans were proud to publicly refuse to cooperate with “any Democrat legislative priorities or nominations.”

“The name of the game is attention. Trump and Musk are very good at it,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis said on X. “Democrats have struggled to take these kinds of risks to our own peril—but Cory is paving the way forward.”

Several of Booker’s fellow Democrats joined him on the Senate floor, from progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to establishment stalwarts including Sen. Dick Durbin and Schumer. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are busy pulling a stunt of their own, traversing the country on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. Their Denver rally alone drew 34,000 people, the largest audience Sanders has ever attracted in his career.

All of this suggests there’s a coalition of Americans interested in challenging the current administration. Schumer acknowledged as much during Booker’s speech. “He’s channeling the emotions so many are feeling,” said the 74-year-old Democratic Party leader on X.

Now the question is: What will the party do with the momentum Booker has built up?