Rabat – United States Senator Cory Booker has broken the record for the longest speech in Senate history with a marathon address against President Donald Trump. The Democratic New Jersey Senator, who failed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, held the Senate floor for 25 hours and four minutes.
Booker’s speech shattered the previous record held by Senator Storm Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1957 and uphold racial injustice against black Americans.
In Thurmond’s case, he was doing a “filibuster” – a Senate tradition in which one or more members of the legislative body delay or block the passage of a proposed legislation by preventing the debate from ending. Yet, in Booker’s latest impressively long-winded rant, he was not arguing against any specific legislation and was rather ranting in a symbolic protest against US President Donald Trump.
“I have to ask myself 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. I rise tonight because I believe, sincerely, that our country is in crisis,” he said, referencing late civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis’s “good trouble, necessary trouble” speech.
In his marathon speech that began on Monday night, March 31, Booker criticized Trump’s performance since he took office on January 20th, accusing it of “recklessly” and “unconstitutionally” attacking “institutions that are special in America.”
“In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy and even our aspirations as a people for, from our highest offices, a sense of common decency,” he stated.
While some applauded Booker’s act, others were critical that it lacked purpose.
Booker claimed that he intended to disrupt “the normal business of the United States Senate”, but he was accused by some of merely acting performatively instead of actually trying to bring about any change.
“Cory Booker is looking for another ‘I am Spartacus’ moment, but that didn’t work for his failed presidential campaign, and it didn’t work to block President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. When will he realize he’s not Spartacus — he’s a spoof?” remarked Trump spokesperson Harrison Fields, in a recent statement.
To be clear, although Booker is making a strong stance against most US policies under Trump, it is not everything that has been commonplace with the US administration.
Booker noticeably wore a “bring them home” ribbon in support of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, failing to mention the US direct involvement or criticize Trump’s support of the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has killed well over 50,000 people.
Like many representatives in the US government, Booker is a staunch support and has been bought out by Israel. He has received $913,081 from pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, famously took a picture with former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant during his visit to the US last December, despite Gallant being a war criminal with an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
