Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) trashed his own party Tuesday in a fiery speech on the Senate floor for what he argued was its capitulation to President Donald Trump.
“What I am tired of is when the president of the United States violates the Constitution, trashes our norms and traditions, and what does the Democratic Party do?” Booker said. “Comply? Beg for scraps? No, I demand justice!”
The Senate was scheduled to take up several Trump nominations on Tuesday, but was temporarily engaged in debates over Trump administration policy changes that could lead to some local police departments being denied federal grant money. The debate quickly derailed as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) took issue with some of Booker’s objections.
“I will note that Sen. Booker objected to my police reauthorization bill… so this is not just about this, this is a long dispute over this type of funding, funding that I think is really important right now.”
Visibly frustrated, Booker went off on what he considered to be the broader capitulation to Trump outside the Democratic Party, pointing to companies like Paramount that settled with Trump for millions of dollars amid its bid for a merger, and the firing of Stephen Colbert following his criticisms of Trump and Colbert’s parent network, which is also Paramount.
“This is a call, folks, the Democratic Party needs a wake-up call; I see law firms bending the knee to this president, not caring about the larger principles; I see universities that should be bastions of free speech bending at the knee to this president,” Booker said.
“I see businesses taking late-night talk show hosts off the air because they dared to insult a president; I see people who want mergers suddenly think that they have to pay tribute to this president. It’s time for Democrats to have a backbone, it’s time for us to fight, it’s time for us to draw lines!”
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