Cory Booker took another stand on the Senate floor—but this time, he called out his fellow Democrats.
During a heated exchange on Tuesday, the New Jersey senator clashed with Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, arguing that advancing a policing bill without proper scrutiny amounted to complicity in Donald Trump’s anti-constitutional agenda.
“The Democratic Party needs a wake-up call,” Booker said before detailing the many sectors of American society that have bent the knee to Trump, including law firms and media giants that were willing to settle ludicrous lawsuits filed by the corrupt administration.
“And what are the very people here elected to defend the Constitution of the United States saying? Oh, well, today let’s look the other way and pass some resources that won’t go to Connecticut, that won’t go to Illinois, that won’t go to New York, that will go to the states he likes,” Booker said.
“That is complicity with an authoritarian leader who is trashing our Constitution,” he said. “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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Booker’s impassioned remarks came after he objected to Masto’s motion to expedite the passage of law enforcement funding bills.
The New Jersey senator has repeatedly used the Senate floor to challenge the Trump administration’s egregious overreach. During a record-setting marathon speech in April, he lambasted Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle essential federal agencies.
“Don’t question my integrity. Don’t question my motives,” Booker said on Tuesday. “I’m standing for the Constitution and I’m standing for what’s right.”