Cory Booker Is Holding the Line—And He Shouldn’t Be Standing Alone
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By Lisa Hayes for Confluence Daily
In an era when cowardice often masquerades as strategy, and tepid press releases are offered in place of real resistance, Senator Cory Booker is doing something radical: He’s using the tools of democracy as if they still matter.
Since Monday night, March 31, Booker has held the Senate floor in a marathon speech that has now stretched over 20 hours. It’s not technically a filibuster in the procedural sense—no specific legislation is being delayed—but let’s not split hairs: this is a filibuster in spirit, urgency, and impact. This is a man using one of the few tools still available to him to stand up and say no.
And he’s not just saying no to one bill or one policy.
He’s saying no to an entire authoritarian agenda.
He’s saying no to the normalization of fascism.
He’s saying no to the rot of passivity in his own party.
And maybe—just maybe—he’s saying what millions of us have been screaming from the sidelines for years.
“I’ve been hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment,”
—Cory Booker, from the Senate floor, March 31, 2025
(source)
This Is What Resistance Looks Like
Let’s not get it twisted: this isn’t just performative politics. It’s not empty symbolism. This is resistance as praxis. It’s what happens when someone refuses to be paralyzed by the sheer size of the crisis and chooses, instead, to do something.
Because while the Democratic leadership wrings its hands and offers cautious condemnations of Trump’s newest authoritarian decrees—from his voter suppression executive order, to anti-immigration crackdowns, to the growing whispers of mass deportation camps—Booker is doing what every Democrat in power should be doing: finding the levers of resistance and pulling hard.
He is occupying space.
He is refusing silence.
He is forcing attention.
And in a moment like this, that matters more than almost anything else.
Where Is Everyone Else?
Imagine if every Democratic senator stood up and did the same.
Imagine if every House member took to the floor and refused to yield the microphone.
Imagine if every blue-state governor declared noncompliance with Trump’s orders, not with careful hedging, but with the clarity of conviction.
Imagine if the entire party stopped trying to play respectability politics in a game where the other side has already burned down the rulebook.
We might be in a different place.
We might not be watching democracy buckle under the weight of executive orders that openly target immigrants, criminalize protest, gut voting rights, and treat the Constitution as an inconvenience to be bypassed.
The right is not shy.
They don’t wait for permission.
They don’t ask, “What will centrists think?” before tearing down systems of justice and governance.
And yet the left—particularly those in power—continue to meet this moment with delicate, diluted outrage and a refusal to even use the tools they still possess.
Cory Booker is showing them the way. And so far, he’s standing mostly alone.
We Are in a Constitutional Crisis. Act Like It.
Let’s say it plainly: we are not dealing with a normal policy disagreement. We are watching a slow, deliberate coup unfold in real time.
Donald Trump is testing the structural integrity of American democracy—and he’s not finding much resistance.
He has weaponized the executive branch against the very people it is supposed to serve.
He has stacked the courts.
He has purged career officials.
He has handed out executive orders like candy—each more openly authoritarian than the last.
And he has openly promised that if reelected, he will pursue retribution against his enemies, mass deportations, and a rollback of voting rights so severe it will leave millions disenfranchised by design.
This is not theoretical. This is now.
And every single elected Democrat needs to act accordingly.
No more waiting. No more “let’s see what the courts say.” No more silent complicity dressed up as pragmatism.
There Is No Neutral in a Moving Train
To stand by and do nothing while this happens is not neutrality. It is consent.
To claim that we still need to “reach across the aisle” is delusion.
To prioritize decorum over action is cowardice.
To accept this as the new normal is the first step toward making it permanent.
Cory Booker is using the microphone.
He is using his voice.
He is using his body, his stamina, and his political position to draw a line.
This should not be rare.
This should be the standard.
The Stakes Are Too High for Anything Less
Booker is proving that one person, refusing to sit down, refusing to shut up, refusing to be complicit—can change the tone.
He’s not naive. He knows one speech won’t reverse every executive order. But he also knows that silence doesn’t protect anyone.
This is about moral clarity.
This is about showing the public that someone is still willing to fight.
This is about igniting a fire that others can feed.
In this moment—when history is being written in real time—we need a Democratic Party that is unafraid to take up space, make noise, and refuse to normalize tyranny.
We need action.
We need outrage with teeth.
We need leaders who remember why they were elected in the first place.
Cory Booker is doing his part.
The question is: will anyone join him?
Lisa Hayes is a life coach, writer, and editor of Confluence Daily, specializing in social issues, political issues, and mental health. Her work has appeared in publications like Huffington Post and Real Simple. She is also the Communications Director for a local fire department in Mexico and runs a life coach training program called The Coaching Guild.
