Cory Booker & Jasmine Crockett Lead Democrats Fighting Back Against Trump — It’s About Time

History has been made. “I yield the floor,” New Jersey Senator Cory Booker concluded after his 25-hour speech protesting the Donald Trump administration on Tuesday, April 1. Booker first announced his extended return to the United States Senate floor in a TikTok video titled “Good Trouble,” referencing the renowned philosophy first introduced by late U.S. Representative and Civil Rights activist John Lewis. In the months since Trump was sworn in as president, he has demolished federal DEI programs, laid off hundreds of government workers, spearheaded unlawful ICE arrests, and tanked the economy. So, why does it seem like barely anyone (Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are notable exceptions) in the Democratic Party is fighting back with the same vigor and passion as Booker? The stakes are incredibly high. It’s no coincidence that the majority of the politicians getting in the most “good trouble” are Black. Aside from Booker, Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett has also used her platform to speak up — loudly and unequivocally — against Trump, his administration, and billionaire Elon Musk. Are Booker’s and Crockett’s protests working? And where do the Democrats go from here? 

Reeling from the past two and a half months of the Trump presidency, lethargic voters nationwide were yearning for change within the Democratic Party. According to a recent Harvard Caps Harris poll, only 37 percent of voters approve of the Democratic Party, one of the lowest ratings since March 2018, aside from February 2025. Seventy-one percent of voters called for new political party leaders, with 57 percent of the polled identifying as Democrats. Booker then took to the chamber floor to challenge waning stats only days after the poll was released. In his “Good Trouble” video, Booker commented, “I’ve been hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more.” 

A true test of endurance, the 55-year-old Senator didn’t eat, drink, or use the restroom throughout his speech delivery to prioritize the needs of the American people before his own. In an interview with MSNBC, Booker expressed, “That was really what I was dreaming of is that somehow I can strike a chord that weren’t the normal left/right debates.” In a powerful parallel, the speech that preceded Booker’s record-breaking moment was former South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, a white man who aimed to halt the Civil Rights Act of 1957 from being passed. During a 24-hour-long filibuster, Thurmond expressed his disapproval of enacting the Civil Rights bill into law, stating, “No new right is granted by the bill.” 

Succeeding the segregationist argument 67 years later, Booker, the first Black Senator of New Jersey, challenged Thurmond’s stance not just through his words but through his mere existence. Mentioning Thurmond’s previous record, Booker acknowledged, “The man [Thurmond] who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand.” He concluded, “I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.” In his speech, Booker used unifying rhetoric that centered on the everyday working-class person. He raised concerns about the heightening rate of inflation, the cost of Trump’s across-the-board tariff wars, and the potential cuts to Medicaid, all topics from a 1,164-page document prepared by Booker and his staff. This is the type of action that people who voted for the Democrats have demanded, especially following the protest of Democratic Congressman Al Green for repeatedly disrupting Trump’s joint address to Congress. “You see how 10 Democrats voted to censure Al Green? There’s no trust,” wrote one frustrated voter on X. As Booker recounted over 200 stories from the American public grappling with an unstable political landscape, he revisited the quote, “The power of the people is greater than the people in power.” 

Booker’s address was powerful, and there’s no doubt that it ignited something that the Democrats have been missing: a fighting spirit. But he’s still a politician, not a celebrity, and a stunt is just the beginning. If Booker’s aim is really to embolden the power of the people, he still needs to answer to some of his critics, like the people who oppose his acceptance of money from AIPAC or some of the inconsistencies in his voting record. “Booker’s speech almost got me,” racial, social, and gender justice educator Ericka Hart wrote on Instagram. “I want Cory Booker to denounce the apartheid state of Israel and stop accepting AIPAC money. It’s antithetical to speak against one dictator while accepting money from a lobbying group that supports a dictator.” What Booker did on that Senate floor was necessary, inspiring, and important. But he’s not perfect — no politician is — and in this critical moment of political unrest, as we are rightfully praising Booker’s actions against Trump, we also need to hold him accountable for his own. Two things can be true. Standing up to Trump is the bare minimum, and like Booker, the rest of his party should be following suit.

 Along with Booker and Green, Black congresspeople seem to be the most willing to rise to the occasion and go hard against the Trump administration. In the past few months, Crockett, known for her civic outspokenness, has also been making headlines regarding her social justice stances and vocal disagreements with her Republican political adversaries — some of these interactions have gone viral. Crockett’s usage of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in publicized debates and refusal to code-switch remains at the core of the criticism against her. Yet, she never fails to speak her mind. “If you are competent, you are not concerned,” Crockett fiercely relayed in an interview on anti-DEI policies. “You know why I don’t feel a way, and you can’t make me doubt who I am? It’s because I know I had to work ten times as hard as they did just to get into the seat,” she said. In a recent House Judiciary meeting, Crockett expressed her disdain for Elon Musk, reinforcing how much she didn’t like him and his leadership in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “That is somebody that is operating above the law,” she said while calling out U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “tread very carefully” comments made on Fox News. 

Speaking out against the powerful, rich men running the U.S. government is imperative, and the fact that Crockett, a Black woman, is doing so while being unapologetically herself is nothing short of remarkable and radical. 

A first-generation lawyer, Crockett served as a Civil Rights attorney for over 15 years, determined to make her voice heard and advocate for the voices who have been suppressed. But choosing to remain a vocal figure in the controversial realm of politics has its consequences. Crockett recently came under fire for referring to Texas Governor Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels” but denied ableist claims in a series of X posts. “I wasn’t thinking about the governor’s condition- I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable,” she responded. In an Instagram Live Congressional Culture Convo with Meagan Good, the 44-year-old Congresswoman declared that her recent criticisms were national distractions, stating, “They are expending so much time and energy on me instead of talking about the things that matter. I’m not the President of the United States.” She’s right, but once again, no politician is above reproach. We can applaud Crockett’s stances and still acknowledge when she makes a misstep. We just know the standards are always way higher for Black women, and when she makes mistakes, she’s even more vulnerable to an onslaught of hate. 

It’s inspiring that in the face of this pressure and double standards, Crockett continues to speak up. And that  Booker’s trailblazing address came on the heels of a growing movement. On Saturday, April 5, thousands of anti-Trump “Hands Off!” protests erupted across the globe to combat the current administration’s recent policies. “Way to go, US!” a user wrote on social media. After months of relative silence and the depressing notion that the Democrats and their supporters were passively accepting the scary new reality ushered in by the Trump administration, it’s heartening to know that inside Congress — and in the streets — the power seems to be shifting back to the people. The revolution will continue to be televised.