Cory Booker wants Democrats to 'Stand' and fight

0:00Cory Booker has always had a knack for getting attention. As a city councilman in Newark, New Jersey, he staged a 10-day hunger strike at a housing project. As mayor of Newark, he personally shoveled residents' sidewalks and once literally ran into a burning building to save a neighbor. My fire director came to me and told me it was a remarkably stupid thing and explained to me that, yeah, you were able to get her out because she probably would have been consumed in the blaze. But at the same time, he thought I put myself at risk. But my response to him is I think that everybody, you know, most people in America would have done the same thing.

0:33That's what he told NPR in 2012. When Booker became a U.S. senator and then a Democratic presidential candidate, he says he made an effort to make friendships across the aisle. I go to Bible study in Chairman Inhofe's office. He and I passed legislation together to help homeless and foster kids. I went out to try to invite every one of my Republican colleagues to dinner. That was from a CNN presidential primary debate in 2019. These days, Booker is calling for urgent resistance. I rise today in an unusual manner, and I want to be clear and explain that. Like other Democrats, the New Jersey senator feels that President Trump is pulling the country in a dangerously authoritarian direction.

1:12And he is also aware that Democrats don't actually control any levers of power in the federal government. So last year, he took to the Senate floor and started criticizing Trump administration policies. 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 he didn't stop until 25 hours later. He'd broken the record for the longest continuous Senate floor speech. In addition to speaking often about President Trump and congressional Republicans, but also what he doesn't like in his own party, Cory Booker has gotten attention for his new book.

1:54It compiles his thoughts about American ideals through the histories of American leaders. Consider this. In our interview, Cory Booker says that this moment in American politics calls for new leadership. Does he see himself among those potential leaders? From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. This message comes from Cachava. Sometimes you crave a treat while prioritizing your wellness goals. Cachava's newest coffee flavor is the perfect treat. This all-in-one nutrition shake delivers bold flavor from decaffeinated Brazilian beans with 25 grams of protein, six rims of fiber, greens, and more. Treat yourself to the flavor and nutrition your body craves.

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3:49It's Consider This from NPR. Senator Cory Booker's new book is called Stand. It is not about the politics of the current moment, not directly, but it is an argument for moral principles, for ten virtues he sees as critical to American life, like agency and patriotism, but also vulnerability and humility. He illustrates them with historical examples. So I had to ask, you open by talking about the concept of virtue, and some people might find that to be a sort of curious choice, given the tenor of our political rhetoric right now. Say more about that choice. I actually think that Democrats and others make a mistake when they center this moment in American history around Donald Trump, make him the main character of the story.

4:33I think there's been a lot leading to this and we are in tough times and I hear a lot of fear and anger and anguish from Americans asking, what can I do? And so I wanted to write a book that spoke directly to that hurt and to this fear about what's happening to our country and explain to folks through inspiration and hopefully instruction what people in the past have done in moments like this, which is to evidence the best of American virtues. Not Democrat or Republican virtues, but the best of who we are. Virtue is strategy. Virtue is how we win. Virtues are vital, especially in dark times. I think we've all heard the term virtue signaling as a criticism of empty rhetoric.

5:16What do you say to people, to critics out there who might point out that you're giving speeches and writing a book at a moment that demands urgent, coordinated action? Well, to me, one is a part of the other. And all through my career, from a 10-day hunger strike in the projects in Newark, which became a sounding board for big changes in our city, to even standing for 25 hours to do what? To share the stories of Americans. This is a time where we need to begin to have that renewal and that revival of what is the instruction for action. And so I'm just a big believer that if we allow the expediency of the moment to make us surrender our virtues and our values, if we think we can – as Martin Luther King never made a mistake, they never thought they could beat Bull Connor by bringing bigger dogs and bigger fire hoses.

6:11They chose in that moment to spark the moral imagination of a nation, to bring forth the best of who we are, to beat the darkness that threatened us. So this is one of those moments in how we fight is actually going to be determinative by what kind of victory we have. I mean, you're a leader in your party and there is so much debate right now over how to meet the urgency of this moment. So I want to ask you, Senator, is the Democratic Party doing enough to meet the moment right now? Heck no. I think the Democratic Party helped pave the road to the crisis we're in right now. I have a lot of deep enduring frustrations with how our party has come up short and failed, even on things that are just obvious to anybody that works in Washington about how deeply corrupt this town is with, I would say, billions of dollars of cash flowing in from the wealthiest corporations and industries trying to pervert what we do.

7:10We've normalized the abnormal and Americans are sick of it. And so we need a restorative vision that could begin to heal our country because right now the same old, same old is just not going to do it. You have in the past said that your party, the Democratic Party, it needs change and a new generation of leaders to stand up to President Trump and Republicans. So I want to ask you about the leadership in the Senate. Is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer the right leader for the moment? Well, there's going to be an election in a matter of months, and I think there will be a lot of new senators coming in.

7:44And I think there's going to be a real debate and discussion about how do we lead into the next Congress. Right now, the most important thing, I say this as a former football player, when I was in the huddle, I always tell people I know when we're going to score a touchdown is when the other huddle is divided against themselves and they're yelling and fighting. We've got a unified caucus right now. We need to stay together and unified. But come November, there's going to be a debate and discussion about how we lead after November. And I think that's going to be a very important one. Should Senator Schumer still be that leader after November?

8:16I think he's going to have to make his case before the caucus and we'll see who will challenge him. But that's going to be a very important election. You ran for president back in 2020 and I spent some time with you on the campaign trail. But you were also frequently mentioned as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2028. What's on your mind? What are you weighing as you make that choice? Well, I'm focused on re-election, but I'm telling people without any kind of restraint that I think this 28th election is going to be the moment where we need to redeem the dream. And I'm going to be involved in some way in the national conversation because I'm angry.

8:50I'm angry at my party. I'm angry at how much we've missed the moment and how we need to change the national conversation from narrow divides and debates to the big issues that are facing America and give what I think my grandfather found in FDR when most blacks were Republicans. And why did he switch? Not because he liked our party, but because he felt like it was a redemption moment where the dream of America was redeemed with this new deal that was promised. So no matter what happens in 28, I'm going to be fierce. And if it means not being a presidential candidate, but one of those people that like, if you want my endorsement, you better be standing up and giving a vision for this country that is specific and makes people believe again that we can be a party that actually delivers for people.

9:39What do you think the Democratic Party's most urgent challenge is today? Leadership. It really is. You can't have great courage without great fear. And so I have feared that we are missing a leadership moment, but I see my courage being given strength by new leaders emerging around this country. There are extraordinary new senators from also Brooks and Leithville Blunt Rochester to Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff. I mean my I should say Andy Kim is one of the guys that gives me strength every day from New Jersey there are new candidates out there I see around the country like Tallarico down in Texas there is a new generation of leaders that I think have the promise to meet this moment and then on local levels I've just been running around my state talking to my county committees and I see these young people, teenagers and in their 20s running for their first offices in the same way that I did against the establishment, against the machine.

10:39So if there's anything that I get excited about for the Democratic Party right now is that sense of renewal. It is our time to renew America and to redeem the dream. So to me, it is a time of great fear and great courage, great worry, but great hope. And I want us to seize this moment. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, his new book is Stand. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you for having me. This episode was produced by Elena Burnett and Connor Donovan with audio engineering by Hannah Glovna. It was edited by Patrick Jaron Watanon. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

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