BRIEF: Good trouble
Big thought, small step, deep breath — for April 2, 2025
BIG THOUGHT
Somebody did something
On Monday evening, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker took to the Senate floor for a marathon speech, committing to keep it up — exercising the power of the filibuster and bringing Senate business to a halt — for as long as he was physically able. By the time he wrapped it up, 25 hours and 5 minutes later, he’d broken the record for a floor speech, eclipsing the 24 hours and 18 minutes the late Strom Thurmond put in filibustering, fruitlessly, against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. While Thurmond mostly read from legal texts to fill the time, Booker (who wasn’t filibustering to block a specific appointment or bill, but as a general protest) delivered a daylong extemporaneous lecture against the corruption of the Trump-Musk regime.
“These are not normal times in our nation,” Booker announced. “And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”
The question on many minds: Is there real value in Booker’s action? Activists like former Senate staffer Gabe Garbowit have called the speech merely performative. Garbowit and others have been calling for months for Democratic senators to apply pressure using all of the procedural tools in their arsenal — voting no on everything, objecting to unanimous consent, and demanding quorum calls — to do everything they can to deny confirmations and otherwise bring the regular business of the Senate to a halt. The kinds of things Mitch McConnell might have done in a similar position.
Garbowit has a point — with rare exceptions, Democratic senators haven’t been doing that. They’ve confirmed Donald Trump’s appointments, they’ve signed onto bills, and they’ve let business continue. They could have been monkeywrenching this entire session. They could have been doing what Booker’s done this week every day. And voters are starting to notice.
But regardless of whether it would have been better for Booker to have come out of the gate filibustering on January 3 when the 119th Congress began, he did it this week, and hundreds of thousands of Americans tuned in for the live stream. He made news, something the Democrats have struggled mightily with in the Trump era. And that’s a step in the right direction, even if only a first step.
It’s good trouble, necessary trouble (as Booker quoted John Lewis as saying multiple times during the speech), even if it isn’t sufficient trouble. But his action at least begins to recognize that these are critical times for American democracy. It’s up to the rest of the Senate Democratic caucus to pick up the baton.
SMALL STEP
Hands Off!
April 5 is almost upon us — and the nationwide Hands Off! rallies are shaping up to be the biggest coordinated day of protests against the Trump-Musk administration so far. So make a plan and find (or host) an event in your hometown. 50501, Indivisible, MoveOn, SEIU, the Federal Unionists Network and many other national and local organizations are coming together to make this the largest mass mobilization yet, so join in and make your voice heard.
DEEP BREATH
Fight songs
Getting ready for this weekend’s rallies and need a soundtrack? We asked for your fight song picks, and we’ve put them together into a playlist. So as you get ready to go out and make good trouble, here are the tunes you and your fellow readers told us get you going. Keep them coming, and we’ll continue to add new ones to the mix.
A programming note: We’re going live!
Join us on Thursday, April 3, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when we talk again with messaging guru and political sage Anat Shenker-Osorio. We hope to see you all there!
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events.
I understand — according to The Hill— as of 2 hours ago, Cory Booker’s speech had received 350m likes on TikTok 💪
Courageous, disciplined, necessary move. I was inspired and happily gave a donation to him and Senator Chris Murphy. We need these moments of solidarity, hope and resistance to get through the next 4 years. Ready for next. Keep them coming.