Cory Booker declares Democratic Party needs a 'wake up call' in fiery Senate speech

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday declared his party needs a "wake-up call" and accused fellow lawmakers of being complicit in the passage of President Donald Trump's agenda.

Booker specifically targeted Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota for supporting a package of pro-law enforcement bills, and accused his party of "bending the knee" to the president. 

The tirade occurred while the senator was opposing Cortez Masto's effort to pass the bills quickly, claiming he wanted to change the measures to ensure they are distributed equally among red and blue states amid grant cancellations. 

"We are standing at a moment where our president is eviscerating the Constitution of the United States of America, and we're willing to go along with that today," Booker said. "Not on my watch. I stand against this. It is a violation of our Constitution for the president of the United States to ignore the will of Congress and decide which states are eligible for grants and which are not."

Booker said his party needed to "wake up" and stop its complicity with the Trump administration, demanding they fight back harder despite being a minority in all three branches of the federal government.

"I see law firms bending the knee to this president, not caring about the larger principles; I see universities that should be bastions of free speech bending at the knee to this president," Booker ranted. “I see businesses taking late-night talk-show hosts off the air because they dared to insult a president ... It's time for Democrats to have a backbone, it's time for us to fight, it's time for us to draw lines!”

Democrats have struggled to unite behind a party leader since the 2024 presidential election, which saw the Republican Party win back the White House, flip control of the Senate and retain the majority in the House. The Supreme Court also has a 6-3 conservative majority. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.