Cory Booker hands weary Democrats a lifeline with marathon Trump protest

There’s a lot of people out there asking Democrats to do more and take risks and do things differently. This seemed like the right thing to do,

Booker told reporters Tuesday night after exiting the floor for the first time since his speech began

Imagine what a coordinated, caucus-wide talking filibuster against, say, a GOP funding bill that cuts popular social safety net programs would look like — as opposed to just voting it down at a 60-vote threshold

Jentleson tweeted

I think younger Democrats see someone like Sen. Booker standing on his two feet for 25 hours of an impassioned speech to show what actually can be done,

Rakov told the Washington Examiner

That’s going to happen anyway. But that doesn’t organize an opposition,

Sheinkopf told the Washington Examiner

No, I’m just trying to step up,

Booker told reporters Tuesday night

Thank you, cousin RuPaul. You all already know the rules, so I just want to say thank you. In life, we were not born to fit in, we were born to stand out, to make the most out of ourselves, and always elevate and enrich the lives of others."

Booker, addressing the final four contestants, responded with a heartfelt message

Now, to explain the rules of the Lip Sync Smackdown, please welcome United States Senator, and my cousin, Cory Booker. No, really, we are related."

RuPaul introduced him in a video message, saying

I want to go a little bit past this and then I'm going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I'm feeling."

The 55-year-old New Jersey native had found a moment for some humor as he passed the record, joking

Unnecessary hardships are being borne by Americans of all backgrounds. And institutions that are special in America, which are precious and which are unique in our country, are being recklessly — and I would say even unconstitutionally — affected, attacked, even shattered,

Booker said

My strategy was to stop eating. I think I stopped eating Friday and then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday,

he told reporters in the US Capitol

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,

he added

Strom Thurmond's record always... really irked me,

he later told broadcaster MSNBC

If you love your neighbor, if you love this country, show your love. Stop them from doing what they're trying to [do],

he said

I hope for his sake that he has taken the next three days off and he is getting enough sleep and then getting his electrolytes back,

Mathew said

I don’t think it was exactly clear if he really needed to pee, but if he did and he held it, then that’s something where they call it ‘post-void obstruction,’ where you use all your muscles to hold in that urinary stream,

Reja said

When you don’t have enough electrolytes to support your muscles and your blood volume, you get symptoms like that, and if it goes on too long – thankfully, he stopped at 25 hours – but really significant dehydration can affect your kidneys. It could affect urinary issues, and it can even cause you to faint,

Reja said

I need to get re-elected. That’s my focus.”

Asked about speculation that the marathon speech was a preview for a 2028 presidential campaign, Booker, who is up for re-election in 2026, said

But his preparation was definitely unorthodox,

Gladstone said

You need enough nutrition and enough sleep,

said Mathew, a primary care physician and public health specialist at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta

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I think that had good and bad benefits. I definitely started cramping up from lack of water,

Booker told CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday