by Taylor Jung, New Jersey Monitor
Sen. Cory Booker urged a crowd of about 1,000 people at a town hall in this Bergen County town Saturday to speak up against the Trump administration, days after Booker won attention nationwide for a record-breaking, anti-Trump speech he delivered on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Appearing at Bergen Community College on a day of nationwide protests against President Donald Trump, Booker spoke to people gathered in the school’s gym about funding threats to Medicaid, attacks on the LGBTQ community, and stronger leadership within the Democratic Party.
“One of the greatest lessons from history that I’ve learned … is that the only thing necessary for bad things that happen in any democracy is for good people to say nothing,” said Booker, a Democrat.
Audience members told the New Jersey Monitor that Booker’s Senate floor speech — which started Monday night and lasted for 25 hours and 5 minutes — was the first concrete action they had seen any Democrat take against the Trump administration, and they came to hear more from the senator.
“He just stood there and would not give up. That’s why I’m here today: to support him. He’s supporting America. We need more of that,” said Deborah Brown from Hackensack.
Saturday marked Booker’s first public event since the attention-grabbing speech, which surpassed a previous record when South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
The town hall, and Booker’s speech, come as voters have pushed Democratic Party officials to take more action against plans by Trump and congressional Republicans to slash funding to social services, deport scores of undocumented immigrants, and implement tariffs that will push consumer prices skyward.
As Booker walked out to “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, the crowd applauded and chanted “Cory, Cory, Cory.” Booker opened by saying that he’s heard from thousands of constituents telling him to help protect social services and the country’s democratic freedoms.
At one point, several protesters asked him to do more for Palestinians in Gaza. As law enforcement escorted them away, Booker said he respects their right to free speech but that he did not want others to be disrupted from sharing their stories.
He later said he wants more members of the public to stand up for their rights, encouraging them to “do a little bit more” by posting on social media or attending rallies.
“Find out what you can do. Do not let your inability to do everything undermine your determination to do something,” he said.
Courtnay Johnson-Suffern, president of the Bergen County NAACP, asked Booker what he would say to young people who feel disenfranchised and discouraged from running for office.
Booker responded by saying Democrats are unfairly accused of being “alarmists.”
“When our country is taking on the tactics of authoritarian leaders in authoritarian countries, when you see books being band from libraries across the country … those [are] tactics of authoritarian countries,” he said.
After the town hall, Booker spoke to reporters about what Democrats can do in this moment, as more young voters and voters of color express their disappointment in the party and in the political system at large.
“The party’s going to do great if they make the center of their focus the people and people struggling, people suffering right now,” he said.
He also said he recognized his party needs to take more action, but also highlighted the importance of convincing Republican politicians to vote against Trump’s policies.
“All of us have to be asking us right now, what can I do to help to appeal to the conscience of people who are many of them are in districts that are purple, districts that many of them — it’s clear that what Donald Trump is doing is wildly unpopular amongst their voters,” he said.
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