Democrats are desperate for someone in their coalition to resist President Donald Trump.
Rather than backing away from their insanity, the leftward segment of the Democratic Party has expressed a desire to bring back the cringeworthy resistance movement of the first Trump term.
New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker tried to emerge as a resistance figurehead with a filibuster on the Senate floor that continued for a record twenty-five hours and five minutes.
But nothing of substance was actually said or achieved by Booker during his quixotic speech.
That comes as no surprise.
Past filibuster efforts were actually meant to block or advance specific legislation. Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy in 2016 tried to force the Senate to allow votes on gun control. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz in 2013 spoke all night to oppose Obamacare.
Booker was not opposing or advocating for any particular legislation. The lawmaker was instead blowing hot air to earn the mantle of Democratic opposition leader as the coalition falters.
The rambling and incoherent speech, which continually devolved the longer Booker spent on the floor, ventured across a very wide variety of topics, all with the theme of Orange Man Bad.
The endless charging at windmills seemed to have worked. NBC News published an article lauding Booker for his speech “excoriating the Trump administration for lawlessness,” which they called a “cathartic moment for a vast swath of demoralized voters across the country.”
The propagandists have spoken.
But catharsis is about all these disheartened Democrats can expect from their current leaders.
The coalition has still not solved their underlying issues. They are still led by the leftward flank, increasingly disunified, and uncompelling to the more moderate and independent sort of voters.
Booker could filibuster for many more hours. The lawmaker could break even more records.
That will not change the fact that the Democrats need much more than performative stunts to be an effective opposition to Trump. They will not receive the power they crave until they reform.
