Good Trouble Til I Can Stand No Longer
Good Trouble for the Week of 4.4.25
So tonight I rise in an unusual way. I rise with the intention to stand until I can stand no longer. - Sen. Corey Booker
This week:
Maybe Corey Booker is the hero we need right now
At 6:59P on Monday…
Corey Booker, the Democrat Senator for New Jersey, took the floor of the United States Senate with the stated "intention of “disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able”. NORMAL = today being the rubberstamping of whatever President Trump wants by the Republican majority.
He wouldn’t yield the floor til 8:05P on Tuesday, a record 25+ HOURS LATER!
Bookending this record filibuster, Senator Booker evoked the words of the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis
So tonight I rise in an unusual way. I rise with the intention to stand until I can stand no longer. Til I am physically unable to stand anymore.
I am going to speak up. And try to cause some good trouble in this body I respect so much. I am to try to cause what I believe is necessary trouble.
Will it change anything? Will it magically inspire the Republican senators to suddenly grow backbones and push back on the Trump administration?
Likely not. Immediately after yielding the floor, Matt Whitaker was confirmed as ambassador the NATO-which Trump has hinted at weakening/withdrawing the U.S. from. A vote that followed party lines.
But that doesn’t mean it won’t have an effect.
If John Lewis were here, he’d look at me and say: What are you doing? What are WE doing?Good Trouble for Democrats
It shouldn’t be lost that this comes as Democrats (Sen. Booker’s party) are at an all-time low in popularity (37 percent approval as of Monday).
The prevailing opinion is that the opposition party to Trump/MAGA isn’t doing much opposing at all.
From NPR Base’s anger puts Democratic Party leaders on shaky ground
A February CNN/SSRS poll found about three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents thought Democrats in Congress weren’t doing enough to oppose Trump.
This fury came to a head last month when Democrats voted for a GOP-brokered spending bill to keep the government open. Believing a shutdown would do more harm than good.
Beyond the usual ‘suspects’ agitators Bernie and AOC, the party has provided little in the way of fight… pink suits and ping pong pads notwithstanding.
Additionally, Dems have been lost in the attention economy by the deluge of Trump acts. With no succinct message to rally behind, the party has felt a bit dead on its feet. Until this week:
For at least one day, Sen Booker’s performance took back the spotlight from Trump. The fact that he beat the previous mark, set by a white segregationist senator filibustering the 1957 Civil Rights Act (it still passed), perhaps helped draw more attention by the shear curiosity to hear what could someone possibly talk about for 25 hours straight? As well as will he do it?
Maybe this will be the moment we all turn back to.
“All of America is paying attention to what you’re saying. The disastrous actions of this administration — in terms of how they’re helping only the billionaires and hurting average families — you have brought that forth with such clarity.” - Sen. SchumerGood Trouble for Apathy
When was the last time you watched CSPAN? Likely the answer is NEVER.
Most of what happens in government stays out-of-sight, despite its ready availability on 3 feeds from the non-profit, public service.
You likely only catch a glimpse of CSPAN’s coverage when something does pop up, a clip of a committee that goes viral or as part of a bit on The Daily Show.
Booker’s marathon turned CSPAN into a ‘must follow’ moment across social media and the news:
More than 400 million likes of the live feed of his speech on Sen. Booker’s TikTok account
More than 110K watched live on Youtube for the end of his speech
By 11am on Tuesday, roughly 14,000 callers had left messages on his office hotline.
By the end of his speech that evening, his office fielded roughly 14,000 more.
The takeaway here is HALF MEASURES DON’T CUT IT. If Sen Booker had simply begun a (not technically a) long filibuster speech then it may have made some headlines post-fact. But that it became abundantly clear -I rise with the intention to stand until I can stand no longer - that he could in fact set a record, made it not only a story worth following but one worth following IN REAL TIME. A feat hard to accomplish today.
To cut through the Apathy and get people to pay attention, you need to make bold bets and take bold measures. And give people a story to follow, not just one to read about after the fact.
John Lewis taught me that Fear is not something to be shunned. It’s almost a signpost that says you’re headed in the right direction. It’s a necessary condition. You cannot have great fear without great courage.
Despair is only possible if you don’t meet it as an agent of hope.Good Trouble for Fear
We don’t know what the price will be for Sen. Booker. But we know this didn’t come without great risk beyond the physical and mental exertion (he reportedly started fasting on Friday and stopped drinking liquids Sunday so as to not have to yield the floor for even a bathroom break).
This is an administration that is driven by grievance and vindictiveness.
That rules by fear in the knowledge that being outspoken will elicit retaliation.
In the threat of justice department and imprisonment.
In the threat of physical harm at the hands of our own military and police.
In threats of cut funding. In job loss.
In seizure and deportation.
In the form of tariffs
And, even for those in the party, the threat of political suicide through primary challenges.
This is by design. Because fear instinctually freezes us in place.
They do not want us to speak out. To coalesce into a force for resistance. To act out.
Senator Booker’s acknowledges this while reminding us that ‘we’ outnumber ‘them’ and there is strength in our numbers.
To cut through the Fear, you need to create the means for the disaffected to see each other and know they are not alone.
'My efforts today are inadequate to stop what they’re trying to do. But we the people are powerful.’
Related:
"There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties," he croaks. "Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here. You just have to see them again."25 hours? Before Cory Booker, there was 'Mr. Smith'
Be what scares them. Live lives in colors their eyes can’t even see. Cook food they want to deport. Test the fire code with your parties. Form a scene that meets every Wednesday. Call someone you haven’t in a while. Fight with a smile. Fail and come back. Be weird. Be welcoming. Kiss converts. Refuse despair. Be disobedient. Laugh loudly. Hide someone. Call out. Root down.
They are waging a war on living. The more fully you live, the harder their job will be.
“You are going to have to tell them the truth. You know the truth. We have to be in the streets.”
“Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.” - Mark TwainHe said to go out and cause some good trouble, necessary trouble.
To redeem the soul of this nation.
Other Headlines
All these examples (the Signal chat leak, the Abundance discourse, the Ghibli AI craze, global trade) reveal a truth - we’re really not just dealing with raw content, but with the frames that shape how that content is delivered and interpreted. In each case, the platform, format, or social narrative dominated the conversation more than the actual substance.
Economic innovation explodes, he writes, “in places with a rich network of import channels, which in turn provide channels for new ideas.”“This is the moment for Canada to send a clear message to scientists, researchers and other scholars around the world, reaffirming and reinforcing Canada as a haven for research and higher education.”Could Trump’s policies cause a US brian drain? 75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving
Maybe these scientists don’t have to look too far It’s Time for Canada’s Brain Gain
So we just see this global trend, and it is absolutely global. So for example, last year, I was in Mexico and lots of different Mexican little towns, and mothers would say the biggest problem here is that our teenage sons are spending all their time in their bedroom. And I’ll hear the same stories in little Indian villages, in Bangladeshi villages, all these people being hooked on hyper-engaging media.Despite it all…Renewables surged globally in 2024, new data shows
Why Yinka Shonibare doesn't believe in tearing down statues
"I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all… it’s an insult to life itself." - Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli
Bold Call: The ad industry’s herd mentality risks an unnecessarily severe slowdown. A downturn is coming, but the ad industry might talk itself into making it worse.
“It’s very clear now to people why we’re doing this… We were very early adopters in something that felt crazy [at the time], and now, social media feels crazy.”What Lush learned from three years of being mostly offline
In the 3 years since it left social media, Lush has invested in owned channels growing its email newsletter to 6MM+ global subscribers, and its app to 1.75MM users, with around 60% of them opting to receive push notifications
“Brands now embrace micro-influencers, not Hollywood superstars. The meek really have inherited the earth.”Something has changed in culture. What Happened to the Celebrities? From brands to box office, having a star isn’t quite the same draw anymore
Related: From Variety YouTube Now Worth as Much as $550 Billion, Analysts Say: ‘New King of All Media’
From Huck: Two years since Patagonia’s founder gave everything away, what does it mean now?
Also:
This is not in any way taking over for human creativity. This is helping put amazing creative human minds together with amazing tools to showcase what happens when creativity is unleashed with GenAI.”Uh-huh. From MarketingBrew How Google is selling agencies and marketers on GenAI
This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right, it's right or wrong. - Sen. Corey Booker