Mr. Booker goes to Washington

I have long taken the position that Cory Booker is an underrated senator, more progressive than his reputation, and here’s another example:

Sen. Cory Booker is planning to hold the Senate floor for as long as he can in an effort to protest actions by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

The New Jersey Democrat took to the Senate floor on Monday evening, wearing a black suit and armed with a thick binder, and is expected to speak through the night and as far into Tuesday as he can manage. Other Democratic senators are expected to join him on the floor throughout his planned talk-a-thon.

Booker said Monday he is speaking “because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis” and invoked the legacy of the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.).

“Tonight I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble — I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able,” he said.

Booker’s marathon session comes as Senate Republicans plan to move forward this week to take their next step in advancing President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” merging together an overhaul of the tax code with border, energy and defense policies.

Obviously, no particular act of symbolic protest on the Senate floor is going to move the needle itself. But there’s a critical divide within the Democratic caucus between those who understand that we’re in the thick of a constitutional crisis and those (including the Senate minority leader) who don’t, and Booker is on Side Gets It.