Jonathan Capehart:
Well, there is a momentum shift simply because everything we have seen come out of this administration is just moving people from apathy and complacency up and out into the streets, particularly with these demonstrations around the country tomorrow.
I think with Senator Booker — what was so inspiring about what he did, one, it seemed to come from out of nowhere. It seemed to — it seemed to — it was genuine, 25 hours and four minutes without any breaks. The other thing is, I think two weeks ago, or maybe even three weeks ago, we were here when you were talking about the fight, Democrats need to fight.
And I was trying to articulate what that meant, really what Democrats wanted, even though they knew they would not succeed. What Senator Booker did, that’s exactly what they wanted him to do. That — they wanted someone in an elected position, someone of some stature, to stand up and say, explain what was going on, to give voice to what they were feeling about what was happening to their country, about who was doing it, about what we need to do to remind ourselves of who we are as a country.
And I think that’s why Senator Booker’s speech, his filibuster resonated so much. Millions of people — it was 350 million people liked it, I believe it was on — on TikTok. That’s what people are going for. And I think what Senator Booker has done, I think, has given people sort of the rhetorical armor they need for marches that are going to be happening around the country tomorrow, but going forward, because what we have seen this week is just one more horrible week on top of, what, 10 horrible weeks, if you care about this country.
