This is an adapted excerpt from the July 30 episode of “Morning Joe.”
Across the country, Democrats are starving for a fighter. The Democratic base wants its politicians to take the fight to the Trump administration. People are frustrated, angry and depressed at everything Donald Trump is doing and how he’s doing it.
They’re also furious at the cowardice of the Republicans who are knowingly helping the president do these terrible things and casting votes that I would never have dreamed they would have cast when I was serving with them in the Senate.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey likely had this in mind when he took to the floor Tuesday to rail against a bipartisan policing package. After Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of New Mexico attempted to pass the bills through unanimous consent, Booker blocked the motion and accused his Democratic colleagues of being “complicit” in Trump’s agenda.
Booker tried to amend the package and argued it would reward law enforcement in states favored by the administration. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota shot back at Booker, telling the New Jersey Democrat that he should have objected when the bill was passed unanimously out of committee.
Even though the Democratic base is itching for a fight, I found Booker’s criticism of his colleagues unfair. Cortez Masto and Klobuchar are two strong Democrats who are doing everything in their power to fight Trump and his administration.
As Klobuchar mentioned, there’s a way for a senator to attempt to change a bill before it gets to the floor. Then there’s a way for senators to get in the opening segment of “Morning Joe” and on the front page of The New York Times. Booker chose to do the latter, rather than the former. Booker knew that if he did what he did Tuesday, it would be a viral moment and that he would be associated with Democrats who are willing to fight. The truth is, there was not enough leverage for Democrats to do what Booker wanted of them. Democrats don’t have the votes in the Senate. Just consider the fact that hours after Booker’s outburst, Senate Republicans pushed through the nomination of Trump’s former lawyer Emil Bove to serve as a federal appellate judge. Republican senators who aren’t even running for re-election folded on Bove. Booker knows Democrats don’t have the votes in the Senate to do what the base wants them to do right now. Instead of acknowledging that, and finding another way to fight the Trump administration, he directed his criticism at his colleagues. That kind of approach is worrisome considering what we have in front of us and the fights the Democratic Party needs to wage next year in the midterms. CORRECTION (July 31, 2025, 8:45 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the state Cortez Masto represents in Congress. It is Nevada, not New Mexico.
Claire McCaskill
Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri. She is currently an MSNBC and NBC News political analyst.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
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