Sen. Booker Slams His Own 'Failed' Democratic Party

Sen. Cory Booker harshly criticized his own Democratic Party in a conversation published by The New York Times.

The New Jersey senator said that "in the Democratic Party, I want to have a very tough conversation. I want it to be a competition of ideas about what our party is going to look like. I'm one of those people who's saying our party has failed. They've made terrible mistakes. I want us to emerge in this moment not focusing on party but refocusing on people."

Booker emphasized that it is a mistake to concentrate on attacking President Donald Trump rather than creating a more positive vision of America that can attract broad public support.

"I don't want Donald Trump to be the main character in our narrative of where we are in America right now," the senator said. "Look, there are existential urgencies about him right now and what he's doing to hurt people. But I think we make a big mistake if we center him as the main character in the narrative."

Booker cited the era of Franklin Roosevelt as an example when the Democratic Party offered a "clear vision that this was going to be the nation where working people would have dignity at work, would be able to afford a home, would be able to afford to raise their children and give them a better life."

Booker also stressed the declining political relevance of cable television shows and argued that Democrats must update their means of communication.

"I basically said to my team: My fellow Democrats, you guys are running to go do MSNBC — and I love my MSNBC — but that only got 100,000 views. I can show you on my platforms that one video of mine can get more than the top-rated views on MSNBC," Booker said.

The senator emphasized that "we're in a different era" and urged his colleagues to get more comfortable with TikTok and other streaming and social media platforms.

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