Democratic Sen. Cory Booker may have broken the record for the longest speech in Senate history on Tuesday, but it didn’t accomplish anything practical. Nevertheless, he joined The Rachel Maddow Show to take a victory lap while Maddow essentially worshipped the ground he walked on as she declared he “captured the moral imagination of this nation.”
Maddow gushed, “I don't know if you are conscious of how much this caught the attention and caught the imagination of the American people. I know that you're not using electronic devices on the Senate floor. You're not watching your TikTok numbers and your YouTube numbers and the C-SPAN contemporaneous viewing numbers while you're there, because you can't be. But every time that I checked any form of media by which you could be live monitored, there were no less than tens of thousands of people watching in the same place that I was in that moment.”
She further oozed, “What you've done with all everything else that's going on with this administration and the horrific cuts of, you know, 10,000 people fired today from the nation's health agencies and all these other things. This is the biggest story in the country right now. You have captured people's attention for 25 hours.”
Finally getting to a question of sorts, Maddow continued, “And I'm wondering, for people who were moved by what you did, either among your Senate colleagues or just people who watched you from home, what do you hope they might do differently if they're moved by you, and they feel the same sort of spirit that caused you to do what you did?”
Booker began, “Well, I hope that we're all served to be ignition points for each other, my constituents, the letters, the calls, the demands. We're definitely an action point for me, but we've got to continue to ignite this movement. The only thing that stopped Donald Trump from tearing away the Affordable Care Act was the engagement of tens of thousands of Americans who didn't think they would become little lobbyists or activists or come down to the capitol or protest in their communities.”
The praise between interviewer and interviewee flowed both directions as Booker rolled on, “You know, Rachel, you and I have known each other a long time, and I've been listening to your show more regularly. I'm so grateful that you're doing this first 100 days, and I love how you start every show by showing what other Americans are doing. They're not waiting for us in Congress to lead. They've decided to take matters into their own hands and do something different.”
Maddow would later conclude the interview with more praise, “Well, senator, as I said, what you have done has captured the nation's attention and, I think, captured the moral imagination of this nation in a way that you were really demanding with what you did. And so I don't know what the outcome is going to be. You never know what the outcome is going to be of these things. I do know that if you don't do it, nothing's going to happen. And so I wish you rest. And I think you should get checked out by a doctor, and I think you should hydrate. And I hope you get people to leave you alone for the next few hours.”
Additionally, earlier in the interview, Maddow simply gasped in amazement as Booker detailed how he was feeling after his speech.
Rachel Maddow's breath is taken away by Cory Booker's response to her softball question pic.twitter.com/6g9JTJTOCv
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 2, 2025
Here is a transcript for the April 1 show:
MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show
4/1/2025
9:11 PM ET
RACHEL MADDOW: I don't know if you are conscious of how much this caught the attention and caught the imagination of the American people. I know that you're not using electronic devices on the Senate floor. You're not watching your TikTok numbers and your YouTube numbers and the C-SPAN contemporaneous viewing numbers while you're there, because you can't be. But every time that I checked any form of media by which you could be live monitored, there were no less than tens of thousands of people watching in the same place that I was in that moment.
What you've done with all everything else that's going on with this administration and the horrific cuts of, you know, 10,000 people fired today from the nation's health agencies and all these other things. This is the biggest story in the country right now. You have captured people's attention for 25 hours.
And I'm wondering, for people who were moved by what you did, either among your Senate colleagues or just people who watched you from home, what do you hope they might do differently if they're moved by you, and they feel the same sort of spirit that caused you to do what you did?
CORY BOOKER: Well, I hope that we're all served to be ignition points for each other, my constituents, the letters, the calls, the demands. We're definitely an action point for me, but we've got to continue to ignite this movement. The only thing that stopped Donald Trump from tearing away the Affordable Care Act was the engagement of tens of thousands of Americans who didn't think they would become little lobbyists or activists or come down to the capitol or protest in their communities.
You know, Rachel, you and I have known each other a long time, and I've been listening to your show more regularly. I'm so grateful that you're doing this first 100 days, and I love how you start every show by showing what other Americans are doing. They're not waiting for us in Congress to lead. They've decided to take matters into their own hands and do something different.
Those people were demanding to me, to catch up, to try to do what, like, they're doing. This is really about folks leading from their hearts and deciding, I'm not going to just let business as usual go on in my life and so I'm hoping that this is one part of a larger effort that tries to stop them from doing what they're about to do later this week or next week.
…
MADDOW: Well, senator, as I said, what you have done has captured the nation's attention and I think, captured the moral imagination of this nation in a way that you were really demanding with what you did. And so I don't know what the outcome is going to be. You never know what the outcome is going to be of these things. I do know that if you don't do it, nothing's going to happen. And so I wish you rest. And, I think you should get checked out by a doctor, and I think you should hydrate. And I hope you get people to leave you alone for the next few hours.
BOOKER: Thank you so much, my friend. Thank you.
MADDOW: Thank you, sir.
