When Sen. John Fetterman’s support of Israel garnered him ill will in an increasingly pro-Palestinian Democratic caucus in May 2024, Sen. Cory Booker attempted to rehabilitate his colleague’s sudden turn toward more right-wing, moralistic positions with praise, casting the still-aphasic stroke survivor as an “inspiring figure” whose “moral voice,” despite his language impairments, had “only grown stronger.”
In September, 15 months after Booker’s statement, a Wall Street Journal investigation described a senator so checked out that he skipped 11 of 12 hearings in one stretch, dismissed Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia officials as wanting “free trips to D.C.,” and called a three-hour funeral for slain police officers “a nonstarter.” Rep. Brendan Boyle, a fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, called him “a disgrace” and “lazy.”
