Cory Booker Says He Sometimes Feels Like ‘Punching’ Donald Trump
Cory Booker said Monday that he sometimes feels like punching the president, blaming the urge on his testosterone levels, The Hill reported.
The comments were made on an appearance on Monday night’s broadcast of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, available via YouTube.
The Democrat senator from New Jersey said, however, that fighting the president using his own tactics would not be a successful plan for the Democratic Party as it tries to win the White House in 2020.
Calling the president “elderly” and “out of shape,” Booker’s comments came after he said one of his supporters in Iowa told him that he wanted him to punch Trump.
“He’s the body shamer. He’s the guy that …tries to drag people in the gutter,” Booker said about the president on the late-night show. “This is a moral moment in America, and to me, what we need from our next leader, especially after the time of moral vandalism that we’re in right now, is… a leader that’s not going to call us to the worst of who we are but call us to the best of who we are.”
Per The Hill, this is not the first time Booker has mentioned assaulting President Trump. In April, Booker joked that after a supporter had mentioned punching the president, Booker told him he couldn’t because it would be a felony and that black men can’t get away with crimes like that.
Booker also took aim at the president last week, saying that Trump was “worse than a racist,” per Fox News.
Cory Booker said he sometimes feels like punching Trump and described the president as a 'physically weak specimen' https://t.co/zLyWoObSGM
— Insider Politics (@insiderpolitics) July 23, 2019
Booker’s comments come about a week before he is set to take the stage in the second night of CNN’s two-night Democratic debate next week. The debate, which will be broadcast live July 31, will put the New Jersey senator up against front-runners former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris.
The first night of the two-night event will occur on July 30 and offer a match between other contenders, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
According to Vox, Booker will have to live up to his performance at the first debate, which said that his performance in that debate showed he could be a strong contender in the 2020 race for the White House.
Recent polling data from RealClearPolitics show Booker in seventh place among the Democratic presidential hopefuls. Vice President Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke all currently poll ahead of the New Jersey senator.
