After months of surrender, the Democrats have finally stood up to Trump – thank you, Cory Booker | Emma Brockes

Watching the New Jersey senator hold court for 25 hours felt radical and cathartic

One of the problems beleaguering political opponents of Donald Trump has been finding a form of protest that, given the scale of his outrages, doesn't seem entirely futile. You can parade outside a Tesla showroom. You can hold up dumb little signs during Trump's address to Congress inscribed with slogans such as This is not normal" and Musk steals". You can, as Democrats appear to have been doing since the election, play dead.

Alternatively, you can go for the ostentatious, performative gesture. On Monday evening, Cory Booker, the Democratic senator for New Jersey who carries himself like someone who'd have been happier in an era when men wore capes, started speaking on the floor of the Senate and carried on for 25 hours and five minutes, breaking the chamber's record by almost 50 minutes and delivering - finally - a solid, usable symbol of rebellion.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist