Booker: ‘We are not defined by a president who does not believe women’

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) fired up a group of Iowa Democrats hours after new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in, urging those who feel angry to “stay faithful.”

Booker, a potential 2020 presidential contender, tore into President Trump at a fundraiser for Iowa Democrats on Saturday night, The Des Moines Register reported.

“We’re not defined by a president who does not believe women,” he told the crowd.

Booker made national headlines as a staunch opponent to Kavanaugh. Thousands watched as the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Booker serves on, grilled both Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.{mosads}

Trump later mocked Ford’s testimony against Kavanaugh at a rally, and said he needed to “even the playing field.”

Booker told the Iowa crowd on Saturday that he was discouraged after Trump’s election in 2016, but the thousands of women who organized to march in protest inspired him.

He called on Iowa Democrats to keep fighting, exactly one month before the midterm elections, the Register reported.

“This is not a time to curl up. It is not a time to shut up. It is not a time to give up. It is a time to get up, to rise up, to speak up,” he said as the crowd rose to their feet and applauded.

“It is time for you not to wait for hope, but to be the hope.”

Booker encouraged the crowd to fight against the urge to become cynical, given the current political climate.

“You cannot love your country unless you love your fellow countrymen and women,” he said. “Democrats will never be pulled down so low that we hate folk. We can’t hate Republicans. We need each other as Americans. We’ve got to lead with love. You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people — all the people.”

The senator also brushed off reporters’ questions about a possible 2020 presidential run, saying he was focused on November, the newspaper noted.

“This is such a critical race for our country,” he said of the midterm campaigns in Iowa. “I’m happy to be here. I’ll leave here and I’ll go to another state. And before 31 days are up, I’ll probably be in a dozen more states.”