92-Year-Old Grassley Has Enough of Young Whippersnapper Cory Booker: 'Are You Ready to Shut Up?'

We’ve written about several epic clashes FBI Director Kash Patel had with Democrat lawmakers in Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearings. He reduced Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) to pudding (“You done with your campaign ad?”), he exposed Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono’s intellectual challenges, and he basically took no guff from lawmakers trying to get footage for their campaign ads at his expense.

But we’d be remiss if we didn’t report to you what happened when that infamous theater kid, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, got his turn in the limelight. You know, Spartacus, the guy who held a fake 25-hour “filibuster” speech — it wasn’t even a real Mr. Smith Goes to Washington official filibuster attempt; it was merely a cry for attention — and who sat on the steps of Congress in April 2025 with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) for a pointless 12-hour sit-in that virtually no one showed up for.

They looked like a thirsty aging boy band:

For a moment, he was even considered a serious presidential candidate, but that silliness seems to have passed as he has continued to make news, but almost never in a good way.

And so it was on Tuesday that we saw an epic battle of the age groups, and Mr. Booker came out on the losing end. The 57-year-old was told to put a sock in it by his elder, 93-year-old Iowa GOP Senator Chuck Grassley, the committee chairman (who turned 93 on Thursday), and it was a beautiful thing to behold:

 

Booker had gone full-on Hamlet monologue mode, frothing at the mouth and emoting and performing with all his heart as he personally attacked the FBI director with innuendo and insinuation. You could tell he thought he was killing it in the above nearly four and a half minute clip, but Grassley was obviously embarrassed that this guy is a sitting United States senator, because he’d probably be cut from his local community theater program for overacting.

Finally, the exasperated nonagenarian had enough and asked the New Jersey youngster whether he was “ready to shut up?”

Our friends at our sister site Townhall had the breakdown:

Booker was melting down in front of Patel, who remained calm and collected. That’s when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who chairs the committee, told him his time was up.

The New Jersey Democrat then went into a tailspin, likening Patel to an out-of-control college kid pledging to a fraternity he couldn’t get into, or something. Patel fired back, noting that Booker got his presidential sound bite in and that he was a mockery to the Senate, pointing to his seat next to Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), another clown.

Grassley finally had enough: "Are you ready to shut up?"

Patel, meanwhile, as we have seen, didn’t just keep taking figurative punches from the performative senator; he gave as good (or better) as he got.

Fact check: True.

I’d rather get a root canal than sit in one of these hearings, but it sure is satisfying watching the highlights. As I wrote on X:

I'd want Grassley there too. 

Credit:  https://redstate.com