• What Happened: Sen. Cory Booker appeared on MSNBC's Deadline with Nicolle Wallace and accused President Trump of "openly grifting millions of dollars through his crypto schemes," claiming Trump made more money in one year than all other US presidents combined.
  • Why It Matters: Booker admitted in the same breath that Democrats have their own money-in-politics problem with stock trading. Then he argued Democrats need to stop making Trump "the main character" and focus on their own vision.
  • Bottom Line: A senator who just admitted his party is corrupt went on MSNBC to call the president corrupt. Texas is still red.

Senator Cory Booker sat down with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday for what was supposed to be a takedown of President Trump. It turned into something far more revealing about the state of the Democratic Party.

Booker accused Trump of corruption on a scale he called unprecedented. "He's made more money in one year in office than all the other US presidents in American history combined," Booker claimed. "Openly grifting, taking millions and millions of dollars in payments through his crypto schemes from the very countries that have huge national security interests. And they want things from us. And suddenly he's giving them things that were refused by presidents, Republican and Democrat."

These are Booker's allegations, not established legal findings. The White House has previously said there are no conflicts of interest.

Wallace, never one to miss an opportunity, framed the moment as Democrats failing to capitalize on Republican corruption. "Voters hate corruption, and they're doing it out in full view," she said. "There's a brazenness that suggests that they don't think Democrats can beat them."

Booker agreed. Then he said something that undercut his entire argument.

"First of all, take a little responsibility," Booker said. "I think the Democratic Party should issue a lot of the same kind of gross money-in-politics, individuals trading stocks." In other words, yes, his party has a corruption problem too. Having admitted that, he pivoted back to Trump being uniquely worse.

But then Booker said something that sounded almost like self-awareness. "If we make this all about Donald Trump, if we make him the main character in the American story, we make a mistake. The main character has got to be what are we doing?"

What Democrats are doing, apparently, is going on MSNBC to accuse the president of crimes while simultaneously admitting their own party has a money problem, with no policy agenda to offer in exchange.

"This has got to be a moment where we don't just beat Trump," Booker said. "It's not just what we're against. We need to start talking about what we're for and having a bolder vision for what we can be as a country."

Three years into the Trump comeback, Democrats are still figuring out what they are for. Booker went on national television to say that out loud, apparently not realizing the admission was the story.

Trump is not worried. He should not be.