Progressives have but one option on Election Day: Vote to defeat the neofascist GOP – Flux

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) was routed in a shock upset last month when Democrats rejected him in the primary for mayor of New York City, in favor of the young democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is running on a platform of freezing rent, expanding free bus service, and creating public grocery stores in food deserts.

After weeks of relative silence from Cuomo, however, he announced Monday that he is remaining in the race and will run on a separate party line in the general election, alongside scandal-plagued incumbent mayor Eric Adams and the pro-Trump Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

"Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably knew that the Democratic primary did not go the way I had hoped," said Cuomo in his announcement video posted to X. "To the 440,000 New Yorkers who voted for me, a sincere thank you. Thank you for believing in me, in my agenda, and in my experience. And I am truly sorry that I let you down. But as my grandfather used to say, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up and get in that game, and that is what I'm going to do."

Even before Cuomo's video dropped, reports that he would stay in the race had already drawn criticism.

"Andrew Cuomo an un-evolved desperate man searching for meaning in all the wrong places," wrote former New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.

"True to form, Andrew Cuomo once again refuses to accept that no means no," wrote state assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, referencing allegations of sexual misconduct against the former governor.

As soon as the video dropped, it was overshadowed in likes and shares by Mamdani, who replied to the post with a link to his campaign donation page.

"NO MEANS NO. Go away, you gargoyle faced bully," wrote state Sen. Gustavo Rivera.

"Translation: Cuomo is so desperate to prevent a rent freeze that he actually set foot on the streets of New York. Get this jabroni out of New York politics for good!" wrote the account for the activist network Adbusters.

"Took three weeks to edit out passersby shouting 'Go f--- yourself'" wrote satirical political cartoonist Eli Valley.

"Honestly, what do Democrats say about the purpose and utility of the primary process now?" wrote Bernie Sanders' political adviser and More Perfect Union founder Faiz Shakir. "In New York, we're yielding the entire 'process' over to billionaires' whims. Fight Oligarchy."

Watch Cuomo's announcement video below or at the link here.

MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk sought to calm his audience after initially saying he was "done talking" about President Donald Trump's Jeffrey Epstein controversy.

On his Tuesday podcast, Kirk noted that media outlets — including Raw Story — had reported on his attempt to avoid discussing the Trump administration's decision not to release additional files from the Epstein case. On Monday, Kirk said that he wanted to discuss other topics after reportedly receiving a call from Trump.

"This is a total obsessive hoax," Kirk said of the media coverage on Tuesday. "And even some people were emailing me, Charlie, why are you not talking about Epstein? Why are you saying to move on? I never, ever, ever said move on, ever!"

"I didn't whisper it. I didn't think it. I didn't say it," he continued. "But let me say this again. You know my opinion about Epstein. The messaging fumble."

But on Monday, he said, "Honestly, I'm done talking about Epstein for the time being. I'm gonna trust my friends in the administration, I'm gonna trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it, ball's in their hands."

Kirk said he was making "an addendum to what was said yesterday."

"We're going to keep on talking about it," he insisted. "You see, but what's so disappointing, not disappointing, to an extent I get it, is that the MAGA base is so fired up about this. And that's why I didn't take a lot of this seriously. Is that, you know, people were incoming, Charlie, why are you moving on? No one's saying that!"

"And of course, I don't trust the deep state," he added. "I trust people that I have known for years... And if there's one thing I've learned from you guys in the grassroots in this audience, you are not letting this story go."

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.