Raw Story

Look, Zohran Mamdani is not the future of the Democratic Party.

I know this is true, because the same was said of Eric Adams. New York City’s outgoing mayor did not live up to his billing. Its incoming mayor (presumably) is almost certainly not going to live up to his. The reason isn’t because Mamdani will become as corrupt as Adams became (though who knows?). The reason is that New York is New York.

Yes, it’s the largest urban center in the country. Yes, its influence cannot be overstated. But what’s good, or bad, for New York isn’t necessarily what’s good, or bad, for America. It may no longer be entirely true that all politics is local, but most of politics still is.

Once you accept the truth of this, all other considerations of Mamdani and the rest of the Democratic Party seem rather dull, as he becomes just another politician in a constellation of politicians who figured out how to appeal to a winning majority in their respective constituencies.

Once you accept that a city isn’t a metaphor for a country, or for a national party, the talk about how he’s dividing Democrats looks kinda stupid. Yes, he calls himself a democratic socialist. So what? Is that going to work in a place like Virginia? Maybe, but probably not. If it did, someone would have tried it. Since no one has, there’s your answer.

Think of it this way. Donald Trump is from New York. His business is based there. He represents the city’s elites. But he’s never won there. Three straight campaigns made no difference. Is anyone going to seriously suggest that, in this context, as New York goes, so goes the country (or so goes the GOP)? No, because that would be stupid.

Yet somehow, seemingly no one thinks how stupid it is to ask if Mamdani is the future of the Democrats, because only the Democrats, never the Republicans, are subjected to that kind of questioning. The reason for this is rooted in the Democratic Party itself, among certain elites who want to prevent it from becoming a fully realized people’s party. And they do this, foremost, by accepting as true the premise of the lies told about the Democrats by Trump and the Republicans.

What lies? First, remember that the number of actual democratic socialists in the Democratic Party (I’m talking about people who choose to call themselves by that name) is vanishingly small. Only two have any kind of national profile. (They are US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Sanders doesn’t really count. He’s technically an independent.)

This stone-cold fact means nothing to Donald Trump. All Democrats, all liberals, all progressives, all leftists, and all socialists, democratic and otherwise, are the name. They are radical Marxist anarchist communists or whatever word salad pops into his soupy brain. There are no enemies to his right. There is nothing but enemies to his left. Does he respect his enemies enough to speak truthfully about them?

No, he lies.

His lies are what certain elites inside the Democratic Party are paying the most attention to. They are not celebrating Mamdani’s success. They are not defending him on the merits. They are not standing on the truth. They are not even standing in solidarity. What they are most focused on is the lies Donald Trump tells, which are magnified by the right-wing media complex, which are echoed by the press corps.

And what they see is either a fight they believe can’t be won or an opportunity to shiv a competing faction within the Democratic Party. Either way requires accepting as true the lies told about their own people, thus making it seem perfectly reasonable to wonder if winning a major election in America’s biggest city is good for the Democrats.

(The answer: don’t be stupid. Of course, it is.)

That these certain elites would rather surrender to lies than fight them tells us their beef with Mamdani isn’t about ideology. (It’s not about whether “democratic socialism,” or any other school of thought, would be appealing to voters outside New York.) It’s about how Mamdani, but specifically lies about him, complicates messaging efforts in a media landscape already heavily coded in favor of Donald Trump, especially of his view of the Democrats, which is that they’re all communists.

Those who are worried about Mamdani’s impact on the Democrats also take for granted the assertion that voters rejected Kamala Harris on ideological grounds – that her policies were out of touch with voters whose main concern was good-paying jobs and lower inflation.

They are ignoring that Harris actually campaigned on so-called working-class issues and that few voters could hear her working-class messaging over the din of Trump’s lies about her. The crisis facing the Democrats is not one of ideology. It’s a crisis of information. Certain elites are pretending otherwise, because it’s better for them if they do.

Mamdani’s victory is a local matter. That is the lesson for certain elites inside the party. It’s also a lesson for their loudest critics.

Certain progressives, let’s call them, believe that Mamdani’s popularity comes from focusing on class (the cost of living in New York). They believe that by doing so, he transcended “identity politics” to amass a following sizable enough to defeat the Democratic establishment.

This overlooks the fact that the establishment, in the form of the DNC and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are backing him. But more important is again the question of ideology. Certain elites think his will turn off voters outside New York. Certain progressive think it will turn them on. They believe a class-based ideology is the unifying force that working people across the country have needed. They just can’t see it, they say, because the establishment gets in the way.

But race and class can’t be easily disentangled, not in America. To many Americans, the idea of government of, by and for the people is a perversion of the “natural order.” It flattens the hierarchies of and within race and class. This belief is bone deep in many of us. It prevents lots of white Americans from being in solidarity with nonwhite Americans, even if they face similar grinding hardships.

Most of all, such thinking overlooks the basics. Many New Yorkers struggle to make ends meet. Housing is too high. Healthcare is too expensive. Food is too much. I trust Mamdani when he says he’s a democratic socialist. But I also trust that he’s not fool enough to believe that struggle is the same as class consciousness. He identified the problem. He asked voters to give him the power to try to solve it.

That’s not ideology.

That’s just good politics.

A professor of international politics was stunned during an interview on Thursday because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has still not sworn in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona after more than a month after her election.

Grijalva, a Democrat, won a special election to replace her late father last month. She has pledged to support a discharge petition to force a discussion about releasing the Epstein files, which some experts have suggested is the main reason Grijalva has not been sworn in.

Scott Lucas, who teaches international politics at the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin, discussed Grijalva's situation in a new interview for "The Trump Effect" podcast.

"They're just trying to avoid the reckoning," Lucas said. "The fact here is I don't think you're going to shift Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and that handful of Republicans."

"It just smells fishy," he added. "It smells fishy that they will not even allow a discussion on this."

Lucas added that the situation with Prince Andrew in the UK adds an interesting wrinkle in the case.

"I honestly think that Johnson and the Trump camp just think it'll go away, and the reason why I think Trump may think that is...he's gotten away with it for so long, [he] can get away with it again," Lucas said.

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) took time on CNN Thursday evening to tear into Kevin Roberts, president of the far-right Heritage Foundation, for his refusal to condemn ex-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson for interviewing white nationalist Hitler sympathizer and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

Roberts' claim that Fuentes and Carlson shouldn't be deplatformed has sparked a firestorm of anger and divided staffers within Heritage itself, fracturing the organization responsible for crafting President Donald Trump's Project 2025 agenda. It wasn't until after days of controversy that he finally backtracked.

"Congressman, what — I don't understand why it's a difficult question at all," said anchor Anderson Cooper. "Shouldn't — I think all Republicans would condemn Nick Fuentes' hateful comments, full stop."

"Yeah, you'd think. But remember, Donald Trump invited him ... to Mar-a-Lago to have lunch with him and Kanye," said Kinzinger. "This is crazy. I mean, look, this is — there's always been, you know, we'd have Lincoln Day dinners, right? This is like the big fundraisers for the GOP. And there'd always be a weird table. And the weird table would always have 1 or 2 people that were kind of like Nazi-ish, I guess. And that firewall, for the most part, in the GOP, held where it's like, yeah, they may be considered to the right, but they're not part of us."

Now, however, he said, "It feels like that firewall is crumbling and you hear sometimes people on the right say, we have no enemies to the right. And what they're saying is anybody that is on the right, even as far as Nazism — we have no enemies, we have to make common cause. The ultimate enemy is the left and the liberals. And so the fact that it has taken Kevin, that Heritage Foundation president or chairman, whatever, as long as it has to condemn that is enough to say like that firewall is crumbling now."

"I'll give Ted Cruz something here for speaking out as quickly as they did on this. Some of them," added Kinzinger. "But this — this has to be burned right out of the party. And unfortunately, it's taking too long to do that."

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President Donald Trump gathered pharmaceutical giants to the Oval Office on Thursday to discuss weight loss drugs when Novo Nordisk executive Gordon Findlay collapsed. Trump stood from the desk, looming over the situation as Dr. Mehmet Oz rushed to the man. Trump was then photographed turning away from the scene, looking disappointed.

"Trump stands unmoved, annoyed looking, as staff rushes to revive the man," said MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Thursday night. "And you can look at this photo of Trump. It's reasonable to think that guy doesn't care about getting my costs down. Not really. People seem to forget this. We all have very short memories these days. He was president before. He was the least popular president for the duration of his first term in modern polling. He is even less popular now after seeing his approval plummet all year."

Host Jen Psaki added her comments, asking, "Did he understand what was happening?"

Psaki and Hayes weren't the only ones to notice Trump's indifference.

"This is how he reacted," said Democratic activist Harry Sisson. "A photo that perfectly encapsulates who he is."

"At the same time, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. immediately left the office, and Trump seems like posing for the camera. Cowardice, lack of empathy and fear is the trademark of this administration," Commented inHereticAI creator Mario Pawlowski.

"Someone faints in the oval office and Trump could give two s---s," said Morgan J. Freeman on X.

"Trump springs into action as a man collapses in the Oval Office," former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) says sarcastically.

"Donald Trump reacts to a man in medical distress in the Oval Office," characterized columnist Matthew Yglesias.

"A man suffers a medical emergency in the Oval Office and Trump just stands there, staring blankly, like someone shut off the robot in the Disney Hall of Presidents," quipped novelist Patrick S. Tomlinson.

Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt (I) recalled a 2017 report in Harper's Bazaar about an 80-year-old man who collapsed in Trump's presence and began bleeding. "Get that blood cleaned up, it's disgusting," Trump said, according to the report.

Legendary comedian and creative genius John Cleese described the photo saying, "Trump seething because he's not the centre of attention for a moment.

Findlay was ultimately okay.

Pro-MAGA host Gina Loudon feared Republicans would lose in the midterms after Democrats dominated election night on Tuesday.

Loudon spoke on Real America's Voice about the election results following President Donald Trump's address to Republican senators on Wednesday.

"Yeah, first of all, I think it was nice to see a president that was so presidential, as he stayed very calm, he didn't really respond to any of the silliness of Mamdani, all the rest of it," she explained. "So that was nice to see."

"I think that the consensus is, I'm looking through our chat," Loudon continued. "And I think that, to put it very succinctly, President Trump, being president, is a huge job. That's obviously an understatement. He has spent a lot of time looking out at the world and trying to fix things. I think it is time to come home and to focus on our, especially our economy."

According to the host, "People are feeling completely disabled economically."

"And if we don't come home and focus on our domestic issues, I'm afraid our midterms will look like this," she added.

Correspondent David Zere agreed.

"And the foreign policy is critical," he said. "But people can't survive. "Lettuce is still $3 a head in the supermarket."

"And Trump's economic agenda has not kicked in yet," Zere insisted. "But people can't wait, and that's exactly what Mamdani took advantage on yesterday in New York City."

Loudon argued that Republicans were losing elections because they were "letting [Democrats] label us as these, you know, awful, selfish capitalists."

"And the difference between a tyrant and Donald Trump is, yes, Donald Trump is wealthy, but he wants every American to be wealthy. He said it many times. He's working for it every single day. And I think it's going to take more than nine months to get it done," she remarked.

Pro-MAGA host Gina Loudon feared Republicans would lose in the midterms after Democrats dominated election night on Tuesday.

Loudon spoke on Real America's Voice about the election results following President Donald Trump's address to Republican senators on Wednesday.

"Yeah, first of all, I think it was nice to see a president that was so presidential, as he stayed very calm, he didn't really respond to any of the silliness of Mamdani, all the rest of it," she explained. "So that was nice to see."

"I think that the consensus is, I'm looking through our chat," Loudon continued. "And I think that, to put it very succinctly, President Trump, being president, is a huge job. That's obviously an understatement. He has spent a lot of time looking out at the world and trying to fix things. I think it is time to come home and to focus on our, especially our economy."

According to the host, "People are feeling completely disabled economically."

"And if we don't come home and focus on our domestic issues, I'm afraid our midterms will look like this," she added.

Correspondent David Zere agreed.

"And the foreign policy is critical," he said. "But people can't survive. "Lettuce is still $3 a head in the supermarket."

"And Trump's economic agenda has not kicked in yet," Zere insisted. "But people can't wait, and that's exactly what Mamdani took advantage on yesterday in New York City."

Loudon argued that Republicans were losing elections because they were "letting [Democrats] label us as these, you know, awful, selfish capitalists."

"And the difference between a tyrant and Donald Trump is, yes, Donald Trump is wealthy, but he wants every American to be wealthy. He said it many times. He's working for it every single day. And I think it's going to take more than nine months to get it done," she remarked.