For months now, Jews have been up in arms about the prospect of Zohran Mamdani becoming the new mayor of New York.
In a recent letter signed by hundreds of rabbis, Mamdani was taken to task for refusing to condemn violent slogans against Jews and Israel, denying Israel’s legitimacy, accusing the Jewish state of genocide and generally helping to propagate a hostile environment for Jewish New Yorkers.
Those grievances are indeed alarming, but they overlook Mamdani’s even bigger threat to America and especially to the Democratic party.
Mamdani is running as a Democrat but he’s not really a Democrat. He’s a proud, card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a growing political movement that is so far left it makes Bernie Sanders look like Newt Gingrich. Its website, for example, states that the party wants to “collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives.”
Given that the Democratic party has already been damaged by veering too far left, another leftist surge is the last thing it needs.
“Democrats have badly weakened their party with left-leaning ideas and rhetoric, growing only with self-described ‘white liberals’ while losing ground with other voters,” according to a major new study by a group called Welcome, as reported in Semafor. One of its findings is that 70% of voters think the Democratic Party is “out of touch.”
A Mamdani victory under the Democratic banner would exacerbate this trend, sending, as Bret Stephens writes, “a misleading signal that voters want more progressive Democrats, not more moderate ones…[which is] the worst possible lesson if Democrats want to take back Congress and win nationally.”
Beyond hurting the Democratic party, a Mamdani victory would also blow wide open DSA’s radical platform for America to see.
As Staman Ogilvie warns on the No Labels website, “DSA’s platform—previously dismissed as a fringe wishlist—could start shaping policy from inside Gracie Mansion and across America.”
He summarized a few of its signature proposals:
- Extend “voting rights to non-citizens?”
- “Disarm law enforcement officers,” and abolish prisons?
- Nationalize “businesses like railroads, utilities, and critical manufacturing and technology companies?”
- Prohibit any “new fossil fuel projects from being authorized or built?”
- Provide “free abortion on demand?”
- Allow trans minors to access “gender affirming care” – like puberty blockers – “without parental consent?”
Ogilvie characterizes the DSA platform as a case study in what not to do, adding that “it makes sense only if you ignore both history and human nature.”
Giving the DSA more exposure would also show the extent of its threat and how fast it has grown. A seminal report from the Canary Mission notes that: “As its leaders repeatedly state, the DSA are NOT Democrats. They are an external force that has infiltrated the Democratic Party to reshape it in their own image… using the party’s structure and reputation while working to replace it with its own extremist agenda.”
The report includes in-depth reporting of DSA’s growing network of influence, covering a broad and sophisticated web of activists and alliances throughout the country, including ties to the terror-linked Palestinian Youth Movement.
The combined goals of this socialist alliance, the report asserts, include:
- Destroying “Empire” (what DSA calls the USA)
- Replacing the market economy with state-controlled Marxism
- Defunding the police and using the funds for DEI programs
- Supporting terrorist groups and terrorist entities, i.e., Hamas and Hezbollah
- Normalizing antisemitism and supporting violent extremist groups
- Promoting foreign policies that align with authoritarian regimes such as China, Russia and Iran.
In short, New York’s mayoral election is about a lot more than a front-running candidate and his controversial views. Above all, it’s about that candidate’s deep allegiance to a fast-rising socialist movement flying under the Democratic banner.
New York’s mayoral election is about a lot more than a front-running candidate and his controversial views. Above all, it’s about that candidate’s deep allegiance to a fast-rising socialist movement flying under the Democratic banner.
Yes, Mamdani’s views on Israel and the Jews are disturbing and we’re right to sound the alarm.
But as Americans, we must go further. And for those Jews who are loyal Democrats, if they want to return to power they must be ready to distance themselves from Mamdani and DSA’s radical views. The old playbook that Democrats can’t say anything that might help Republicans no longer holds. Dems don’t have that luxury. If they allow their party to move further left, it may well seal their fate for future elections.
We can assume Mamdani will win. He’s a clever politician who knows how to thread the needle and avoid alienating too many people. This makes him even more dangerous because he may try to camouflage his radical views and seduce Dems who are desperate for a winning candidate.
Democrats can’t afford to move further away from the majority of the country. At a time when our politics are already too polarized, the country needs a move to the center, not to its fringes.
This holds true for the Jews, for the Democrats and for America.
