Mamdani Derangement Syndrome... and Some Stuff to Read

Ever since New York City’s Democratic primary, a longtime acquaintance from my political past, whose name I won’t mention, has been posting twice daily on Facebook with Joe McCarthy-like screeds against Zohran Mamdani, the concept of Democratic Socialism and the threat to capitalism posed by the Democratic nominee’s possible victory. He’s firmly in the tank for Eric Adams. I’m OK with that.

The posts have been, frankly, exhausting. Rarely have I seen someone, let alone a Black, lifelong Democrat who runs a community organization, make such a passionate case for landlords, banks and billionaires. But hey, if Eric Adams is his guy, I’m fine with that. I don’t like in New York. Never have. And when I’ve commented on my friend’s posts, he has pointedly told me and my ilk of non-New Yorkers to stay out of it. I am fine with that also.

That said, I have two kids who are both new to voting and new to voting in New York. They support Mamdani, like so many other young voters. And as a Democrat who wants to see the party win again somewhere, anywhere, HOW Mamdani won is important to me, more so than the debate over individual policies, though those things are certainly intertwined.

So I issued this challenge to my friend (who may no longer be my friend):

“Nothing you have to say about Democratic socialism scares my children. Nor does your defense of capitalism connect with them. Please convince them to vote for Eric Adams without mentioning Zohran or socialism.”

The response came quickly and in four parts - three articles that doubled down on the sort of red scare tactics and xenophobia that has been lobbed at Mandani since his victory. The fourth entry was a list of New York’s achievements under Eric Adams. As a person for whom words matter, I consider “New York’s achievements under Adams” to not necessarily be the same thing as “Eric Adams’s achievements” and the list indeed contained many things done by Wall Street and corporations for which Mayors have little connection. But if it happens under your watch I guess you get to take credit.

But I felt compelled to issue a second challenge: “That’s an impressive list. Why isn’t it enough to run on instead of attacking Mamdani?”

For that he had no answer. Neither does the Democratic Party. Not Chuck Schumer, Not Hakim Jeffries. Not whoever the heck that guy is who runs the DNC that nobody’s seen in a grip. Not the rest of the Democratic establishment.

It’s not rocket science though. Mamdani may or may be the answer to all of New York’s problems. But do free buses really represent that much of threat to the social order? Will limits on how much a landlord raises rents in any given year really cause a billionaire flight to Florida? Aren’t they already claiming homes in tax sheltered cities?

What frightens mainstream Democrats so much about the idea of thinking differently? Mamdani did not win - new ideas and new approaches did.

It is perhaps the natural first reaction to losing. “Maybe I should be more like the winner.” For sure there are always lessons to learn from the competition. But “be more like Republicans” is not the solution, nor has it ever been.

Once cool be fooled into thinking that victory of Bill Clinton and the Blue Dog Democrats was the kind of centrist move to the right that Democrats should duplicate, but the Republican Party of the 1990s was a mere talking point or two away from the Democrats then. They represented moderately different approaches to problems most people generally agreed were problems. We're light years away from that today.

The takeaway of the Mamdani primary victory is not Democratic socialism or some need to shift away from core principles, whatever they might be. The lesson is in the thinking and the reaching, the storytelling. Not to quote myself but go back my recent piece about what the Dems need to learn from Jesse Jackson to understand more about this point.

Better still, look at any sport in history and any rivalry.

Andrew Cuomo relied on the old Dem playbook. Move closer to the middle and copy Republicans to capture Democrats on the fence. Assume the base is there and run the other way.

But if sports is the best analogy here, you would be hard-pressed to find a rivalry where the loser of a battle came back to win again by copying the winner. Ali beat Frazier by counterpointing, doing the opposite. Knowing his strengths, playing on his opponent’s weaknesses, understanding his own. You beat a puncher by being a boxer. Outlasting, out-thinking, not throwing the same hooks and combos. Pick a sport, any sport, and you’ll find a hundred examples of the same tactics.

The lesson for the Dems is super simple. It’s not so much about the specific policies as much as whether they represent new ways of processing, whether they represent boldness and innovation and risk. Whether they challenge the status quo. Mamdani spent his time understanding, repeating and embodying the stories of ordinary New Yorkers. Old school retail politics for the Instagram and YouTube generation.

Do more of that. That's the way to win.

WEEKEND READS

LIBERIA. SIBERIA. WHATEVER.

This article in Al Jazeera by writer Tafi Mhaka says all that needs to be said about the recent visit of five African presidents to the White House and the wretched Step’n Fetchit-ness of it all.

While all the talk was about the tremendous ignorance shown by President Trump in complimenting a native English speaker’s English, the more troubling incident was this “ How dare you take my time speaking another language to me” interruption of the president of Mauritania.

Maybe I’m missing something. I hope I am. Perhaps its all a clever ruse and African nations have simply learned after all these years to just let white people be white and take their money, as long as they leave you alone to do your thing. Maybe they are relieved to be talking trade and not charity. I don’t know. I could be looking at this all wrong. Feel free to correct me in the comments. But it’s not a good look. At all.

IS HOLLYWOOD LOSING ITS GLOBAL CULTURAL INFLUENCE?

This statement is profound:

“He pointed to the success of Netflix’s first ever one-shot TV series Adolescence as being an example of content with significant cultural and public messaging. “It’s an important show to bring up because every time we, as an industry, are surprised by something going really, really well and resonating with audiences, it’s a sign that we didn’t understand the audience.”

It’s a line from a the latest Nostradamus report published by Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival, and quoted in an article on Deadline.com. Find it here.

In short, the report suggests that the long held notion that Hollywood drives world culture was always backed by an America that at least in some way was trying to be true to the values that were imitated in the art it created, even if it failed sometimes, or a lot. Strong. Powerful, Fair, Creative, Willing to Fight for the Underdog. A place of freedom, plenty and opportunity.

The movies still say that, but it all means less when the country is led by a president and a party that doesn’t believe that anymore.

Anyhow, worth a look.