The fleeting euphoria of success | Debbie Millman

Now don't take it from me, take it from Fox News. Socialists are winning everywhere. This week, three congressional candidates backed by Democratic Socialist New York City Mayor Zaron Mamdani won stunning victories in their primary elections. It's even being called the Mamdani tsunami. The successes of Claire Valdez, Daria Liza Avila-Shivalye, and Brad Lander confirmed that Mamdani's own election was not a fluke for the city's left in what even the Bezos Post acknowledged was a signal of strength for Mamdani's political brand and the Democratic Socialist movement that powered his rise to city hall. The elections also showed the limits of the power of pro-Israel lobbying groups in Democratic politics. In recent years, critics of Israel like Jamal Bowman, Andy Levin, and Corey Bush have successfully been ousted from Congress after massive spending by A-PAC and other affiliated groups. But Valdez, Shivalye and Lander were all serious critics of the Gaza genocide. Lander ran on the promise to be, quote, "one of the Jewish members of Congress "most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights." Lander's opponent, Dan Goldman, on the other hand, rejected the consensus of human rights groups that Israel has carried out genocide, and he lost by 30 points. Now, the results here were not a foregone conclusion. The New York Times had warned that Mamdani was alienating powerful allies by endorsing a slate of upstart challengers to powerful Democrats. Valdez was running, for instance, against a candidate who had been hand-picked as a successor by the Congresswoman who was vacating that seat. While Shivalye was running against Adriano Espion, the powerful chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Shivalye, a 32-year-old graduate student with a history of uncompromising social media posts, including one that said, "Fuck Kamala Harris," which actually made its way onto a pretty cool flyer put out by her opposition. She was considered a long shot, but she, too, made it through. And so now, one of the former leaders of Columbia's pro-Palestine demonstrations is almost certain to become a member of the United States Congress. This is an important moment, and not just because it establishes Mamdani himself as a kingmaker who can get his chosen candidates into office. But this also demonstrates, as the Guardian's analysis says, some wider trends in US politics, for instance, socialism is no longer a dirty word. Criticism of Israel is no longer taboo. And dissatisfaction with democratic leaders in the Donald Trump era runs deep, says the Guardian. Voters are thirsty for energy, fight, and fresh ideas. Speaking on CNN, Van Jones said that the roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party establishment tonight. And this is a new era in Democratic Party politics. Now personally, I feel like I've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. Back in 2016, it was frustratingly obvious to some of us that Sanders' style leftism, which centered the material needs of working people, was the best way to fight back against the Trumpian right. But Sanders couldn't defeat the party establishment in 2016, and he couldn't do it in 2020. And during the Biden years, DSA membership had declined. And Mamdani's victory was an exciting moment, and he's showing how democratic socialist politicians can both win and then govern effectively. But I'm almost more excited by the congressional victories, because they show that the movement is growing beyond Mamdani, albeit with his help. Now there's been a predictable freak out on the right, of course, which is encouraging. Stephen Miller says the Democratic Party is embracing a violent ideology that wants to tear America down and destroy everything that we know and love from top to bottom, living in this state of total anarchy, without police, without law enforcement, where criminals can rape and maim and murder with impunity, where your kids are taught from the age of two to hate America, to hate their God, to hate their parents, to hate their family, to even hate their own gender. That's their agenda. Stephen, they want free childcare, at affordable rent. Shivalia's victories, page physicist, said, "I see in New York, we can all afford. I see in New York that truly invests in babies, not bombs." So violent of her. The New York Post admitted that the "Zo-Mentem" is real. They called them the hateful slate, but it almost feels like their heart isn't even in this anymore. Donald Trump himself is perceptive enough to understand that Mamdani has genuine appeal, and he's even praised him at some points. Righthans Salam, the president of the Manhattan Institute, has said the DSA is a fascinating organization. You're seeing an actual political party, a universe of door knockers, and he notes that the Mamdani campaign, so much of it, was people coming together and making friends. So the usual conservative attack on DSA, that it's full of hate and violence, simply rings false when you go to any of their actual events. It becomes clear immediately to any observer with their eyes open, that this is about making people's lives better, giving them more affordable housing, addressing the climate catastrophe, ending US support for Israel's crimes against humanity, stopping wage theft, providing free pre-K education. It's always funny to me when Fox News tries to expose the radical agenda of the Democratic Socialist, and then they end up putting a bunch of extremely popular compelling policies on the screen. And look, it's not just in New York City either. Seattle, too, is now governed by a socialist mayor, Katie Wilson. The Democratic Socialist, Janice Lewis George, just won the Democratic primary to become mayor of the nation's capital. DC's Socialist Era is coming, Axios reports, and Chris Reb, who we interviewed recently in current affairs, is headed to Congress. A one thing that's exciting about this new, diverse young generation of socialist candidates, is that they're highly savvy about politics. They've learned a lot from studying historical examples, like the sewer socialists, or Bernie Sanders 10 years mayor Vermont. When I briefly spoke with Mamdani last October, I reminded him that in our first conversation, he had vowed to me that he would win the election. And now I asked him what he similarly vow, not to disappoint to everyone who had put their faith in him. And what he said to me was, it doesn't mean anything if you don't deliver. My impression is that today's socialist know that if you don't deliver, your victories are not going to last long. The New York Post and Fox News are ready to pounce. If socialist governs cities, see spikes in violence, if the trash isn't picked up or the snow isn't being plowed, they will instantly cite it as proof that socialism doesn't work. So there's little room for error here. Socialists in power must be hyper competent, so that voters can immediately see a clear contrast between the feckless democratic establishment, which does not care about them, and the movement that prioritizes their most urgent needs and embodies their aspirations for a livable country. Now these candidates get that. They know that winning elections is actually the easy part, even though it's very hard. The most difficult work comes after. When you have to demonstrate that socialism is not a bunch of impossible pie in the sky promises, but that it's a set of workable ideas that will achieve results. We're facing here a once in a generation opportunity to test our politics in practice. At last, the left has a real shot at taking power in places around the country. It's an exciting, unprecedented, and uncertain moment. And hopefully, this new generation of socialists is up for the challenge of the sign so far, so far, are encouraging. Thanks for watching. Just as a reminder, there's lots more great curative affairs material coming out on this channel all the time. If you subscribe, please. And if you go to KurtAffares.org, you can check out all of our excellent online articles and our wonderful print edition. Subscribe to the print edition today. It's full of all kinds of incredible essays and art and little amusing surprises, including fake ads. There are no real ads in KurtAffares. Go to KurtAffares.org/Subscribe today to get the print edition and use the special code for our video viewers that's 15 off and you'll get 15% off of your first year's subscription.