So, they did it. Voters in three congressional districts of the nation’s greatest city nominated, and all but elected, a trio of self-declared socialists, sending shockwaves through the stultified Democratic establishment and undoubtedly much of the nation. Most notable was the lopsided defeat of leftist incumbent Dan Goldman, who voted in lockstep with progressive House Democrats and served as Lead Counsel for the House Intelligence Committee during the first impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2019. However, that wasn’t nearly enough for voters in New York’s 10th congressional district, so they unceremoniously shoved him aside and chose Zohran Mamdani's comrade Brad Lander.
But while the other two victorious socialists won by relatively small margins, Goldman was overwhelmed by more than 30 points. Why? Goldman is Jewish, and that fact alone undoubtedly led to his resounding defeat in a district where he was famously kicked out of a coffee shop for supporting Israel, even as he consistently criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This result makes it harder than ever for Democrats to deny the anti-semitism coursing through the veins of the party.
Death by Socialism
Socialism is, and has always been, an utterly irrational movement built on a foundation of sand. It has failed everywhere it has been tried. Everywhere. Chuck Schumer knows it. So do Nancy Pelosi and Hakeem Jeffries. They all know, as sure as the sun rises in the east, that socialism now on the march will wreck their party. These are the top leaders of the Democrats, and no matter your view of their ideology, they understand politics as well as, or better than, anyone. And they are at the barricades, devoting much or most of their energy to shedding the party of scandal-plagued socialist Graham Platner and the other extremists, endorsing every failed establishment candidate beaten by the far left in New York. The socialist horse has left the barn, and it will take a herculean effort to put it back.
This trio of outright socialists will sweep into Washington feeling their oats, doubling the size of the Squad, and in no mood to follow orders from Jeffries – the presumed Speaker of the House if Democrats win a majority – who endorsed their opponents. They made it crystal clear in their acceptance speeches that they are out to tear down the status quo. Cue the Democrats’ civil war rhetoric.
At a minimum, some prominent Democrat, or any Democrat for that matter, urgently needs to come forward and distance the party from this trio of New York socialists, making the case that they don’t represent Democrats writ large. But don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. After all, it was the conspiracy of silence about both Joe Biden and the worst excesses of the progressive agenda that drained them of power.
The Mamdani Magic
To say the Democratic Party has a Zohran Mamdani problem would be an understatement. But now we understand better how Mamdani was able to rise from obscurity and take the nation’s greatest city by storm. It was two essential elements: a message of affordability and effective organization. The Democratic Socialists of America have taken those assets to the bank, unleashing thousands of door-knockers and community organizers into vulnerable, low-income neighborhoods around New York and toppling a trio of incumbents.
Electing socialists to local positions is one thing. Sending them to the national legislature is quite another. More socialists or full-on progressives in the ranks of a Democrat-controlled House is likely to produce an excessively left-wing legislative record that will draw heavy fire from the GOP come 2028. Schumer, Pelosi, and Jeffries know that, and may in fact privately believe their chances in 2028 might be better if they lose the House rather than securing a progressive-dominated majority, especially since none of their partisan legislation is likely to be signed into law by the Republican president. Radical rhetoric flowing from the House will make it all too easy for the GOP to label Democrats as extreme heading into the 2028 presidential election.
The Long Road Back from Socialism
Ridding a party of an increasingly toxic ideology, turning it in a new direction, or back to its old ways, cannot happen overnight, if only because of the massive size and scope of its operations across the land. How long did it take for Republicans to recognize that the Bush 43-era neoconservative brand had become unsustainable and turn in another direction? The answer is, a long time, and then only when Donald Trump came along and blew things up. Every day that passes with well-organized socialists successfully exploiting the fears of Americans struggling to get by makes far-left ideology increasingly interchangeable with perceptions of the Democratic Party itself.
It seemed the most obvious lessons for the losers of 2024’s historic elections were that they must focus less on demonizing Trump and more on convincing the electorate that they have changed their ways, that they have turned towards the center. They did so successfully with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton in decades past, recognizing the need to moderate their brand after lopsided defeats. But now, their biggest problem has become even bigger. Only a couple of years ago, few if any Democrats holding or running for office were declared socialists. Now many are.
Socialism in Desperation
How do you put the toothpaste back in the tube? Socialism has thrived only when capitalism appears to be failing or when the country is at war. It has gone all the way from something only whispered in private between believers fearful of certain public shame to a proud public banner for dozens of budding socialists. Eugene Debs, the first prominent American socialist, was arrested under the Sedition Act of 1918 and sentenced to ten years in prison for a speech opposing World War I. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld his conviction, ruling that his speech presented a "clear and present danger" to the war effort and therefore was not protected by the First Amendment. The prosperity of the roaring 1920’s drove socialism down, but when the country fell into the Great Depression, it rose afresh as unemployment reached 25% and darkness enveloped the land. In fact, if President Franklin D. Roosevelt had not advanced his quasi-socialist New Deal, there might well have been an uprising that toppled the government.
More and more rank-and-file Democrats who view Donald Trump as an existential threat to the country apparently believe the way to counter a perceived fascist is with a declared socialist. It’s the same philosophy that led the party off the cliff during the Biden era, when preposterous ideas that would have been laughed off just a decade earlier were embraced and forced down the throats of unwitting Americans who thought they had elected a moderate president. By explaining away their disastrous rejection by the voters and failing to proclaim unambiguously that they plan to come to their senses, they have invited even more radicalism. Indeed, socialism is a cancer that has metastasized throughout the Democratic Party, and it threatens to deal a death blow to the party’s future.
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