The debate over Mamdani’s candidacy highlights the ongoing identity crisis within the Democratic Party as he seeks to toe the line on Israel.

I’m not trying to start another Zohran struggle session, time will tell if he sells out. The article itself isn’t even particularly bad, what I want to discuss is the liberal framing it uses.

Taking the democrats seriously. Taking Cuomo seriously. But the part that really bothers me is the idea that Zohran pushed the liberal consensus on Palestine. Little-known fact: the world outside of NYC actually does exist and the people in it have been hating “Israel” more and more as well. Zohran is popular partly because he reflected a changing opinion many had on “Israel”, not the other way around. Journalists understand cause and effect challenge.

  • LeninWeave [none/use name, any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    22·
    4 days ago

    While Mamdani’s most outspoken critics on the left likely represent only a tiny share of the local voting base, they help illustrate the ongoing identity crisis within the Democratic Party, where a party establishment long beholden to Israel struggles to adjust to its supporters’ overwhelming opposition to the genocide in Gaza.

    lmao

    But they may also be urging him toward a political posture that baits his biggest critics in the mainstream.

    “I believe it is a very small collection of very principled people on the internet combined with bots,” said a Democratic strategist in New York. While the strategist dismissed the significance of the criticism, they also requested anonymity in order to speak freely.

    the-democrat

    • LeninWeave [none/use name, any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      25·
      4 days ago

      Mamdani’s responses, though, have reinforced the frustrations of many pro-Palestine advocates on the left — that ceding ground on what constitutes acceptable speech on Palestine puts the entire campaign to end both Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and its genocide in Gaza at risk.

      this

      Mamdani’s path to success as mayor of New York City rests on far more than how people perceive his stance on Israel, and he has more to worry about than how he’s perceived online. He is being tested as a new standard bearer for the Democratic Party — earning the endorsements, while Schumer and Jeffries hold out, of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the de facto leader of the state party, and Attorney General Letitia James, a high-profile Trump foe now fighting an indictment by the federal Department of Justice.

      The question of whether a rising star like Mamdani can effectively stake out a pro-Palestine stance while succeeding in mainstream electoral politics is high on many Democrats’ minds. A growing part of the party’s base is refusing to support candidates who cave to pro-Israel pressure campaigns. If a candidate like Mamdani — who authored a bill to stop New York nonprofits from sending money to Israeli settlements; warned in 2023 that Israel was on the verge of committing genocide in Gaza; and is considered a generational political communicator able to galvanize scores of new voters — can’t land the message on Israel, can anyone?

      Don’t worry, if you just triangulate a little harder instead of following popular opinion, this time it will work. 99% of democratic strategists stop moving to the right right before they hit it big.