June 27, 2025

Friday, June 27, 2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.

Our Felon tries to help their felon.

First Trump bombed another country for a friend. His bombs failed. He is trying another way. #TrumpFailure

One more thing. Or two. Or three. Or four.

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More on the New York City Mayoral Race.

Mamdani's sure-to-be complicated relationship to New York City’s Jewish community summarized.

Mamdani’s Success Spotlights a Deepening Rupture Among U.S. Jews.

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani celebrated on election night with Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller. Lander, who is Jewish, also ran for mayor and encouraged his supporters to back Mr. Mamdani through a cross-endorsement.

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While Zohran Mamdani won over some Jewish supporters, other Jewish Democrats suggested that concerns about their community’s safety are being dismissed in a movement and a city they helped build.

New York’s annual parade celebrating Israel has been a standard stop for the state’s politicians for the last 60 years, drawing in governors, senators and every mayor since Robert F. Wagner to pay their respects to the Jewish community.

Now, as Israel’s standing in the United States has fallen precipitously since the Gaza war, New York City Democrats appear likely to nominate a mayoral candidate who does not shy away from his record of anti-Israel activism, underlining an extraordinary departure from past mayors and from current Democratic leadership in Washington.

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s success in the city with the largest Jewish population in the world offered the starkest evidence yet that outspoken opposition to Israel and its government — and even questioning its existence as a Jewish state — is increasingly acceptable to broader swaths of the party, even in areas where pro-Israel Jews have long been a bedrock part of the Democratic coalition.

Some surveys showed Mr. Mamdani winning as many as one in five Jewish Democrats, with supporters including Brad Lander, the city’s comptroller, who also ran for mayor and encouraged his supporters to back Mr. Mamdani through a cross-endorsement. And on Wednesday, Representative Jerrold Nadler, one of the city’s most prominent Jewish leaders, endorsed Mr. Mamdani, saying they would work together “to fight against all bigotry and hate.”

But for other Jews around the country who were already struggling with their place in the progressive movement, Mr. Mamdani’s stunning result confirmed their worst fears about the direction of the American left, fueling a sense that urgent concerns about the community’s safety are being dismissed in a movement and a city that Jews helped build.

“It’s not that they expect to be run out, or they expect that the N.Y.P.D. won’t be there to protect them,” said Deborah E. Lipstadt, who was the Biden administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. “It’s just another hit in the jaw, that these very deep-seated concerns could have been so easily brushed off by so many people.”

The politics of Israel have roiled the Democratic Party for years, accelerated by fierce debates about the war in Gaza, the rise of the far-right Netanyahu government and a running argument about when criticism of Israel veers into antisemitism, the source of much of the anxiety about Mr. Mamdani. Nearly seven in 10 Democrats now express an unfavorable view of Israel, compared with 37 percent of Republicans, according to polling released by Pew Research Center this spring.

Those tensions, which President Trump has sought to exploit at every turn, have intensified within the Jewish community, too, especially along generational lines: Younger, more progressive Jews have grown increasingly critical of Israel, and impatient with older generations, whose religious identities have long been tied up with support for the Jewish state.

Such divides were on vivid display in the primary contest.

“There’s zero possibility of the Jewish community saying, kind of very clearly, ‘We oppose this candidate,’ when he has supporters from within the Jewish community,” Yehuda Kurtzer, the president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, said of Mr. Mamdani. “Whenever you have a phenomenon like this, it’s hard to peel apart the different layers. How much of this is generational, how much is this connected to larger trends around political polarization?”

For many New Yorkers, including Jewish ones, their votes were driven by concerns about affordability, or by a desire to stop the comeback of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who had resigned in disgrace. Plenty either agreed with Mr. Mamdani’s views on Israel or were willing to look past them, and some recoiled from what they saw as Mr. Cuomo’s efforts to turn antisemitism concerns into a political football.

“The results show that most Jews, at least in New York City, at least in my district, agree he’s not antisemitic,” Mr. Nadler said in an interview, saying he had spoken with Mr. Mamdani on Wednesday. He came away from the conversation reassured about where the assemblyman stood, and willing to help him win over Jewish voters, Mr. Nadler said.

Representative Jerrold Nadler last week in Manhattan. On Wednesday he endorsed Mr. Mamdani, saying they would work together “to fight against all bigotry and hate.

Mr. Mamdani has said repeatedly that he abhors antisemitism and has said that if he were elected, he would increase funding to combat hate crimes.

He alluded to concerns from the Jewish community in his election night speech, noting the “millions of New Yorkers who have strong feelings about what happens overseas.”

“While I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments, grounded in a demand for equality, for humanity, for all those who walk this earth, you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements,” he told a crowd in Queens early Wednesday morning.

Historically, Jewish voters have been an important and, at times, decisive factor in city elections.

While identifying Jewish voters is difficult, Jerry Skurnik of Engage Voters U.S., a political consultancy that counts those with distinctive Jewish surnames, put the Jewish electorate in New York at roughly 13 percent of the city’s 4.6 million active registered voters.

Support from Hasidic Orthodox Jews, who often vote in a bloc based on rabbinic endorsements, helped Mayor Eric Adams win in 2021.

But many Jews in New York City are not observant or strongly tied to Jewish institutions like synagogues, religious schools or social organizations. They are less likely to prioritize Israel as a top consideration in their vote, or even to reflexively support its right to exist as a Jewish state.

Many younger New Yorkers from a range of backgrounds found Mr. Mamdani to be a fresh and exciting communicator. As the Muslim son of Indian émigrés who was himself born in Uganda, where his father grew up, he represented an inspiring new New York version of the American dream.

Still, questions about his views on Israel and antisemitism loomed large in a city where hate crimes against Jewish people are on the rise. A 2024 report from Thomas P. DiNapoli, the state comptroller, found that anti-Jewish hate crimes had increased 89 percent in New York State from 2018 to 2023.

The primary contest unfolded at an especially uneasy time for many American Jews, who despise Mr. Trump and his invoking of antisemitism to attack American universities and round up activists, but are also keenly aware of recent instances in which opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has manifested in violence against Jews.

“Jewish New Yorkers rightfully believe themselves to be at risk, and it’s unthinkable that the city with the largest Jewish population outside of the state of Israel should have so many of its Jewish citizens finding themselves in a vulnerable state of affairs,” said Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, who leads the influential Park Avenue Synagogue and gave an impassioned address about the stakes of the mayor’s race for the Jewish community.

New York City, he said in those remarks, has become, “in far too many quarters, inhospitable not only to open expressions of Zionism, but to Judaism itself. And what’s more, this reality could worsen and even receive official sanction.”

Prominent Jewish leaders and activists were especially rankled by Mr. Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Palestinians and their supporters have called the phrase a rallying cry for liberation, but many Jews consider it a call to violence, a nod to deadly attacks on civilians in Israel by Palestinians in uprisings in the 1980s and 2000s.

“The Jewish community has seen time and again how violent rhetoric has transformed into actual violence, so for us it’s just deeply unsettling to have a mayoral candidate who condones and uses that language,” said Rabbi Diana Fersko, senior rabbi at the Village Temple, a Reform congregation in Manhattan, and the author of a book on antisemitism. “My hope is that if Mamdani is elected, he will become more sensitive and more aware of the needs of a significant part of the population that he is going to be leading.”

Many elected Democrats, including prominent Jewish leaders like Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, oppose the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Mr. Mamdani’s views go beyond disagreeing with Israel’s elected government.

He has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” and, when pressed, has not said if Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, though he has said it has “a right to exist and a responsibility, also, to uphold international law.” He supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, which calls for governments, consumers and investors to cut financial ties with Israel in protest of its treatment of Palestinians, and has dodged questions of whether he would advocate for that policy as mayor.

He issued a statement on Oct. 8, 2023 — the day after the Hamas attacks in Israel — condemning Israel and saying that “a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid,” with no mention of Hamas. (He has since condemned the Hamas attacks as a “horrific war crime.”)

On private text chains and WhatsApp groups, Jewish voters circulated mock ballots showing Mr. Cuomo ranked first to stop Mr. Mamdani’s rise. Social media influencers with large pro-Israel followings circulated Mr. Mamdani’s past statements about Israel, saying he would threaten Jewish safety in the city.

“I feel like last night’s NYC election result is like a spiritual Kristallnacht. It proved Jew hatred is now OK,” posted Jill Kargman, a Jewish writer and actress.

After Mr. Mamdani won, dark jokes circulated on some of the same chains about moving out of the city. (New York Times).

New Yorkers! Get ready to vote for Zohran Mamdani, the Muslim Democratic socialist, who thankfully dethroned the old boys’ inevitable candidate, Andrew Cuomo.

Now we must stop the criminal Eric Adams and the monied oligarchs who will surely fund him.

Mamdani answers those who are worried about him.

Mamdani says he plans to win over moderate Dems after upset NYC mayoral primary win.

Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, told ABC News in a wide-ranging interview aired Wednesday that he plans to win over moderate voters -- even as a self-identified Democratic socialist -- as he runs in the general election.

He said he also believes the Democratic Party needs to refocus on what working-class Americans are going through.

"I think that the Democratic Party must always remember what made so many proud to be Democrats, which is a focus on the struggles of working class Americans across this country," Mamdani told ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott.

"And I think that there is a need for a new generation of leadership," he added.

The 33-year-old State Assembly member, who campaigned on a progressive economic platform, declared victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo as results in Tuesday's closely watched primary rolled in.

Asked how he'd respond to voters who are nervous about his age and relative inexperience, Mamdani pointed to his campaign fundraising and sheer number of volunteers, as well as meetings he said he's had with deputy mayors and commissioners from many mayoral administrations, "all as part of my commitment to building a team that is united, not by ideology, not by past relationship or knowledge, but frankly, by excellence."

Mamdani also spoke with Scott about addressing concerns from Democrats about the "Democratic socialist" label, when he would be open to collaborating with President Donald Trump and reaching out to Jewish New Yorkers.

Embracing the Democratic socialist label – and winning over moderates

Mamdani has proudly identified as a Democratic socialist -- a label that some Democrats have expressed concerns about, especially as some Republicans have seized on the label to claim that all Democrats are socialists or far-left.

"What do you say to those Democrats who have concerns about that term, Democratic socialist, that you so proudly claim you are?" Scott asked.

"I would say that I hear them, because there's room to have disagreement and tension in any one party. And for too long, we've thought of politics as an act of purity, where you only work with those that you agree with on every issue… And there are going to be many Democrats, both here in this city and across the country, who have a different lens of what it is that they see us needing in this moment," Mamdani said.

"But ultimately, we agree on the importance of addressing affordability, and that's at the core of our campaign."

How would he win back voters who may think the policies Mamdani ran on are too far to the left of where they think the Democratic Party should be?

"I would tell them to look at the results of last night," he said, referring to the primary on Tuesday. He called the results a "clear reflection of a mandate to make this city affordable" and one that showed Democrats united in support of his economic proposals.

"And it shows that for a long time, what we've heard in terms of the analysis of this city and its politics is actually out of step with where people are."

He added later that he hopes to win the support of people who would otherwise vote for incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who he criticized as "the original architect of this affordability crisis over the last few years."

As to why voters should support him over Adams, he said, "I'm someone who will make the city more affordable, and because what we've seen is that this present has been delivered to us by the policies and the politics and even the politicians of the past. It's time for a new generation of leadership. It's time for a politics of the future."

Adams, speaking on Fox News on Wednesday, criticized Mamdani as a "snake oil salesman," saying, "I delivered for the city and we're not going backwards."

Working with, or opposing, Trump
When asked about comments from President Donald Trump on social media calling him a "Communist Lunatic," Mamdani shrugged off the epithet, saying he'd encourage Trump to learn about his policies, and that he'd work with Trump on affordability but would resist the president's deportation plans.

"The next mayor of New York City will have to work with the Trump administration. Are you willing to do that? Will you do that?" Scott asked.

"I will work with the Trump administration when it is to the benefit of New Yorkers," Mamdani said. "My approach will never be reflexive, whether in agreement or opposition, but if it comes at the expense of the New Yorkers that I'm running to serve, then, no, I will not be working with the administration on harming the people that I look to represent."

Asked by Scott how he'd manage that relationship, Mamdani reiterated wanting to collaborate with Trump on lowering the price of groceries – pointing to his campaign plan to open "a network of municipal-owned stores" – but also reiterated not wanting to assist the president with immigrant detentions.

Outreach to the Jewish community
Mamdani has faced some pushback, given New York's large Jewish population, over his history of comments and activism opposing Israel, including his criticism of Israel over the war in Gaza. In response, he has emphasized policies to combat antisemitism and said that he wants to focus on city issues.

"How do you gain the trust of Jewish voters in New York City?" Scott asked.

Mamdani brought up his campaign plan to increase funding for anti-hate crime programming, but acknowledged a divide between his views on Israel and those of many in the Jewish community.

"Ultimately, my comments have been on critiques of the Israeli government's policies, and I know that there are many New Yorkers who may disagree with me on those same critiques," Mamdani said. "And yet that disagreement is still rooted in the shared sense of humanity."

As for his strategy to reach out to Jewish voters, Mamdani said he was ready to "to introduce myself again and again" to every New Yorker, including Jewish New Yorkers, given the low name recognition he started out with in the race. (ABC News)

Republicans respond to Mamdani’s win with as much racism and lies as we would expect.

Andy Ogles is a Republican Congressman from Tennessee.

Mamdani and the Moguls of Madness by Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman

Will he be a good mayor? Nobody knows. But the hysteria is revealing.

I was in mid-air when NYC’s election results came in, and I’m still not quite home. So again, not a proper post. But a few late-morning reactions from the road.
First, mea culpa for not paying more attention to the mayoral race.

Second, I was enormously cheered by Mamdani’s victory, not because I think he’ll be a great mayor — honestly I have no idea — but because a Cuomo victory would have been deeply depressing. Why? Because it would have been an affirmation of elite impunity and lack of accountability. Cuomo is by all accounts a terrible person, and his bungled response to Covid killed people. For him to make a comeback simply because he’s part of the old boys’ club and had the big money behind him would have said that the rules only apply to the little people.

There’s a huge argument among Democrats about whether they need to run more centrist candidates. I am not ready to weigh in on that debate. But if you’re going to take that side, find better centrists. I mean, are Cuomo and Eric Adams the best you can do?

Third, the response of the big money — the hysterical assertions that Mamdani is a Communist who will ruin New York, the promises to throw vast sums behind some independent candidate — is especially revealing. Yes, Mamdani calls himself a socialist and is proposing some expansion of government’s role, like opening a presumably limited number of city-run groceries and making buses free. But he’s not going to seize the commanding heights of the city’s economy or seize plutocrats’ fortunes.

In truth, plutocrats will hardly suffer any consequences from their failure to buy this election — other than feeling frustrated over the fact that they did in fact fail to buy it. If attack ads can’t bury a Muslim socialist, maybe the 0.01% doesn’t run things as much as it imagines. The horror!

Finally, an amazing amount of the commentary I’ve been seeing is to the effect that Mamdani will accelerate the downward spiral of a city that has become a dystopian hellhole. As some of us keep pointing out, apparently to no avail, New York is one of the safest places in America, and probably as safe as it has ever been. Here’s the number of murders over time, with 2025 an extrapolation based on the year-to-date comparison with last year:

And these aren’t just abstract numbers. I grew up in the New York suburbs. I remember when Times Square was full of sex shops, not people in Elmo costumes, when there were little security pillboxes protecting the blocks where Columbia faculty lived.

New York’s problem now isn’t rampant crime or scary immigrants. It’s affordability. And while we can and should debate the likely success of Mamdani’s proposals, affordability has been his main focus.

Oh, and centrist Democrats often urge leftier types to rally behind their nominees in general elections. I agree. Anyone claiming that there’s no difference between the parties is a fool. But this deal has to be reciprocal. Mamdani will be the Democratic nominee, and anyone calling themselves a Democrat should support him. (Substack)

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It seems there is a New MAGA requirement: You have to say Iran’s nuclear program was totally obliterated, just like you have to say the 2020 election was stolen.

Wednesday it was Little Marco lying for Big Don. Thursday it was Whiskeyleaks Pete Hegseth.

With regard to Hegseth’s press conference claiming for his Supreme Leader that Trump’s bombing ended Iran’s Nuclear Program. 👇

When someone is a failure and can’t take the fallout, they try to hide the truth. #TrumpFailure

One more thing.

Iran’s Ayatollah clearly doesn’t share Trump’s point of view on the effects of the bombing.

Axios reports: Khamenei said in his video message that the U.S. entered the war because it felt it had to save Israel from being destroyed.

"It entered the war to save it, but it did not achieve anything from this war. They attacked our nuclear facilities, but they were unable to do anything important," he said.

Khamenei claimed President Trump "exaggerated" the results of the U.S. strikes on Iran. "They could not do anything, they could not achieve their goal, and they are exaggerating to cover up the truth," he said.

He added that Iran "dealt America a hand slap in the face" by attacking one of the U.S. bases in the region and claimed that the Trump administration tried to minimize the damages caused.

"It is a major attack, and this can be repeated in the future. If an attack on Iran occurs, the cost to the enemy will definitely be high," he said.

Khamenei said Trump didn't want to destroy Iran's nuclear program but to force it to surrender to the U.S. demands, and said that "will never happen."

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Ideology continues to control Supreme Court Decisions.

Supreme Court clears way for states to kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid.

The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for states to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs.

In a 6-3 decision divided along ideological lines, the court’s majority concluded that federal law doesn’t allow Medicaid patients to bring lawsuits alleging that their state has abridged their right to visit their preferred medical provider under the health insurance program for low-income Americans.

The decision rejected a challenge to South Carolina’s expulsion of Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. It will likely allow other conservative states to similarly expel reproductive and sexual health clinics from their Medicaid programs — shrinking the already narrow network of providers available to low-income patients.

“Defunding” Planned Parenthood is a goal of many conservatives, who object to its abortion services. Federal law has long banned federal money from being used for abortions. But Planned Parenthood clinics provide many other health care services that are typically eligible for payment under Medicaid.

Thursday’s ruling will make it easier for states to deprive Planned Parenthood — and other clinics that provide abortions — from receiving Medicaid payments for any of their other non-abortion-related care.

The court’s conservative majority ruled that while federal law guarantees Medicaid beneficiaries the right to see any “qualified and willing” provider, the statute doesn’t grant patients legal standing to sue if a state denies access to certain providers.(Politico)

Read the SCOTUS decision here!

One more thing.

This Supreme Court Verdict 👆 makes clear why we need strong Democratic Governors.

Abigail Spanberger will be a strong governor for Virginia, come November.

Abigail Spanberger 4 Governor. Donate and turn Virginia Blue