


One would think that Jen Psaki, coming as she does from the more establishment side of the Democratic machine, would proceed with caution on Zohran Mamdani, the socialist who is the presumptive Democratic nominee in New York’s mayoral race.
But on Wednesday night, Psaki was practically jumping out of her seat in excitement over how joyful and authentic Mamdani’s campaign was, how his love for New York was just so contagious, and how seismic his victory was.
“This race is what makes politics joyful and inspiring,” she said. “Someone who everyone underestimated, someone who was doubted and questioned and attacked with racist mailers and attack ads, someone who the gray hairs in the party said was too young … overcame all of that.”
She repeatedly portrayed Mamdani’s victory as the beginning of a new political era for the Democratic Party. “Rarely,” she said, “at least in my recollection, have there been the seismic type of events like last night’s New York primary.” Mamdani, Psaki said, had “set off what I would call a political earthquake.”
In explaining the reasons for Mamdani’s victory, Psaki cited “his contagious love for New York City, whether it was eating an egg and cheese at a bodega or riding the Staten Island ferry”; his “optimistic,” “hopeful,” and “aspirational” campaign in which he “said what he thought, not necessarily always what was politically popular”; as well as his ability to speak to the “core economic struggles of millions of people in the city.”
Psaki played a 40-second-long montage of various social media videos released by Mamdani before expounding on how much she loved the clips: “They were joyful,” she said. “They were authentic and funny.”
Psaki went on to call the democratic socialist’s victory a reminder that politics is supposed to be about “how you make people feel” and “inviting people in.” Psaki claimed that there is “no question” that Mamdani has a “huge gift” for doing so.
Psaki, 46, avoided getting into the weeds of the 33-year-old’s radical politics and kept her focus on how she loves him as a person and candidate. She suggested that, at least when it comes to the running of campaigns, the Democratic Party should head in Mamdani’s direction, as the conventional political playbook “is tired” and “no longer works.”
But her enthusiasm for him was flirting with unreserved excitement over the possibility of a more radical direction for the Democratic Party. She even gushingly told him that a lot of people on her team’s show, which is based in New York City, had stayed up late to watch his victory speech.
Any criticism she had of him was tempered. She kept it to saying that he would face “tough questions” as he works to “build on [his] coalition.” Mamdani, she said, would need to find “a way to address the concerns of some voters who disagree with his views on Israel.” Those “concerns,” of course, are that Mamdani has accused Israel of committing a genocide, defended the chant “globalize the intifada,” pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said that he considers himself to be an “anti-Zionist.” When Hamas attacked Israeli civilians in 2023, killing 1,200, Mamdani’s response was not to denounce the attacks but rather to call on Israel to not respond and to accuse it of engaging in “apartheid.” In fact, he titled his statement after the Hamas attack, “Zohran Mamdani On Ongoing Violence in Israel and Palestine.” Of course, Psaki’s plastering over of this insanity is predictable given that the Democratic Party writ large has chosen to accommodate its radical wing’s antisemitism.
*****
Psaki’s full embrace of Mamdani without a shred of caution for his socialism suggests an emerging mood among the Democratic Party that the response to the party’s foundering after Kamala Harris’s defeat should be to push further to the left.
That would seem to contradict the initial conclusions the party drew from its defeat, which seemed to be that its radicalism on gender ideology and critical race theory had gone too far and that it had drifted away from pocketbook issues to its detriment. Nevertheless, it seems some Democrats are increasingly concluding that backing away from advertising its most extreme social positions so prominently does not preclude the party from pursuing a radical agenda when it comes to the economy.
READ MORE from Ellie Gardey Holmes:
Hallow Prayer App Reaches 1 Billion Prayers — 7 Years to the Day After Incorporating
Leftist IVF Doctor Gushes Over Trump
Abortion Supporters Unleash Torrent of Hatred Against 1-Pound Baby Chance