Democratic Leaders Tried to Crush Zohran Mamdani. They Should Have Been Taking Notes.

[Prairie Gates]

2. Two notes here

1) The push by MAGAs to trash the so-called "Democrat-run cities" has been shown to be a failure in the biggest of them all. Had their campaign on this been working, Mamdani would have had no chance at all. Instead, he trounced the preferred MAGA candidate. It's a shocking rebuke that shows the MAGAs that they at least still have massive amounts of work to do.

2) The attempt to slander Mamdani as an antisemite failed miserably, and in New York City. It wasn't believable, and Mamdani rather easily parried it without flip-flopping or mealy-mouthing. That's a devastating failure for those seeking to use antisemitism as a catch-all charge against their enemies, including in universities.

And a third: what was most depressing about Cuomo's return was that it signaled what could be yet another triumph in the 2020s backlash culture. The idea that #metoo and #blm had completely failed to such an extent that Trump could come back is a depressing one. Cuomo's reemergence on the scene would have been another board in that plank: even the disgraced sexual harasser gets a second chance. Translation: #metoo was overplayed. Cuomo's rejection at least puts a few speed bumps on that path.

And a fourth: Dems can give good social. As the article notes, Mamdani was a genius at social media. One of his favorites for me was his appearance on Subway Takes with Kareem Rahma (Tim Walz did one too). Mamdani used it to destroy Cuomo's GOP-paid attack flyers. It was brilliant.

The fact that the New York Times and pretty much every other establishment media organ is left eating shit this morning is only the icing (too many eating metaphors?) on the cake.