New York City Mayor— Which Side Are You On?

Is this the reason Hakeem Jeffries & Schumer are trying to sabotage Mamdani?

-by Patrick Toomey

The priorities of Democratic mandarins have never been clearer than they are in this mayoral race. A young, charismatic fresh face decisively won the primary despite being outspent by a large margin. He’s being opposed by the loser of that primary, who resigned the governorship in disgrace because of serial sexual harassment charges. In the Age of Epstein and at a time when the Dems are desperately trying to regain the support of younger voters, the choice for all Democrats should be obvious.

The choice becomes more obvious when our paper of record (which is published in NYC) reports that Andrew Cuomo spoke with Donald Trump in recent weeks about the mayoral race:

[I]n a previously undisclosed call in recent weeks, Mr. Trump spoke about the race directly with Mr. Cuomo, an old associate and foil, according to three people briefed on the call, who were not authorized to discuss it.

Although Cuomo has denied discussing the mayoral race with Trump, our paper of record further reports:

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has positioned himself as the only candidate in the New York City mayor’s race who can forcefully go toe-to-toe with President Trump. But in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday with some of the city’s biggest business leaders, Cuomo suggested he might adopt a more conciliatory strategy.

As he made a case for his candidacy, Cuomo said he was not “personally” looking for a fight with the president and compared their yearslong relationship to a “dysfunctional marriage.”

“I think he wants to be accepted by New York City, and I think there’s an opportunity there,” Cuomo said, according to four people who shared accounts of the private meeting with 50 corporate executives gathered at Rockefeller Center.

He added: “I know, personally, he doesn’t want to fight with me. Personally, I don’t want to fight with him, right? So I don’t think he’s going to be eager to create a conflict with us.”

The one common meme that unites all Democrats of all stripes now is the core concept that Donald Trump poses a unique threat to our system of government and that he needs to be confronted and opposed at all opportunities and at all costs. The viable alternative to Zorhan Mandami reportedly has spoken with Trump about that race, and he quietly assured New York business leaders that he could avoid conflict with Trump. 

It is understandable that the NY governor, the Senate Minority Leader, the House Minority Leader, and other party mandarins are reluctant to support an open socialist who supports Palestinian rights. In the overall context of this race, however, their choice should be obvious. Do they find Mandami’s views on economic and Middle East policy more repugnant than Cuomo’s past track record, his rejection by Dem primary voters, and his conferring with and his comments about the party’s bête noire? 

In 2016, in 2020, in 2024 (not to mention in prior races), progressives were instructed to “vote blue no matter who” given the utter repugnancy of the GOP nominee. Now, when the shoe is on the other foot, that adage has gone out the window with the party “leadership.” Rallying progressives to the blue banner will be infinitely more difficult in future cycles if the party does not support the clear choice of New York’s Democratic voters now.

Clear choices between stark alternatives are not that common in our political system. This high-profile mayoral race offers such a choice. People will remember how what passes for party leadership responds to this clear choice.