Much continues to be made of Senator Chuck Schumer’s and Representative Hakeem Jeffries’s failure to endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor in November. As respectively the Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, they would be expected to get behind the Democratic nominee.
It is said, however, that Mamdani’s self-proclaimed socialist agenda does not play well outside of the N.Y.C. area and they are, after all, the guardians of the national Democratic brand. Yet if they don’t support him, as N.Y.C.-based politicians, they risk facing primary challenges by Mamdani’s newly electrified base the next time they themselves run for reelection.
But, while we can appreciate their dilemma, it is nonetheless dismaying that they have failed to distance themselves from some of his beyond the pale positions.
Do their special concerns justify giving the impression that they don’t disapprove of Mamdani’s positions that many deem to be out-and-out anti-Jewish bigotry. Would they be silent if Mamdani had spewed analogous anti-Black or anti-Latino statements? We rather think they wouldn’t.
Nor is their failure to rebuke Mamdani a mere matter of passive acquiescence. Their failure to address his provocations signals that his brand of politics has a place in the Democratic Party.
Just as importantly, it signals that antisemitism is not that big of a deal – and it legitimates it in the eyes of new voters Mamdani drew to the primary election, most of whom are from younger, more impressionable age groups.
And this is to say nothing of Mamdani’s radical positions – freezing rent, making public transportation free and increasing taxes on the wealthy.
And then there are his general goals of emasculating law enforcement, cancelling and remaking or culture, fostering transgenderism and sanctuary cities and adopting such discriminatory anti-business policies as affirmative action and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
So it’s time for Schumer and Jeffries to step up to the plate and declare unequivocally that antisemitism is unacceptable as are economy-hobbling and tradition-bashing policies.