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El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
The People united will never be defeated.
28 June 2025
25 June 2025
Fwd: How Zohran Mamdani shocked the world — and what it means
This is worth a read. Some of the old guard in the Democratic Party are alarmed that a Bernie Sanders style social democrat won the mayoral primary in New York handily, but to me it's a clarion call. The old guard is the problem. Demorats need to stand for a clear plan to extricate our country from the crippling stagnation of one party that's gone completely off the rails and is now just the Sycophancy Faction for a dictator, and the other can't seem to get its act together to galvanize the desire of the vast majority of Americans to reform. The majority wants tosee the return of actual power to the majority, enacting sensible and forward looking policies to renergize our economy and actually solving problems like housing, good jobs, the right to medical care, transportation, infrastructure... the list goes on and on and the Democratic party is failing to produce motivated leaders to lead us out of this morass. I think the Mamdani win tells you a lot about what people really want to see happen in this country.
This is a free edition of Progress Report, an award-winning newsletter. To support independent journalism, elevate untold stories, and unlock exclusive posts, you can become a premium member for the price of a coffee: One more thing: Would you mind hitting the little heart and recycle buttons below to help us get our work to more readers? Substack is ultra-competitive and really helps. How Zohran Mamdani shocked the world — and what it meansThe NYC mayoral primary could presage huge changes to the Democratic Party
Welcome to a Tuesday night edition of Progress Report. We knew there was a strong possibility that Zohran Mamdani could win the NYC mayoral primary, but the broad assumption was that it would happen after the ranked choice votes were tabulated next week. Instead, he blew away the field to score a historic victory and force New York journalists such as myself to burn the midnight oil to write about his victory a full week early. Not that I'm complaining — tonight, we'll examine how this happened and the critically important lessons that should be taken from the election, with inside insights from my work in this mayoral election. Remember, you can check out my deep dive into the election with journalist and political strategist Michael Lange right here.
Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has defeated disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and will be the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City. The 33-year-old Democratic Socialist's decisive victory is without precedent in modern Democratic politics, both for what he represents and the forces that he vanquished during his campaign. Mamdani began the race as a little-known legislator with virtually zero support outside of Astoria and young DSA organizers, and for many observers, he was the afterthought in a field filled with New York political stalwarts. In the end, he survived a bombardment of attack ads and cheap shots in the media, riding a wave of excitement above the slings and arrows flung by an old guard of sclerotic power brokers and billionaires. And in so many ways, this win validates what we've been arguing here for years and years. Here are some lessons that Democrats, pundits, and journalists should take away from this unbelievable upset: Voters have firmly rejected Democratic gerontocracy and corruptionWhen party insiders have their meltdowns over this election, it won't be because they're worried about the Democratic Party's future. It'll be entirely because they're terrified for their own futures now that voters have rejected them. These people did everything they could to sabotage Mamdani, no matter how organically popular his campaign grew or how many solutions it offered to the Democratic Party's existential crisis. Cuomo's Super PAC produced racist mailers, accusations of anti-Semitism were irresponsibly hurled by lawmakers and pundits, relics like James Clyburn and Bill Clinton threw their vastly diminished weight behind Cuomo, and dozens of New York Democrats who once called for his resignation during his sexual harassment scandal lined up behind him. North of $20 million in anti-Mamdani TV ads blanketed the city.  But none of it worked because New Yorkers would not be bamboozled into forgiving an unrepentant retread who dripped corruption and contempt for voters. They ignored tired canards about the electorate being afraid of ambitious ideas and fearful of real change, because they knew that they were the electorate. The desperate need for change is obvious, but the people who run the Democratic Party have been trying to ignore that to maintain their own power. This is a seismic shock to the system, even if Democratic leaders try to downplay it. Watch them quickly abandon Cuomo and say that he was a particularly flawed candidate, though that didn't stop them from jumping behind his campaign. There will be months and months of sniping about Mamdani in the press, accusing him of not being organized or alienating big donors. There will be stories about conservative Democrats fleeing the party. The playbook is clear. But this victory will only embolden progressive lawmakers and outsiders to run for office, both in open races and primary challenges against antiquated, corrupt, and cowardly Democrats who now suddenly seem more vulnerable than ever. In New York City alone, there already murmurs that Torres and Rep. Dan Goldman could see challenges from Michael Blake and Brad Lander, two mayoral contenders who earned public admiration during this race. Dedication to a simple, hopeful messageMamdani won over New Yorkers with charming, innovative campaign videos that focused on his plans to tame the cost of living crisis gripping the city. That message, repeated relentlessly and with an earnest optimism, really came down to a few simple, easy-to-understand promises, including free and fast busses, freezing the rent on rent-stabilized apartments, and city-run grocery stores. While you can quibble with some of the specifics — the city will have to ask Gov. Kathy Hochul for money to cover the cost of the bus scheme — the reality is that voters are not wonks and they gravitate toward candidates who offer simple, digestible, and material solutions that will tangibly improve their lives. It's the exact opposite of what Democrats so often do, which is pitch invisible tax credits and programs that take years and years to roll out. As I've repeated for years, campaigns have to give people a reason to leave the house and cast their ballots, especially in dangerously hot weather. Mamdani's campaign created a clear picture of what his New York could look like; Cuomo offered little beyond vague talk about "getting things done" and half-assed (and ChatGPT-written!) policy papers. It's also worth noting that Mamdani made the time to work on these videos, even if they took him to far reaches of the city or took up half a day. Many candidates are really unwilling to do that, whether it's out of arrogance, ignorance, or a need to focus on fundraising. Mamdani's relationship with DSA made raising small dollars so easy that he didn't have to work the phones begging prospective donors for cash all day, which allowed him to make these videos and raise even more money.  Cuomo ran a dour campaign that depicted the city as a crime-ridden hellhole, arguing that only a strongman with his decades of experience — no matter how much damage he caused people — could fix it. How he'd do it, and for whom, was always unclear. I'm a New Yorker, and Andrew Cuomo's campaign made me feel depressed about the city's prospects, even under his watch. He was offering a triage, not a future. Even if you were willing to ignore his litany of personal scandals and the number of grandparents he helped kill, nothing he said during his campaign was at all motivating, and it led to a collapse in support once another option seemed possible. People love being a part of somethingThe most successful political campaigns have been more like movements: Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and yes, even Donald Trump have animated people in ways that transcended politics. Supporters were more than voters, they were evangelists who dedicated their time and energy and resources to those campaigns, where they met people who were similarly devoted to the cause. Being a significant figure within New York's DSA chapter gave Mamdani a nice head start on that front, but it took a special talent and staff to inspire army that swelled to more than 50,000 volunteers. From the beginning, Mamdani integrated his supporters into his campaign videos — something I urged Jessica Ramos to do even before Mamdani entered the race — and embraced the memes produced by fans without ever trying to co-opt them or silence supporters who they could have viewed as liabilities. Trump's campaigns have been nasty and divisive, but they've also always treated his supporters as part of the larger team. Backing Trump, especially early on, meant being a member of a kind of upstart rebel army, and MAGA obsessives reveled in every harsh tweet and triggered liberal. Their politics and personalities are total opposites, but Mamdani's supporters similarly experienced a kind of validation every time he posted a great video or ripped off a good line in a debate. On that note, Mamdani never tried to triangulate or shrink from his beliefs, no matter how much money and press attention was focused on cynically attacking them. Most prominently was his support for the Palestinian people, which earned him relentless accusations of antisemitism. He defended himself from those allegations, but he never apologized for his beliefs. Democratic voters are so used to being thrown under the bus by their candidates and leaders that Mamdani's decision to stick to his guns was a kind of validation that inspired further buy-in and loyalty. Incidents like his screaming at Trump border czar Tom Homan in Albany went viral, further underscoring his willingness to fight. People want to be part of that fight and feel galvanized by that kind of moment. Last Friday night's walk down the length of Manhattan was the entire thesis of the Mamdani campaign in action: a small group of political optimists invited New Yorkers to join them in a joyous march through a cross-section of a working class city, growing with neighborhood until it became a diverse parade of supporters and people who were just along for the ride. He proactively built a real coalitionYoung voters quickly gravitated toward him, giving Mamdani an advantage in parts of North Brooklyn and his home turf in western Queens, but that's hardly enough to be competitive in an election, let alone win it outright against a former governor with near-universal name recognition. Instead of assuming cultural affinities would help him with certain demographics, Mamdani was proactive in courting diverse communities across the five boroughs, sending his volunteer army to canvass neighborhoods that were previously thin on voters. First generation citizens gravitated toward him as he spoke to their concerns and cut a warm, aspirational figure, and he emphasized as many languages as possible. Compare that to Cuomo, who had zero ground game (he depended on the Super PAC) and really only ever showed up at orthodox synagogues and Black churches at the invitation of their leaders, who usually owed him favors. The obvious solution to the dude problem — if they want itA sports metaphor for you: In January, the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, the 26-year-old global superstar who figured to be their anchor for the next decade, to the LA Lakers in exchange for an injury-prone center and some role players. The trade was instantly greeted as one of the worst in NBA history and led to dramatic protests by irate and heartbroken fans. Then, this spring, the Mavericks rode ultra-slim odds to an improbable victory in the NBA draft lottery, giving them the opportunity to draft Cooper Flagg, a generational talent out of Duke who has been tapped as the Next Big Thing. It was a miraculous twist of good fortune for an organization that was in absolute disarray after making a disastrous mistake, an unearned solution that has quieted fan revolt and gotten them excited for the future once again. After their catastrophic loss in November, Democrats were a lot like the Dallas Mavericks brass, being raked over the coals for a series of screw ups that collapsed the party's support among young men and seemed to doom them to perennial drubbings. And then, like Cooper Flagg falling into the Mavs' lap, Mamdani's sudden emergence felt like a divine intervention: an affable 33-year-old former hobby rapper who loves sports, enthusiastically quotes pop culture, and regularly challenges authority — running as not only a Democrat, but a peace-loving, oligarchy-rejecting populist. Mamdani went on the Chapo Trap House podcast early in his campaign and ultimately assembled a coalition of left-leaning dude celebrity supporters — comedians, podcasters, TV hosts — that resembled the orbit of influencers that backed Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020 but were chased away by the Democratic establishment. It was an even more natural fit; he spoke their language, had the same cultural references, and experienced the same millennial economic uncertainty.  While we won't get a demographic breakdown of the electorate for a while, the Emerson poll released on Monday found Mamdani way ahead among men, so it's almost assured that they were key to his victory. This is probably the least surprising aspect of what will forever be seen as a shocking and unexpected upset. Since early last year I've been writing about the reasons behind Democrats' obvious trouble with young men, as well as possible solutions, and my thesis has consistently been that politics is downstream from culture, meaning that progressivism has to be slipped into conversations about sports, movies, music, internet culture, and whatever else people are into. Mamdani's ability to talk about the Knicks and affordable housing policy at the same time is a manifestation of that. None of this should be mind-blowing; I've been prescribing the solution since before Democrats would admit it's a problem. The issue is that when party leaders say that they want to find a "liberal" Joe Rogan or build up media that can reach young and diverse voters, what they really mean is that they want to find people who will willingly parrot their sanitized message. What they need to do instead is find compelling candidates with their own authentic points of view and get them in front of independent creators, hosts, and journalists who have real connections with audiences, whether that's local or cultural, and let them cook. Wait, Before You Leave!Progress Report has raised over $7 million dollars for progressive candidates and causes, breaks national stories about corrupt politicians, and delivers incisive analysis, and goes deep into the grassroots. None of the money we've raised for candidates and causes goes to producing this newsletter or all of the related projects we put out. In fact, it costs me money to do this. So, I need your help. For just $5 a month, you can buy a premium subscription that includes:
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© 2025 Jordan Zakarin
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18 June 2025
Alfred Brendel (1931-2025)
I'm generally not one to adulate artistic personalities, but I note with genuine sadness the passing of Alfred Brendel at 94. I first became aware of his work from when he was a young pianist in "budget" recordings of Mozart piano concertos and Beethoven's complete piano works in somewhat murky 1950s era budget recordings, re-released in this country on Vox/Turnabout (licensed from European labels) in the late 1960s. His musicianship and delicate precision introduced me to the great pleasures of classical piano music at an early age. He matured into one of the great artists of the instrument, and was a noted teacher as well. R.I.P.
American Gestapo
Friends, if this picture of American secret police agents doesn't make you a little bit sick to your stomach, you should ask yourself what has happened to your American republican/democratic values.
.............
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
The People united will never be defeated.
14 June 2025
No kings... let's rewrite the Pledge of Allegiance
How about rewriting the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic it establishes; one nation, indivisible, with inalienable rights, liberty, and justice for all."
Could leave out the Harvard comma, perhaps. But the 'inalienable rights' is key.
.............
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
The People united will never be defeated.
DO NOT CAPITULATE! DO NOT BE SILENCED! RESIST!
IMPEACH and REMOVE.
IMPEACH and REMOVE.
12 June 2025
Immediate Senate Response to outrageous treatment of one of their members must be forthcoming NOW!
There needs to be ... at minimum... a Senate Resolution censuring Trump and his regime for the outrageous treatment of a Senator, Alex Padilla, who was only doing his Constitutional duty to investigate potentially illegal actions of the Executive Branch. When he was illegally thrown to the ground and handcuffed. The outrage is incredible. It is time for even the most craven of Ruling Party sycophants to stand up for the prerogatives of the ARTICLE I branch of government, which is supposed to be the supreme branch, primus inter pares, under the system the founders created to ensure the long term survival of a democratic republican form of government in our country. (That, of course, is why it is Article ONE). The attempt by this regime to exercise dictatorial control over all matters of state must be resisted and countered in the strongest possible way.
I would hope that at least some of these spineless creatures in the Ruling Party would stand up for the preservation of the bare minimum necessary to be able to claim they believe in the continuity of the form of government which has served us pretty well, and been the essence and core of our very existence as a nation, for nearly 250 years. No person can claim in good faith that the electorate voted for the assumption of dictatorial powers by this president.
.............
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
The People united will never be defeated.
DO NOT CAPITULATE! DO NOT BE SILENCED! RESIST!
IMPEACH and REMOVE.
IMPEACH and REMOVE.
02 June 2025
Important Historical Precedent: Margaret Chase Smith (Heather Cox Richardson)
This is so important to remember. We are in a far, far worse place than the Republican anti-communist bullying in the early 1950s, but the parallels are undeniable, and the lesson of bravery in standing up and saying No! are telling. Where are the courageous Republicans willing to stand up and say No! to Trumpism. I fear that all of them have already left the party to its Fascists fellow travelers, and our peril is that much the greater as a result.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American
From: Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American
"I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition," Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine told her colleagues on June 1, 1950. "It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear…. I speak as a Republican, I speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American." "Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism," she pointed out. Americans have the right to criticize, to hold unpopular beliefs, to protest, and to think for themselves. But attacks that cost people their reputations and jobs were stifling these basic American principles, and the ones making those attacks were in her own party. Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy, who was sitting two rows behind her, led a faction that had cowed almost all of the Republican Party into silence by accusing their opponents of "communism." Smith recognized the damage McCarthy and his ilk were doing to the nation. She had seen the effects of his behavior up close in Maine, where the faction of the Republican Party that supported McCarthy had supported the state's Ku Klux Klan. "Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America," Senator Smith said. "It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others." Senator Smith wanted a Republican administration, she explained, but to replace President Harry Truman's Democratic administration—for which she had plenty of harsh words—with a Republican regime "that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty would prove equally disastrous to this nation." "I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear." "I doubt if the Republican party could do so," she added, "simply because I do not believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political exploitation above national interest. Surely we Republicans are not that desperate for victory." "I do not want to see the Republican party win that way," she said. "While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican party, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people. Surely it would ultimately be suicide for the Republican party and the two-party system that has protected our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one-party system." "As an American, I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat Communist," she said. "They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves." Smith presented a "Declaration of Conscience," listing five principles she hoped her party would adopt. It ended with a warning: "It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life." In 1950, six other Republican senators signed onto Senator Smith's declaration, leading McCarthy to sneer at "Snow White and the Six Dwarves." Other Republicans quietly applauded Smith's courage but refused to show similar courage themselves with public support. In a statement in honor of the 75th anniversary of Smith's Declaration of Conscience, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted that our time resembles hers, and decried the "character assassination, baldfaced lies, petty insults, and round-the-clock disinformation" of MAGA Republicans. "[T]he hollowing out of American political language…tracks the corruption of American government and the disappearance of serious policy debate," he wrote. "These movements of thought are not just part of one politician's campaign for power. They are in service of a ruling public philosophy, which treats the government as an instrument for class plunder and private self-enrichment, a get-even-filthier-rich-quick scheme for the president and his family and friends." But for those who believe "that the government should be an instrument for the common good of all and the defense of our freedoms and civil rights, the state of politics in the country is a…serious threat to the survival of democratic institutions and the possibility of democratic progress." "The essential work of democracy is being trashed by the rule-or-ruin politics of the MAGA party," Raskin wrote. "This is not a partisan exercise we are engaged in today to save and strengthen democracy in America…. MAGA and [the Department of Government Efficiency] are engaged in a hostile takeover of all the political institutions and programmatic achievements of American democracy." "Here in America we have a supreme Constitution, not a supreme leader," Raskin wrote. "Democracy is not just a static collection of rules and practices. It is an unfinished project in motion, a constant work in progress. And we must never forget that democracy is the political system in service of human freedom." A month ago, another Maine senator, Independent Angus King, recalled Smith's Declaration of Conscience in a speech to his colleagues in the Senate. "I fear that we are at a similar moment in history," he said. "And…today's 'serious national condition' [involves] the President of the United States. Echoing Senator Smith, today's crisis should not be viewed as a partisan issue; this is not about Democrats or Republicans, or immigration or tax policy, or even the next set of elections; today's crisis threatens the idea of America and the system of government that has sustained us for more than two centuries." "What's at stake," he said, is "the driving force behind the basic design of our Constitution—the grave danger to any society is the concentration of power in one set of hands." King quoted framer of the Constitution James Madison, who warned: "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands…may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." And yet, King said, "this 'accumulation of all powers' is exactly what is happening today, before our very eyes. Although many in this body unfortunately seem determined to ignore it, deliberately ignore it, the evidence is everywhere: from the elimination of Congressionally-established agencies to the withholding of appropriated funds…to issuing executive orders purporting to be law in place of legislation to sidestepping if not ignoring court orders: This President is engaged in the most direct assault on the Constitution in our history, and we in this body, at least thus far, are inert—and therefore complicit…. [T]his President is attempting to govern as a monarch, unbound by law or Constitutional restraint, not as a President subject to the constraints of the Constitution and the rule of law." King implored his colleagues to "reclaim our power…. You know, do our job." He reminded them: "Each of us swore—swore, mind you—to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic'; [and that we would] 'bear true faith and allegiance to [the Constitution].' Clearly," he said, "the Framers knew there might someday be 'domestic' enemies of the Constitution and made it our sacred obligation to defend the Constitution from them," and he called for his colleagues to stand alongside him to do so. Last night, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) told host Jimmy Kimmel that Republican senators are indeed unnerved by Trump's behavior and the actions of the administration. The problem, Booker said, is what Thomas Jefferson said: "'When the public fears their government, there is tyranny. When the government fears its people, there is liberty.'" Republicans in office "are so afraid of Donald Trump that they are letting things go," Booker said "We the people have to make our politicians fear the consequences of…doing wrong more than the year that Donald Trump will run a primary against them, or put $100 million, or troll them on the internet. This is…one of those moments when we are not going to see change in Washington unless more of us have said enough." Recalling the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Booker said that "the problem today we have to repent for is not just the vitriolic words and violent actions of the bad people, but also the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. This is the time Americans have to step up and let their voices be heard." Seventy-five years ago, Senator Smith's voice was largely ignored in the public arena. But she was right. Four years later, the Senate condemned McCarthy, and after his death in 1957, Wisconsin voters elected Democrat William Proxmire, who held the seat for the next 32 years. And while Senator Smith was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, McCarthy has gone down in history as a disgrace to his state and to the United States of America. — Notes: https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/SmithDeclaration.pdf Representative Jamie Raskin, "Statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin on the 75th Anniversary of Senator Margaret Chase Smith's Declaration of Conscience," June 1, 2025. Facebook: You're currently a paid subscriber to Letters from an American. If you need help receiving Letters, changing your email address, or unsubscribing, please visit our Support FAQ. You can also submit a help request directly.
© 2025 Heather Cox Richardson
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.............
El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
The People united will never be defeated.
DO NOT CAPITULATE! DO NOT BE SILENCED! RESIST!
IMPEACH and REMOVE.
IMPEACH and REMOVE.
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