I know, but I think Cuomo is much more representative of the Democratic establishment that has been in place for several decades now. Mamdani comes from outside that establishment. In any other democracy, the two candidates would not be in the same political party, since they are not ideologically aligned, but, because the US is a de facto two party system, they are both technically “Democrats.”
I feel that establishment Democrats have often used Republicans as a threat in many elections, to basically extort their voters. Specifically, they have used the Republican threat as a way to keep the establishment Democrats in power. “If you nominate a progressive or leftist, you’ll split the party and the Republicans will win, so best just to play it safe and fall in line behind the establishment.” They’re not necessarily wrong, but it nonetheless feels like extortion.
That’s why I’ve often said the Democrats (remember, I’m talking about establishment, neoliberal Democrats) and the Republicans have been engaged in a kind of good cop/bad cop routine for many years. The Republicans being a party of violent lunatics has been useful to the Democrats. Whenever Democratic voters try to deviate too much from the neoliberal establishment, the Democrats have been able to say, “hey, if you’re not willing to cooperate with us, we’ll just send in the Republicans again, and you know those guys aren’t as nice as us,” kind of a thing.
I know, but I think Cuomo is much more representative of the Democratic establishment that has been in place for several decades now. Mamdani comes from outside that establishment. In any other democracy, the two candidates would not be in the same political party, since they are not ideologically aligned, but, because the US is a de facto two party system, they are both technically “Democrats.”
I feel that establishment Democrats have often used Republicans as a threat in many elections, to basically extort their voters. Specifically, they have used the Republican threat as a way to keep the establishment Democrats in power. “If you nominate a progressive or leftist, you’ll split the party and the Republicans will win, so best just to play it safe and fall in line behind the establishment.” They’re not necessarily wrong, but it nonetheless feels like extortion.
That’s why I’ve often said the Democrats (remember, I’m talking about establishment, neoliberal Democrats) and the Republicans have been engaged in a kind of good cop/bad cop routine for many years. The Republicans being a party of violent lunatics has been useful to the Democrats. Whenever Democratic voters try to deviate too much from the neoliberal establishment, the Democrats have been able to say, “hey, if you’re not willing to cooperate with us, we’ll just send in the Republicans again, and you know those guys aren’t as nice as us,” kind of a thing.