Democrats could do a lot better with the power they hold
THE VIDEO of Brad Lander getting slammed against a wall and arrested by federal immigration agents shocked New Yorkers, who are not easily shocked. On June 17th the mild-mannered city comptroller had been attempting to escort a migrant through a federal building in Manhattan as agents tried to detain the man. 'It's bullshit,' said Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York, of Mr Lander's arrest. It came a week before a crowded Democratic primary for New York City mayor, in which the city comptroller is a candidate. The arrest may well help his campaign, but it marked yet another skirmish over immigration with Donald Trump's administration. It is just the latest escalation in a confrontation with cities and states that did not vote for the president, on a topic where the public supports him most.
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New Statesman
2 hours ago
- New Statesman
Where have all the anti-war Democrats gone?
To bomb or not to bomb? President Trump treats waging war with the same gravity he might deploy when deciding whether to play golf. He said this week that 'I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do'. Call it strategic ambiguity, or flagrant honesty. You get the sense that the president doesn't know himself whether he will give the order. The White House line right now is that the president will decide over the next two weeks. Cue chatter that this is a ruse to discombobulate the Iranians before an imminent American strike. Whatever he decides, Trump's attempt to save face after Netanyahu ignored his plea to leave the negotiations with Iran alone has exposed fissures between the neo-cons in his administration and the Maga isolationists. The Maga activist Laura Loomer has started a list of those who criticised the president, presumably for a future purge. What, then, are the Democrats doing to exploit this chink in the normally preternaturally cultish Maga movement which rarely turns on itself? Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, issued an milquetoast statement when Israel first struck Iran. Hakeem Jeffries, his counterpart in the House of Representatives, issued a similar statement but called for American troops not to be put 'in harm's way'. As Peter Beinart wrote in the New York Times, neither Democratic leader instructed the President that the authority to go to war resides with Congress. (Schumer later did, but took no action to that effect.) There is a tendency within the party to treat war as a non-partisan issue, as if bombing another country in the name of national security is a foregone conclusion. A rally-around-our-troops effect takes hold. This might be a missed opportunity for the Democrats to become the anti-war party, a position Trump has dominated since he won in 2016. A YouGov/Economist poll found that 60 per cent of Americans don't think Trump should get involved in the war, including over half of Republican voters, with only 16 per cent supporting action. Yet, the anti-war Democrats are confined to the party's populist left, or what you could more generously call the left who wants to be popular. Bernie Sanders has introduced a No War Against Iran bill in the Senate. Ro Khanna, the progressive Democratic representative, has emerged as the party's leading anti-war figure. Khanna opposed the Iraq war in 2003 and sees interventionism in the Middle East as yet another example – alongside globalisation and a pro-rich tax policy – of how communities in states such as Pennsylvania were shunted to the bottom of Washington's priorities. It's a message Trump has put to good use for over a decade. Democrats' pitch to voters could now include both opposition to Trump's militarism at home and abroad. Challenging Trump's potential strikes could become a chance for the Democrats to tap into that populist anger which Trump has so deftly mined for so long. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [See also: Is Trump the last neoconservative?] Related
NBC News
16 hours ago
- NBC News
Vance to travel to Los Angeles
Vice President JD Vance will travel to Los Angeles on Friday for a visit to a city where clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials have become a focal point of the opposition to the Trump administration's immigration agenda. While in Los Angeles, Vance is expected to deliver remarks as well as tour federal facilities, including a mobile command center and meet with Marines. Vance's visit to the city is the latest in the battle between Democrats and the Trump administration over its hardline deportation policies after an appeals court ruled in the president's favor Thursday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it's "likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority" in deploying California National Guard troops to respond to protests in L.A. The decision stemmed from the lawsuit California Attorney General Rob Bonta brought against the Trump administration after Trump sent the troops to the city without the approval of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. On Wednesday, U.S. Northern Command said that it was activating 2,000 additional National Guard troops in L.A. to 'support the protection of federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area.' That brings the total number of National Guard troops deployed to the city to more than 4,000 since the protests erupted there earlier this month. The president also deployed U.S. Marines to assist law enforcement in the response to demonstrations. The president's and administration's immigration actions have sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers, including California Sen. Alex Padilla, who was forcibly removed and handcuffed after he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a briefing last week. The protests formed after ICE agents raided three places in central L.A. in early June, triggering a domino effect of similar demonstrations nationwide. While they've dissipated in recent weeks, one began on Thursday when federal agents working with ICE came to Dodgers Stadium 'requested permission to access the parking lots.' The Major League Baseball team, however, said that it blocked immigration agents from entering the ballpark.
NBC News
a day ago
- NBC News
How opponents on the left are banding together to try to stop Andrew Cuomo in New York City
As high-profile longtime New York Democrats flock to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and high-powered progressives join forces to block his comeback tour, the city's relatively recent adoption of ranked choice voting looms large over the closely watched Democratic mayoral primary. Unlike more typical primaries, in which the candidate with the most votes wins, ranked choice systems have voters rank multiple candidates (in this case, five) on their ballots. The votes of the lowest-finishing candidates are redistributed to voters' preferred alternatives until one candidate wins a majority. Cuomo, the far-and-away favorite of the moderates, with years of built-up name recognition, is giving his supporters simple directions: Rank him first. And in a city with a first-past-the-post voting system, his first-choice support might already have closed out the race, even if it doesn't add up to a majority in the public polling. State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the leading progressive in the race, has made a series of mutual endorsements with other like-minded candidates, directing their supporters to include both on their ballots — such as with city Comptroller Brad Lander, whose high-profile arrest in a federal immigration court in the race's final days has shined new light on his mayoral bid. Both are rallying behind a slogan and strategy made possible by the unique quirk of ranked choice voting: 'Don't rank Cuomo.' With just days to go before primary day, the complicated crosscurrents are coming together to create a climactic finish in the race to lead America's biggest city — a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party mixed with a redemption tour for a front-runner once seen as a Democratic darling before accusations of sexual harassment forced his resignation as governor. While Cuomo's comeback tour may have been heading for all-but-certain victory in a plurality-wins primary, ranked choice has injected significant uncertainty into the race and provided an opportunity for the anti-Cuomo forces. 'He's running what probably feels a lot like any other race that's not ranked choice — he's trying to get people to vote for him, and his name ID is a huge value for him,' said Maya Rupert, who managed progressive Maya Wiley's mayoral campaign in 2021, when she secured the third-most votes in the crowded field. 'Mamdani, he has been building and has captured so much attention — I think he's possibly the most perfect test case for why ranked choice voting is so important. You can see a candidate like him capture imaginations,' she said.
