The far-left is eating its own. Just ask Mamdani.– www.dailykos.com

How far gone do you have to be to think that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “genocidal”?

Apparently, this far gone:

And this far gone:

Think about how utterly insane this is.

Mamdani is a Muslim Democratic socialist who has spent his political career advocating for Palestinian rights. And he was elected mayor of the country’s largest city while openly embracing Democratic socialism—proving that an unapologetically left-wing politician can build a winning coalition.

He is quite literally one of the greatest political success stories the U.S. socialist left has ever produced. So how does its extremist flank celebrate that success? By calling him a genocidal Zionist.

This is much of the same behavior and attitude that saw Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez effectively of New York excommunicated by the national Democratic Socialists of America, even though its New York City chapter maintained its support.

And while DSA factions participated in yesterday’s protests against Mamdani, this wasn’t exclusively a DSA attack; it was a broader assault from the self-defeating far-left fringe.

It’s gotten so absurd that even prominent pro-Palestinian voices are shaking their heads.

Activist Ihab Hassan has been particularly brutal, writing posts on X like, “The Palestinian cause was hijacked by these idiots long ago, and most people in the pro-Palestine movement who disagree with them are too cowardly to call them out or challenge their disgusting narrative.”

And he notes the uncomfortable truth that much of the pro-Palestinian far-left is very, very white.

So what, exactly, do these people think they’re accomplishing? It’s certainly not helping the Palestinian people in any way.

Politics is about winning power so you can actually change things. You build coalitions, win elections, enact policies, and improve people’s lives. That’s the whole point.

Mamdani did precisely that—he built a coalition broad enough to win America’s largest city without abandoning his progressive principles. He now has an opportunity to demonstrate that Democratic socialism can deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives.

That’s a tremendous opportunity for the movement that helped elect him. But rather than celebrate that success, these extremists are determined to undermine it.

Why? Because governing requires compromise. It requires engaging with people who disagree with you. It requires recognizing that you’re the mayor of 8.5 million people, not the president of a collegiate activist club.

And for these zealots, compromise isn’t a necessary part of governance; it’s betrayal. So they don’t just eat their own, but they eat their most successful.

Republicans have allowed their far-right white nationalists to fester, undermining their broader movement—something that conservative radio personality Erick Erickson has been grappling with lately. There should be no room in the progressive coalition for anyone who thinks that Mamdani and AOC are “genocidal Zionists.”

And no, I’m not being exclusionary. These wacko leftists exclude themselves—not just by viciously attacking their erstwhile allies, but by making sure to focus their efforts against Democrats, going so far as to agitate against our own ticket in 2024.

Remember? Once upon a time, the vice president was apparently the most powerful person in the world when it came to the Israel-Hamas war. Defeating “Killer Kamala” was so important that helping Donald Trump return to the White House was an acceptable outcome.

Now Trump and Vice President JD Vance are literally turning the Middle East upside down. And Palestinians are hardly better off for having Trump in the White House.

But is the far-left out there protesting this regime? Of course not. Somehow, it’s Mamdani who deserves their anger. The real enemy is the Democratic socialist mayor who showed up at a vigil mourning both Israeli and Palestinian victims.

This is Trumpian levels of self-sabotage, without Trump’s inexplicable power to actually rally people around him.

These are not serious people. They are not interested in the difficult, often frustrating work of making the world a better place—one that actually improves the lives of the people they claim to be fighting for.

They would rather be impeccably righteous in defeat than accomplish something meaningful through compromise.

So far AOC has done a great job of distancing herself from the worst of these extremists. And after last night, hopefully Mamdani understands that he can also never win with these zealots.

We’ll get straight to the point: The financial hardships that Daily Kos is facing this year are tough.

We continue to be paywall-free. We continue to be supported by our readers, not billionaires or corporations. But we need to bring in more revenue. We are leaning on our community more than ever to help make ends meet.