Robt. Reich: Leave it to the Democratic Party to snatch an existential crisis from the jaws of electoral victory.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-corporate-democrats-biggest-nightmare?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

The Corporate Democrat’s Biggest Nightmare
He’s on the way to becoming mayor of New York City

ROBERT REICH
JUN 27, 2025

Friends,

Leave it to the Democratic Party to snatch an existential crisis from the jaws of electoral victory.

The stunning success of 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, in the race for New York City mayor is causing anguish in the Democratic Party.

It’s one thing for Trump to call Mamdani “a 100% Communist Lunatic.” That’s to be expected from the vulgarian-in-chief. It’s another for Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist Democratic group Third Way, to warn that Mamdani’s “affiliation with the (Democratic Socialists of America) is very dangerous.”

Dangerous for whom? Bernie Sanders nearly won the Democratic primary for the 2016 presidential election after announcing he was a democratic socialist — and probably would have won had the Democratic National Committee not torpedoed him.

Lawrence Summers, treasury secretary under former Democratic President Barack Obama, says the New York City results make him “profoundly alarmed about the future of the (Democratic Party) and the country.”

Well, I’m profoundly alarmed, too — by just this kind of vacuous statement. If polls are to be believed, the current Democratic Party doesn’t have much of a future. Mamdani and other young politicians with the charisma to connect with the people and a willingness to take on corporate America and Wall Street may be the only way forward for the Democrats.

More

[Passages]

1. There are many good reasons to ignore Larry Summers.

Larry Summers’ Undisclosed Corporate Ties Threaten Harvard’s Credibility
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/3/1/hauser-summers-corporate-ties/

[Bluetus]

4. Both parties have been taken over by the oligarchs.

They are not equally terrible, but we can't save our democracy without purging the problems in our own party.. The GOP is a lost cause. We can still do something about the Dems.

[Montauk6]

15. Larry Who...?

Now I knows Larry Graham, Larry Fine, Larry Bird, Larry Tate, Larry from the Floaters, but I doesn't knows any Larry SUMMERS!

[Passages]

21. He is mentioned in Robert Reich's OP

Lawrence Summers, treasury secretary under former Democratic President Barack Obama, says the New York City results make him “profoundly alarmed about the future of the (Democratic Party) and the country.”

[Escurumbele]

34. I am convinced that one of the most successful strategist from republicans has been to inflitrate republicans

into the Democratic party. Democrats will not win elections unless they start uniting and doing what republicans do, they support each other, no matter how horrible they are, that is one of their best strategies, they have one voice, they even sound like parrots spewing the same hate and lies almost verbatim. One message, they use the strategy of "if you repeat a lie many times it becomes a truth in the minds of your followers".

It is so infuriating.

[elleng]

2. Mamdani and other young politicians with the charisma to connect with the people and a willingness to take on corporate

may be the only way forward for the Democrats.

[walkingman]

3. I hope we become more progressive in the US - seems like we are

going in the wrong direction to me.

[Raven123]

5. The less we hear from Summers, the better off we all will be.

[Envirogal]

36. One of the architects of the 2008 financial crisis

He helped “deregulate” the old guard financial regulations that held things together by keeping a cement wall between “boring”, stable banking and the casino of investment banking. My former congressman, Jim Leach of Iowa even has his name on the bill, Grahamm, LEACH, Bliley Act that did away with Glass-Steagel. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/larry-summers-s-legacy/344091/

My favorite memory of Summers is his creepy face when Jon Stewart annihilated him in an interview.

?si=73OHk9nNB80Slo7y

[BurnDoubt]

6. Maybe a Phoenix is our main chance...

"I don't know, but I've been told
it's hard to run with the weight of Gold...
Other hand I've heard it said:
It's just as hard with the weight of Lead."
...Who else is generating that much enthusiasm among the people who will have to live with these decisions for WAY longer than I will.
"Lead, Follow, Or Get Out Of The Way."

[Beck23]

7. Big tent?

Apparently, the Democratic party is not a big tent after all.

[Grins]

8. Aren't you supposed to learn something after an election?

Win or lose - VOTERS have told you plenty.

As someone once said, “Elections have consequences.”

[Aviation Pro]

9. Same goddamn comments after President Obama

Was nominated.

[yardwork]

10. Reich is right about this.

[PatrickforB]

11. If you ask me, I'd rather get rid of Third Way. Just saying - they are a losing ticket. n/t

[KPN]

12. Kicked.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. All nice, but you can't run a campaign on charisma alone, not nationally anyway.

We can't raise enough corporate cash to compete.
We can't get a fair shake from M$M.
Our own donations don't buy the coverage we need.
We have a Senate problem of long duration.
We have a Court problem.

I doubt socialism and its candidates will turn the trick for us.

Find the flaws and opportunities that I don't see.

[AZProgressive]

20. Biden's lack of charisma probably hurt especially near the end of his term

Last edited Fri Jun 27, 2025, 08:36 PM - Edit history (1)

He couldn't effectively defend the party nor effectively attack Trump on winnable issues. Kamala Harris was able to do that more so its more of a draw, Kamala won the debate and helped close the gap from Biden's poll numbers before he dropped out.

Also Obama was very charismatic even if I didn't agree with a lot of his policies he was able to make a convincing argument.

I think the young progressives can raise a lot of grassroots donations. Mamdani still won even though he was outspent by at least 10-1.

I think the courts will be conservative for generations--the best we can hope for is to nominate enough Democratic Presidents to try to make up for it but I don't see a solution here whether it is coming from the moderate or progressive wing.

They won't get a fair shake from the MSM but most people are turning to alternative and independent forms of media so it is better to compete on that playing field.

I think the young progressives can boost turnout and do better with young people than third way kind of politics.

[returnee]

29. I interpret you're saying neither relying on corporate cash...

…nor the hypothetical benefits of democratic socialism can solve the problem. Am I correct? Do you have another way in mind?

[BaronChocula]

14. Matt Bennett is not "the Democratic Party"

Blame Bennett and Summers and stop shitting on the Democratic Party. There is support among many Democrats for Mamdani. If you support the nominee, you should be amplifying those voices instead of calling the milquetoast wing "the Democratic Party." It gives that faction more power than they deserve.

Just my opinion.

[Oopsie Daisy]

16. And... Leave it to Robert Reich...

... to be the most pessimistic voice in the room, and always looking for the negative. Sigh. C'mon, Bob!

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

17. NY US Senator Gillibrand attacking Mamdani is EXACTLY the problem Reich states

https://truthout.org/articles/democratic-senator-gillibrand-goes-on-islamophobic-rant-against-mamdani/

[Oopsie Daisy]

19. Why does he amplify it?

C'mon Bob.

[returnee]

30. I read that he is pointing out...

…the knee jerk negativism of Gilibrand, regarding the democratic party hierarchy’s response to more progressive approaches. I see both negativism and hypocrisy. It seems clear to me her underlying purpose is to support Cuomo (don’t even try to tell me otherwise), one more legacy democrat, plus being abusive toward women. No surprise that Bill Clinton was backing him too. So Franken had to be removed from the Senate for a playful comedic photo op, but Cuomo gets a pass?

[stillcool]

27. they're all singing the same song

it's almost like they've got a cheat sheet with bullet points, changing a few words here and there and slapping their name on it. Same bs over and over. Opinions up the ying-yang, but narrow opinions at that. Guess there is nothing else to write about.

[JHB]

18. Isn't Third Way supposed to be "nonpartisan"?

[Ford_Prefect]

22. IMO Third Way has some explaining to do. Republican lite is not a solution it is capitulation to the corporate state

rather than facing the realities of a planet on the edge of extinction.

[Figarosmom]

23. He wont be mayor if Cuomo splits the vote

By running independent. The Republican candidate will be.

[maxrandb]

25. LOL - Right, New York is going to elect Red Barrett guy

They could split the vote "10 ways to Sunday" and Curtis still would lose by 40% of the vote.

"Sell crazy somewhere else....we're all stocked up here"

[Figarosmom]

40. Repubicans will do whatever it takes

And if trump says vote for him , they will. He got over 27 % last time he ran. This time the Dem vote will be split 3 ways all " red berate " needs to do is a few more percentage points. If he has trumps backing , who knows?

[AZProgressive]

26. I think Cuomo will split votes with Eric Adams

Mamdani would likely get all the liberal voters that don't like Cuomo or Adams. It is a closer race with all 3 in but I don't see the Republican Sliwa winning as he usually isn't treated as a serious candidate plus Democrats outnumber Republicans in the city maybe 8-2 or 9-1.

[returnee]

31. Hope you're wrong.

What’s clear, however, is the opportunistic and morally bankrupt cynicism of both the Cuomo and Adams camps.

[fujiyamasan]

37. I think Adams and Cuomo's giant egos

Will tip this to Mamdani. They will likely split the anti Mamdani vote.

Silwa is a non starter. There just aren’t enough republicans and republican leaning independents for him to win.

[Dan]

24. I want someone who will fight, fight the GOP, fight Trump, fight MAGA and fight the Oligarchs.

I prefer to die fighting than living on our knees getting screwed.

If that means the Nation splits into two or three pieces, then so be it. Seems like a nation split apart that would make MAGA happy, the GOP happy and the only one sad - are the Democratic members who are being screwed.

We're in a bad marriage and each day it's getting worse. The GOP says that if you're in a bad marriage and the spouse is beating your ass, well that's too bad, you have to stay in the marriage and suffer the abuse. I say when you're tired of getting your ass beat like a drum, do something. I'll leave turning the other cheek to the ones that end up with nice words being said over them and them comforting the abusive spouse who's upset because he/she has no one to beat anymore.

[chouchou]

28. I partially blame the voters of the United States.

They hear "Democratic Socialists" and they freak-out thinking:
1950s Soviet Union, communist ideology, and Soviet socialism, Khrushchev, decision-making consumer goods.
I love the people in the USA ....and at the same time, I'm pissed off about their God-Damn stupidity.

[Beck23]

32. Americans love their socislism.

Social Security.
Medicare.
Medicaid.
Etc

[Just Jerome]

33. Like, what else

would you expect from Third Way?

[GiqueCee]

35. I expect malicious drivel from Republicans...

... they are rotten to the very core of their being, and it's all they know how to do. But having Republican shitweasels call for the revocation of his citizenship for NO FUCKING REASON other than the fact that he's not white, is a new low, even for those assholes.
And for the low-wattage intellects that haunt my beloved DU, socialism means that one cares more about people than about greedy corporations and even greedier oligarchs. If you have a problem with that, then you're not worth knowing.
I will refrain from sharing my opinion of those who parrot right-wing criticisms of Mr. Mamdani.

[beemerphill]

38. Sometimes.....

Sometimes, Democrats forget a significant aspect of politics. If the other side wins, you have given up the chance to change the issues to your advantage. When we torpedo our candidates, it just makes everything easier for someone else to win. When a candidate espouses some of our core values and is gaining traction, let him win. After he is in, there is a chance for change. If we sabotage him, we have NO chance whatsoever.
Another way we mess up badly is to push a losing issue, knowing that it will lose the race for us. Some issues are important, but it might be better to keep your trap shut until AFTER the win to push your views.

[David__77]

39. Mamdani's primary victory certainly a gift to the Democratic Party notwithstanding.