Weekly Member Update - June 30, 2025
As we speak, the United States Senate is deliberating the GOP’s Big Beautiful Betrayal, a Republican fever dream of legislation that will constitute the greatest redistribution of wealth from working people to the 1% in American history. Among other abhorrent provisions, this deeply unpopular MAGA Murder Budget extends Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy, raises the federal budget deficit by trillions, guts clean energy funding and eviscerates Medicaid, threatening the viability of rural hospitals across the Country. Most frighteningly, the Republican bill would dramatically increase funding for ICE and expand Trump’s cruel deportation regime. At a time when ICE is already terrorizing communities across the nation, the Republicans want to give the agency another 10,000 agents, devoting an astounding amount of resources to federal immigration operations and turning ICE into Trump’s personal domestic army.
Against this backdrop, with Republicans trying to reshape American society in their MAGA image and ICE growing into a domestic secret police operation, the Democratic Party is stepping up and speaking out against… Democratic New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani.
This past Tuesday, Mamdani shocked the political establishment, handily defeating disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and others, riding a wave of support from young people and a message laser-focused on economic affordability to a decisive victory that has inspired progressives across the Country. But the reactions of establishment and centrist Democrats, particularly here in New York, have been muted, to say the least. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to endorse Mamdani on Sunday, gratuitously suggesting that Mamdani needs to “clarify” his position on anti-Semitism (Mamdani has been deeply critical of Israel and its brutal war in Gaza but has repeatedly and steadfastly condemned anti-Semitism). Our Junior US Senator, Albany’s own Kirsten Gillibrand, a top beneficiary of AIPAC funding, was even more explicit in her dog whistling, suggesting in an interview with WNYC that Mamdani supports “global jihad.” Long Island Democratic Congresswoman Laura Gillen has called Mamdani “antisemitic, too extreme and the wrong choice for New York.”
The Democratic Party has a problem, but it ain’t Zohran Mamdani. Six in 10 Democrats want to see new leadership in the party, and polling suggests that the American people generally view the Democratic Party in a negative light. Donald Trump made dramatic inroads with young people in 2024, particularly in deep blue New York State. Even for those of us in the staunchly anti-Trump, pro-democracy movement look at establishment Democrats with skepticism.
We shouldn’t be surprised when MAGA Republicans come for a Muslim immigrant and a Democratic Socialist like Zohran Mamdani with all the vile racism and lies that Fox News and the New York Post can dream up. But for too long, centrist Democrats have embraced the strategy of being GOP-lite, giving oxygen to MAGA talking points and ceding the middle to the radical right on every issue from patriotism itself to notions of law and order, fiscal responsibility and national security. For half a century, Democrats have played on Republicans’ home field, allowing them to frame every issue through their own lens, with Dems wriggling apologetically to prove that they can be almost as cruel and reactionary as the Republicans themselves.
We say that it is time to turn the page, because Donald Trump cannot be defeated by trying to emulate him and his cult. Democrats need to embrace new, younger faces who speak to voters in a language they understand, rather than focus-group-tested “moderate” talking points. Simply put, our pro-Democracy coalition needs to be led with optimism and hope to counteract the cynicism of Trumpian corrupt totalitarianism.
And, as Trump and his Republican allies seek to completely dismantle the federal government and sell it off for parts, Democrats need to offer a vision to the American people that centers government as an instrument of effecting the public good. For too long, the leaders of the Democratic establishment have feared being demonized as “Marxists” if they dare point out that a representative democracy should have a government that serves its people. Instead of running from the “socialist” label by trying to be almost as conservative as their “friends across the aisle,” Democrats need to offer an alternative narrative. After all, the right are socialists too, but their distribution of the wealth of this nation is to their billionaire donors, their corporate interests, their loyalists and themselves. Our vision simply puts the soul of this country first — its working people, its immigrant ancestors and neighbors, and its constitutional democracy. Our socialism believes in personal autonomy and freedom of choice and considers it the government’s solemn responsibility to serve the interests of its people by advancing the guarantees of housing, healthcare and other basic human rights. Right-wing socialism is oligarchy and oppression and tyranny; we on the left can offer something different, if only we are brave enough to embrace it.
Before we get to the week ahead, props to those of you that showed up this past Saturday as part of our ongoing campaign against Avelo Airlines, the discount air carrier that flies out of Albany International and who has contracted with ICE to facilitate its deportation agenda. We continue to be impressed with your commitment to defending our immigrant neighbors, and we can promise that we are not yet done with Avelo; we’ll be at it again at the end of July.
Speaking of our immigrant community, on Wednesday, July 2, the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition will be holding an ICE Out of Albany rally at Dick Green Field on Frisbee Avenue in the City of Albany. We hope to see you there!
On Independence Day, against the backdrop of Albany’s annual Empire State Plaza Fourth of July celebration, activists will rally in support of Palestinian rights and in opposition to American involvement in another Middle Eastern war.
On Monday, July 7, our own Andreas Kriefall will be hosting the latest installment of his Anti-Fascism Training at Unity Church on King Avenue in Albany.
The following week, on Monday, July 14, join us for our Monthly Member Meeting, again at the Guilderland Public Library, beginning at 6pm.
Our Monthly Member Meeting will serve as a precursor to the next big event in the Capital Region, Good Trouble Lives On, part of a national day of action in honor of the civil rights icon, Congressman John Lewis. We are still finalizing the details of this City of Albany event with our local partners, but this one is going to be something special!