Who are the principal leaders of the opposition to Donald Trump’s authoritarianism? It certainly doesn’t feel like the Democratic Party establishment these days. Watching Zohran Mamdani run for New York City mayor, it increasingly feels like the opposition’s leaders are the Left.
Mamdani held a rally with 13,000 supporters at Forest Hills Stadium, joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Sen. Bernie Sanders. In their speeches to the crowd, Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and Mamdani argued that a vigorous defense of civil liberties and an aggressive economic populism are the antidote to Trump’s authoritarianism.
Nearly two weeks earlier, Mamdani held another mass rally in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. There he was introduced by New York attorney general Letitia James — her first public appearance since a federal indictment ordered by Trump, in clear retaliation for her past investigations into the president.
These are major national political figures who are at the forefront of opposition to the president, or in James’s case are at the heart of major test cases of how much Trump can get away with weaponizing the levers of government power. And they aren’t seeking party establishment figures to rally with as part of that opposition — they want to be on the campaign trail with Mamdani.
Last night, explaining how Trump had won the presidency again and even achieved a rightward swing in many New York City districts, Mamdani spoke about the voters his campaign heard from after the presidential election:
They told us they supported Donald Trump because they felt disconnected from a Democratic Party that had grown comfortable with mediocrity and gave its time only to those who gave millions. They told us that they felt abandoned by a party beholden to corporations which asked them for their votes after telling them only what it was against rather than presenting a vision of what it was for.
They told us they…
Auteur: Nick French
