3673 - DSA and Zohran Shock Dem Party Machine w/ Morris Katz

You are listening to a free version of The Majority Report. Support this show at join the Majority Report.com and get an extra hour of content daily. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Wednesday, June 24th, 2006. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five-time award-winning majority report. We are broadcasting live. steps from the

industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA. On the program today, Morris Katz, political strategist served as the lead media strategist for Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign,

also working on Graham Platner campaign. Dan Osborne. Dan Osborne. Others. To tell you, talk about the big story of the day. Zohran Mamdani, DSA, shock the Democratic establishment across New York City. Valdez, Brad Lander, Chevalier, all but become Congresspeople, knocking out two incumbents on the way.

Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer puts himself on a wait list at a retirement community near you. Senate passes the War Powers Act Resolution. Texas anti-ice protesters convicted of terrorism charges. They get over 50 years in prison. House and Senate now have passed bipartisan housing bill. And despite Pete Hegseth's proclamation, the military begins re-requiring flu shots once more. New York Times finds documents which show that Trump is lying about his reflecting cesspool vandalism. COVID vaccine study that was suppressed by the CDC published in an outside journal.

All this and more on today's majority report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Emma Viglin out today. You can simply check her Instagram feed to find out why. Yeah. Probably a Tylenol shortage on her clock. Things have markedly changed since the supply of zbiotics in the office has dwindled. Reopen a straight of Hormuz. We need some more of that stuff.

Exactly. Folks, big win last night. And by wins, I mean, by win, I mean wins.

Next year, New York will have three federal Democratic socialists in office, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Claire Valdez, and Darliza Chevalier. There will be New York, there will be four DSA members in New York City elected to office. there will be 15 state Socialists in office in this state rival ring rivaling rivaling rivaling rivaling

the number of socialists since like literally 1915 I think it was Oh wow. Yep. Um

just a huge wins. Claire Valdez, this is the New York 7th district. Claire Valdez beat Antonio Reynoso. And Raynoso was a sort of a, I would say, mainstream progressive. He was,

Velazquez, Nidia Velasquez, as the retiring congresswoman's pick she endorsed Raynoso

Raynoso got endorsements from a lot of unions not all the unions Claire Valdez won by 21 points 20 points

a huge win Brad Lander beat a sitting congressperson now i think a lot of people anticipated this certainly uh everyone did or i you know everyone around here did goldman won last time only because the vote was split amongst uh progressives but this race came down to in many respects the question of of israel and apak this is the most jewish district in the country. Both Goldman and Brad Lander are Jewish.

Goldman won, excuse me, Brad Lander won by 30 points. You won by 30 points. You will hear a lot of mainstream commentators, Republican commentators, Zionists say that this is a very scary time for Jews in New York. I cannot tell you how absurdly laughable that is. Just

absurdly laughable. This is Michael Cohen. Let's put this up here. He is a writer. I don't know if he writes for the globe now. A liberal writer he writes, this is genuinely a scary night for New York City juice. I honestly like, I cannot tell you how, because I think he's sincere.

I cannot tell you. And I'm not, obviously, I don't believe that even psychiatrists from afar can diagnose someone. And I am not a psychiatrist. there was a sitcom pilot where I performed a laparoscopic colisectomy as a doctor, but I am also not a doctor. But I will say in my layperson's opinion, he is demented. Like there is a psychological problem associated with that. You're acting like you didn't ask me to go get groceries for you last night because you were too scared to leave the house.

I did ask Brian that, but that was because I was too lazy to do it. And I thought he would buy into that. The idea that New York is even remotely scary or remotely more scary today for Jews is one of the most bat-crap crazy things I've ever heard.

I just, it's inexplicable to me. how someone could say that. I don't even know if he lives in New York. Maybe I can't imagine he does. But it's just insane.

Brad Lander's pretty Jewish. In District 13, this was the one I think that surprised most people. Darylisa of Villa Chivaldi goes up against Adriano Espaillat. Esbiot, not just an incumbent, not just a 19-year incumbent, but also the chair of the Hispanic caucus. She beat them by four points. To beat an incumbent is crazy.

With that kind of resume. And also understand this. there are times where it's like, oh, you know, Joe Crowley got surprised by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But supposedly they've all been on alert since then. And it's not like these two incumbents are so far removed from leadership. You know, we just didn't realize. We didn't have a sense of what was going on the ground. I don't you can go from either one of these districts to Hakeem Jeffries districts in anywhere ranging from like, I think 10 minutes on the subway to different parts of it that might take you 45 minutes or so.

They were completely blindsided by this. You brought this up before the show. Espolat's last three elections, he won 90%, 81%, and 81%. Oh, those were general elections. I don't think he was even challenged. Oh, yeah, those are generals, yes.

So these are major wins, and there were big wins in the state Senate. There was some upstate. The only other one that was a real competition was, where I should say, a surprise on some level, was the 12th where Lashor won and Boris. neither one of them was the biggest difference was that Boris was willing to regulate AI and they spent something like $20 million and he's still only lost by

single digits here is Zohran Mamdani who is now being hailed I mean look this was this was risky for Zohran Mamdani to do or at least that was the story. He is pissing off the leadership. It was less than a year ago when this headline popped this up from the slack,

where Jeffrey's people were saying if these Democratic socialists are saying, are attempting to primary any incumbents, they're going to regret it. I think it was, nope.

Nope. That was that CNN headline, I think it was. Yeah, here it is. This is from, July 9th, some of them, Donny's far-left allies want a primary Hakeem Jeffries and other New York City Democrats. And the byline, or I should say the subtitle was,

there was a quote in that tweet that was there. I can't find it now. But it was basically to the effect of good luck. They're going to have a real problem if they do that.

is Zohran Mamdani at the Claire Valdez victory party last night. I know many of you have been canvassing for months. And at those canvases, at those fundraisers, at those events, when we introduce our candidates, we use a language of hope. We say the next assembly member, the next state senator, the next congressperson. Tonight we use a language of fact.

So please join me in welcoming up to the stage Assemblywoman Diana Moreno Assembly member David Orkin

Assemblywoman State Senator Abir Kowas! And the one, the only Congresswoman Claire Valden!

Claire was! Claire was! Claire was! Claire was there! Claire was there! Now you're going to hear from every one of these incredible candidates, but before I leave, I just wanted to share a few words with all of you. Which is first and foremost, this is your victory.

What you all have shown this evening, whether for State Assembly, state senate or Congress is that a year ago it was not the end of a political movement. It was the beginning.

And I want to thank you because in this room I see those who believed no matter what tweet they read from Michael Lane. They believe They put that anxiety into shifts They put it into door knocks into phone calls Raise your hand if you canvass

Those are the hands that won this race And every single one of these incredible candidates They are going to be the partners In transforming the most expensive city in the United States of America into one that working New Yorkers can afford. I have to say, like, I don't, I certainly not in New York City, but I don't recall anything quite like this where a mayor who's been mayor only for six months essentially throws all of his political cachet.

into these races, we certainly haven't seen a movement like this. It just hasn't existed in our politics for decades.

And on some level, that's why, you know, a lot of this is just not predictable where this leads. I'm quite sure it does not lead to a place where Jews should be nervous about. But honestly, in terms of like political power, it is unclear. Because this is definitely going to influence Democrats across the country, some less, some more. And when we talk to Morris Katz, I think you'll get a sense of that in a bit on how it's going to implicate things. and speaking of something else i haven't seen i mean i guess i've seen this on the right i think back to like when george bush in 2005 attempted to maybe it was 2004

2005 attempted to push immigration reform when the republican intelligentsia believe that demographically speaking they needed to open their party to uh latino and hispanic voters and there was a massive pushback by Mark Levin and and colter and laura ingram and a lot of these sort of xenophobes racists um who push back on it and shut the whole thing down. We've never had that on the left. Any type of media platforms that can really singularly influence the outcome of a political fight. I mean, there's been moments.

Talking Points Memo did a great job of Social Security in 2005. There are others. But this is pretty amazing. Hasan Piker a couple of days ago, but he was only a couple of days ago, started encouraging his audience to phone bank. He's a slightly larger audience than we do.

And the last figures that were public were that 90,000 calls were made by his audience. And here he is at, I think it was Claire Valdez's party. And the DSA co-chair, Gustavo, I can't remember his last name.

He tells Hasan Piker that it translated into at least 2,000 votes. Check this up. As a lot of 2000, 2,000 identified, we're not about Lee. You know that? Not about, that's about, 10. That's about the size of Darry Lisa's right now.

From those phone calls along, 2,000 identified, likely voters for Daria Lisa. And that's currently in the city. As of like 10.38 p.m. last night when the call, the race was called, I think this is what the vote tally was. Chevalier had 32,790 votes,

and Esbiot had 30,464 votes. I'm not going to do the very specific math, but it looks like a 2,300 vote lead. That's amazing. Really indicative of how these wins were brought about by a movement that literally, that mobilizes its people. Not just mobilizes, but organizes and mobilizes its people. A real fundamental change to see, you know, it's one thing like, okay, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez knocks off Crowley,

and she does this through organizing and whatnot in 2018. nobody expects it, nobody sees it coming, and it's almost like a quiet insurgency. This was a, this was no surprises here other than the specific outcomes. And to mobilize in three different districts, and not just three different districts, but also, like, you know, the Senate races, assembly races, is incredibly impressive. You will hear all sorts of different spins on this. Like what happens in New York can't translate into other places. You will hear that this was all about gentrification.

It wasn't both Chevalier and Valdez one in cohorts, not just the sort of like new young white. people where which I also think is sort of an amazing critique

from people who are saying well we need candidates who work in a you know in Iowa well

where do you think the white people where do you think the white people came from

but it's also not the case that they just won you know white podcast listeners. Here is Nira Tandon on CNN last night. Nira Tandon who

has spent the better part of the past couple of months attacking Hasan Piker on Twitter, which to be fair, she apologized to me for. And attacking progressives across the the country saying that the the the the DSA was a problem etc etc here she is on uh after the

results uh have been made public this whole issue 2010 and 20 at 2010 2012 you're absolutely right Republicans took a very competitive races and they put very extreme candidates in and i think that is not what's happening in the Democratic Party today. What you said today is in the most liberal. Pause for one second. Incidentally, the three congress people that we've talked about, the winners of these primaries, we can call them Congress people now

because they're going to win their race. There's no Republican Party in this city. What she is addressing is that in 2010, 2012, the Republicans nominated people for the Senate like a woman named Christine O'Donnell, I believe she was in Delaware or Maryland, she had to publicly come out and do an ad refuting the idea that she was a witch.

There were candidates who said, who were parsing distinctions of rape that lost. We're talking about candidates who won these races and maybe their style or the way they code wouldn't necessarily translate to other cities or towns for that matter.

But their positions are fairly mainstream. The American public, by and large, perceives this as a genocide. The Jewish public perceives it as a genocide. The American public across the political spectrum largely want

the U.S. to stop funding Israel. Medicare for all very popular. All of these, raising the minimums, minimum wage. None of these positions are particularly radical. I don't know if Graham Platner could come down to New York City necessarily wearing his lumberjack outfit and code in the proper way for New York City in some of these districts. And I imagine some of these candidates also don't necessarily code in Iowa. But in terms of positions, not that dramatically different from

anywhere else in the country, but continue. What's happening in the Democratic Party today. What you saw today is in the most liberal parts of America, they found very liberal candidates. And, you know, those people shouldn't represent. They should get the representatives they want. But as I pointed out, in competitive districts and states, they were nominating, Democrats are nominating,

sometimes more moderate candidates. Josh Turrick, just won in Iowa against more, more progressive candidate, a great candidate, more progressive candidate, that people believe he has a better chance of defeating Ashley Hinson. And I think that we also saw that today in New York 17. Okay. In New York 17, there was a marginal difference in the progressiveness of the candidates. Effie, who came in third, simply did she didn't have the money to compete in that.

But when she talks about, like, you know, nominating people in Iowa, I'm trying to think if there's any state where we can see someone who is not necessarily a proclaimed democratic socialist, but is talking about these issues and these exact same ways. I'm just trying to think if there's a state. I mean, Iowa is a pretty white state. Yeah. There's one up in the upper right corner of the country. Oh, right. That's Maine. Yeah, that's what it's called.

Maine. And I'm trying to think they beat an establishment candidate in that primary. Pretty bad. Quite handily. But, yeah, near town and then people like her, they definitely know how to win in rural areas. as they've shown in recent history. Keep blocking that down, guys.

Great job. And I will also say, like, I don't think, like, the Democratic establishment played too hard in that Turk Zach Wall's race. Because they're toxic. And I think they're also incompetent,

which is even worse. We will have more tweets from

and stories from the so-called moderate wing of the Democratic Party. A lot of tough talk from anonymous quotes. I know when I'm tough, I want to make sure I do it under the shroud of anonymity.

We're going to take quick break. When we come back, I'm going to be talking about. Morris Katz. He's the political strategist. Served as the lead media strategist for Zohran Mamdani. Has been heavily involved in the campaigns that took place across New York in Maine, in Nebraska, in California. We'll be right back after this.

We are back, Sam Cedar, on the majority report, Emma Viglin out today. It is a pleasure to welcome to the program. I think it's the first time. Morris Katz, political strategist, who served as the lead media strategist for Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign, obviously also working on some of the campaigns that were victorious last night in New York, as well as up in Maine on Graham Platner's campaign and others across the country. Morris, first off, congratulations, and thanks for joining us. last night was a late night for a lot of folks.

Let's just start with like, what, were there any surprises for you? I mean, obviously you go into this very confident because you got to, but were there surprises in the results? And I'm specifically talking about the 7th, the 10th, and the 13th. Oh, well, thanks for having me say, it's great to be here. And in my mind, I'm filling in for the role of Emma today

as hungover progressive Nix fan. Yes, you do have the Nix shirt on there, so there it is. I think, you know, I would be a bad political operative and a bad New York Joe if I wasn't going yesterday incredibly anxious. And so there's always the anxiety factor, and you're always both kind of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. And what we got last night, I think, exceeded even what was the best that I was not for in terms of the margins that you saw Brad Lander win by an over 30 point win.

Heraldives winning by 20. And then Dari winning, not just by, you know, a handful of votes was a close race, but I think that was at 4% when I last checked at 4.30am. And the level of, you know, kind of build up of people who are every, pundits of kind of captured every single thing there was to say of, oh, young people aren't going to turn out. Oh, the Mungani coalition was unique. Oh, it was just a.

referendum on Andrew Cuomo that was able to hold that coalition together. Oh, incumbents aren't popular. All of that being disproven feels pretty good and in such a dramatic fashion. I think some of what's exciting about it is we so often see the like dynamic in which politicians who shape a new coalition required as part of that is always kind of an act of, an ask of faith, like faith to believe in a different kind of politics and different kind of candidates to believe that voting matters. And it's really cool to see that when you reward that faith with good governance, that coalition can be maintained. Let's talk about, I wanted to get into some of those, the spins that we're going to hear

in the wake. But let's, what's the proof of concept here? Like, there's a theory of power. You're building on something. What is it that this showed? I think it showed an immense popularity of Merrim Dondani. I also think it showed the immense success, an organizational discipline and power of New York City DSA.

I also think it showed an overall hunger for a different kind of politics that we've been seen kind of across the country trickling in this cycle. But I hope that it would have aggressively breakthrough after last night that it's no longer enough to just be like, I'm going to fight Donald Trump and all of our issues can be reduced to 1600 pen. And that kind of theory of our job is to protect the status quo, to protect the

institutions of power. I think what you're seeing, what you saw in New York and across the country is just this immense, immense hunger to change that and to fight not just Donald Trump, but to fight everything captured by that status quo. And that was true in New York and it's been true. It's true in Philadelphia. It was true in California.

It's been true across the country. And I think also true from research we're saying in general election electorate. What I thought was fascinating was not to pick on Dan Goldman, but I'm happy to pick on Dan Goldman. Of course. Even after, in his concession speech

The thing that in this, I think you know, President Graham, who you mentioned and all these different candidates in this. a more populous wave that's coming through. What they understand that I think those empowered don't is the very basic principle. And I thought this way when people were shocked again at Trump II winning, where it's like the reality there is we had power for 12 of 16 years. And if we're not going to be honest about not having done enough, about people's lives having gotten worse during that period of time, then we're just so deeply disconnected from the lived reality that like, of course we're not going to be able to win elections.

And I think the people who still believe that we are in a battle to protect the powers that be in the systems that be in the institutions are so disconnected from a reality in which those institutions are coming down. The question is like, is it going to be done by the fascists or is it going to be done by us and who's going to rebuild them and who are they going to work for? And the people asking that question, I think, are succeeding the people who are pretending that, you know, once Donald Trump's out of office, we're going to be okay. I would assume we're living in 2019. What was the role? And I asked this obviously woke up this morning in New York. As a Jew, I'm terrified because of the results last night, or at least that's what I've been told.

I should be terrified. I made it down here to work. No problem today. I'm sure also as a Jew, it must be very difficult for you. But what role did, I mean, obviously we see. it in the context of Brad Lander and the Goldman race. But what role does the awareness of Israel's genocide, the sense that the United States should not be actively participating or enabling this genocide, in fact, should be creating a different dynamic with Israel, a different

relationship. What role does that play in not just these races, but across the country, do you think? I think that it's, you know, Dore Lee often said that, you know, invest in babies, not bombs. And I think it's a great concise distillation of what's at the heart of the issue, where you have, I think, for appeals to such a large swath of voters, some of those voters care very deeply about the issue of of House community liberation specifically, about occupation, specifically, about any of the kind of specific nuances of what's happening there. And I think that if you're not talking about it, you're not going to turn those voters out. And so that's just a kind of electoral analysis of I believe.

But I think there's an even broader thing that reaches beyond people who are high information on the genocide that speaks to. like if you're willing to sell anyone out, are you, it doesn't pass this smell test. You know, it feels like, you're willing to turn a blind eye to this. You're willing to tell me that I'm not seeing the things I'm seeing on my phone. Oh, and also there's not money for any of the things that make my life better, but there's money for this. It doesn't pass the smell test. And I think it speaks to a politics that then can't be trusted.

And it plants the seed of distrust, the seed of corruption, the seat of dishonesty, that then kind of robs you of credibility on everything else. And that's what a lot of politicians don't understand. It's like people, you know, I hear all the time from like more establishment politicians when they're justifying their positions. Like, I'm not hearing about this in my district. And it's like, no, but when you're hearing about your district, it's not money for affordable housing, but there's not money for new jobs.

There's not money for health care. And when those people are then seeing that there's money for, you know, billions of dollars for Iran or money to send to Benjamin Netanyahu years and years into what is clearly the systemic ethnic cleansing of a people, that then is an indefensible thing that undercuts anyway when you're going to talk about health care costs or housing costs or affordability at large. There's, you know, a concept in media training called, get inside the circle of trust. And it feels like this is, this is simply a question of the basic sort of that's the way you entered the circle of trust is to acknowledge that there's

something deeply, deeply wrong here. And without doing that, I think it leaves people out. But what is the, with that said, what are some of the spins that you anticipate coming out of, out of this from the democratic establishment, for lack of a better term?

Well, I'm so deeply relieved we don't have to ever read the spins that would have occurred had be lost. Right, right. Well, I mean, but maybe let's start with that, though, because that is like the, you could see some of the pre spins already being sort of like put into the, the chamber and those were loaded. Like, Zohran Mamdani has gone too far in New York that it is creating fissures. which I think seems to me to be completely contrary to everything I understand about politics on some level. And the idea that this is just not the, I mean, there was a piece from a year ago when Jeffrey's people apparently had said, like, if these guys want to do primaries, good luck to them. We're going to take it to them. And it didn't seem to work out that way.

I mean, look, I think, like, I mean, I've got a number of texts I've gotten from reporters start the day, but we're clearly preparing to write stories about how we lost. You know, oh, I heard you would recommend it this. I heard the, you know, mayor had the second thoughts of it, all different kind of bullshit of people ready to circle and try to claim a narrative. And I think now in the absence of that, they're going to pivot away to what is, and even I think we're saying it's already a surprising tactic of blaming the voters. Like if you're being like, oh, this is what MAGA does.

This is what, and like to that I think I'd say, yeah, know who has power in the White House and the United States Senate and the U.S. House right now, MAGA. And that's, you know, because they, the people took over their party and they're wrong in what they are trying to do. They're wrong with what they're saying and the laws they're pushing. But they have an electoral majority because they have a party that's responsive to where their people are. And I don't know how many more times, you know, people are, I'm sure,

we'll do things about, oh, this is a liability in Sling Districts and Sling Estates. This is messy. We have no power right now. Like, we, the idea that we are somehow jeopardizing the electoral strength of a party that is in a, what feels like a permanent minority and doesn't have the White House makes no sense. And then not just that. When you look at the candidates who I think are doing the best job, to cycle in swing places, they're running campaigns in what is a cohesive message with what you saw last night. Like, it is outsiders who want to see dark money out of our politics, who want to take

on corruption, and who have real ideas to address an affordability crisis. And that's not going to look the same in the coming corridor as it looks in Texas. It's not going to look the same in New Yorktown as it looks in Maine. But that is a big tent that works. And what people are fucking angry about is the fact that they want a big, where like as long as you don't go off to A-PAC, as long as you don't question the kind of political establishment, the power of the B, we don't really care what else do you think. And the flip of that, I think, is, you know, going to make a lot of people angry, but that's okay.

What is that, that, that tent poll? I mean, if you were to distill it, you know, as you, the difference between the, the, the commie corridor, Texas, Maine, for that matter. what is the one what is the distillation of the message that that comes across man i think it was on i don't know if it was on meet the press it was one of the sunday shows or the weekend shows i saw you where you you made a point of like there has to be a specific agenda and i'm just contrasting that to what i've heard uh from democrat saying that like well we need a big enough tent where we care about working people but we also care about billionaires uh and that seems like that seems like a tent that has nothing suspending it in some way.

Yes, I think that's well-putting, Sam, because I feel comfortable on your show and with your viewership, I'm going to visit it when we talk here. Oh, feel free. I think, like, the example I like to use is, like, Sherrod Brown, who I think hopefully will be back in the Senate, and who, when he was in the Senate, was one of the maybe three or four best senators

and most, like, progressive, I would say, populist, senators. And he was winning Ohio, overperforming Ohio, is up in the polls right now in Ohio. And that's off of an entire platform around the dignity of work, raising the minimum wage, fighting back against a bad free trade deal that fucked everything off, taking dark money out of politics, supporting unions. The idea that that is somehow, like, cannot be a part of the same party at someone like Thirr-Baldes, who had essentially the exact same vision, who's a union organizer, who believes that the way we get back to an economy that works for everyone

is empowering unions and empowering workers. That is a cohesive message. And I think it's a big enough tent for, you know, a Sherrod Brown and Claire Valdez for a Dario Lisa and the James Talarico for, you know, a Graham Platner and Bob Brooks and Randy Diaas and all these candidates who, if we put them in a room, they would come out with, you know, there'd be areas of disagreement, but they'd come out with perfect alignment that we should not be allowing members of Congress to enrich themselves on

stock, so we should not be allowing members of Congress to have lobbyists dictate their votes, that we should be doing everything in our power to bring unions roaring back, that we should raise wages, that we should have universal health care, all of those things, like, that's a ton to unite. And instead, we have all this, what I call like the blob Democrats in the middle that take up all this room with, like, the least popular positions. And it drives me crazy as someone who does both primaries and a lot of competitive races. Like, the myth of this idea that somehow the left is liability in these elections, I find so infuriating. Like, even when people get into identity politics bullshit, it's like 2016 Hillary Clinton invented identity politics in our Democratic Party.

like that is what's the lag on the democratic party. The lag on the Democratic Party is when that they think we're fucking corrupt because a lot of us, a lot of the people in the party are corrupt. That's the lag and we need to kind of exile that. How much of what we hear from so-called moderate Democratic, you know, it's very difficult, it's such an amorphous term and I think deliberately so. How much of it is a function of, of their politics translating into the mechanics of what they do.

In other words, there's an ideology associated with DSA that necessarily means we're going to bring a lot of people up onto the street. And that's the way we're going to run this camp. But we're not going to raise a ton of money and do television campaigns. Obviously, money helps. But that money, a significant portion of that money is going to go towards organizing as opposed to blanketing a message. That blanketing a message is also very profitable for your counterparts working for Dan Goldman, let's say. How much, like, what's the relationship there between the politics on the ground, the ideology, and the mechanism, almost like the corporate structure

around the way that certain Democrats get elected? And so I think like, you know, has someone who makes ads and that's what pays the bills. One of the things that I think has been really interesting, I can still very lucky to have gotten to work on so many of these campaigns now in collaboration, or on DSA races. Because I think there's, you hit this magic where what you, the message you were telling people

on their screens is seen on the streets and felt at their doors. And it's like you're running out saying that Sarah Valdez, for example, is a movement leader who is not just going to vote the right way, but is going to bring together masses of people to create incredible change. That's a case I can make in a 30-second television ad. But if then people are walking around their neighborhoods and not seeing anyone,

if no one's ever knocked on their doors, if they've never interacted with another human being, it's talking about it, it doesn't feel incredible. And I think that when you hit this kind of combination of those things, it's a really magical middle ground. And I also think TV, hey media in general, does not work for large swaths of what the new electorate are. And that's then, you know, there's no one tactic anymore and you need to do all of it. And I think that anyone who's not, you know, for obviously I don't like him, but I thought Tom Suozzi actually had a good quote this morning, which is a bunch of people, all the anti-DSA people are ringing their hands at cocktail parties while DSA is organizing.

Right. And I'm sure he has the wrong conclusion, but the right analysis. And I think that's true. And I think like the consultant industrial complex component that bothers me the most is when we talk about the one that is like the most example on campus, the people are like Bernie Sanders is a,

you can't take that Bernie endorsement that sling seat. You can't take it. And it's like you guys are not like hypothetically numbers people who don't care about ideology, who just want to win. And poll after poll, after poll after poll tells us that he's the most popular politician in America. That is no longer an analysis as a consultant or as a staffer. You're just imposing an ideology.

And I do think it's a mix of a desire for profit and a mix of a lot of the people who at this moment all work in politics are people who have their own ideological beliefs who come to power in a system that they trust. and there's just like a little bit of a holier than now faith in the institution of politics that is, you know, kind of bullshit and unhealthy. Yeah, I think that is, I mean, I think that that seems to me to be the part that is sort of like really ossified within the Democratic Party. What is the, what, and I know you've got to go and I appreciate your time. I imagine you got a lot of interviews. I think for a few minutes of whatever you.

What does this say to the leadership? I mean, I should say full disclosure. I tweeted last night that I thought Chuck Schumer was probably scrolling through retirement communities by 11 p.m. last night. But what is it, I mean, for Chuck Schumer and for Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom were ranging from hostile to extremely annoyed at Zohran Mamdani. run. This is their backyard.

This is like a 20 minutes away from where they live. They, they lost two incumbents. What does it say? How much is this going to impact their decision making? Chuck Schumer's as to whether his career is going to go forward or in Hakeem Jeffries in terms of like how he'll be a leader. if he starts to see where this is going. I'm going to kind of choose to take the good faith forward-looking version of an answer here.

Where I say I think we truly all are aligned on wanting a Democratic majority in both the Senate and in the House. And I think if you look at last night, there is a lot of good lessons to learn and reasons for faith and hope and optimism that people, who have not previously been reliable voters are now reliable voters. That really, like, if you build it, they will come. And I think if we can scale that up across the country, if young people can vote in swing districts and swing states, the way they vote in New York last night, it's going to be a really good November for us.

And so instead of kind of let's be excited about that, we don't have to be upset that we have new and exciting voices. I think one of the other things we have a very, very bad and dangerous, eat your own mentality. our party. The Republicans get an insurgent who wins and everyone wraps around them. You know, Fox News runs 24-7 propaganda, they're at the White House, there are everywhere else, because they understand these are the people who bring more in, who expand our tent. And I think, like, I would, you know, ask leadership to kind of maybe suspend whatever their general

feelings would be towards these kinds of campaigns or candidates. And like, let's be excited. Let's talk about how Claire Valdez strengthening unions and bringing more people to unions is going to help us win the Rust Belt back. Let's think about how Dari is going to bring new people to the table. Let's talk about how Brad Lander is going to give us credibility to talk about APAC and Israel in a way that we haven't been able to before. Let's be inclusive here. And then I think when we take that majority back, what do we do with it?

And hearing the frustration with the establishment, like, I think we need to hold the Republican fucking feet to the plane. It cannot just be dragging in, like, Trump person after Trump person for oversight committee stuff on, you know, which plane he used at a given time. I think there's a cost of living crisis. There's a corruption crisis.

We need to tie those with the Republican Party, and we need to show we have an affirmative vision, too. Like, we should raise the minimum wage in this country. If we don't have the votes, hold them accountable every single day. Bring it to a floor vote every single fucking day until we get it through. And if we don't, there will be no question anywhere about who's the plan for that. There was an Axios piece this morning, quote, appeasement doesn't work. You have to be tough.

This is from a centrist House Democrat. And he's talking about, I will continue, because you hear those first couple of lines. And it's almost like, guys, we've seen what happens. We need to rally against the Republicans. but he's talking about, or she is talking about the DSA. Nancy Pelosi brought a machine gun to a knife fight. You can't win with these guys by playing patty cake. These are words that should have been articulated by the candidates about the Republicans 10 years ago.

And yet they're deploying them in regards to the most amount of excitement. that has been in the Democratic Party, really, I mean, you know, along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the past decade. Let's talk about like what how much was there like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seemed to take a backseat in these races in, in at least in terms of like national media, it seems like. How much of that is, is there strategy there? Is that she has her path? Um, uh, Zohran Mamdani has his. What? How much of the, how much coordination exists in there? I mean, like, our teams are frequently in touch.

I talk to her team frequently. The mayor talks to her frequently, and it's all incredibly strong and good relationships. And I think it's a shared vision of what we want the party and our politics to look like. I think the mayor has a specific campaign style that he emphasizes and focus on. He's also mayor of New York City. And so, you know, she's the member of Congress. with a national profile. You know, Randy Begas in California, 22, for example.

He got across the finish line, I think in large part because of AEC's endorsement. Same thing with Sam Fortstag in Montana. Chris Rab and Philadelphia, you know, she's been all over doing a lot of work. And I think the New York City, like, you know, the mayor's win last year is not possible without her and the win last night aren't possible without her. And the kind of politics that she's brought to the table, I think, with the mayor in New York, you know, and his approach to campaigning. And I do want to, like, kind of hit this point.

I guess, like, Emma would appreciate my basketball reference here. I was, you know, watching him this week. It's like, I was, like, watching LeBron James when he was on the heat, where it kind of feels like, oh, this is just like, there's nothing you can do. Like, it's a pure force of nature, just like, someone at the top of their fucking game. And I think there is, he is, he gets so much joy and energy from engaging with people. Like the most, for all the different things about Zarnal Dani, his love of New York City and his love of people in New York City is so unbelievably profound. And like walking, selfie lines, visiting restaurants, barbershops, clubs.

Like, he loves it and he's incredible at it. And, you know, I think we, we wanted to. we weren't going to like not utilize, you know, utilize. Right. You ISO LeBron because he's the guy, you know, you're going to give the ball to. And everybody's sort of just like, we're just going to occupy the other defenders and let him go to town on that. With an endorsement because, you know, Renoso, sorry, got a lot of endorsements from unions. And I'm curious when Zohran Mamdani, when other DSA people endorse,

what is involved in terms of resources that come with that endorsement? Because one of the things that people were sort of assessing from Reynoso's endorsements is that the union can say, in some instances, it wasn't all unions, UAW was involved in DACs. a win, but the, the union, or I should say Valdez, but the union can say, we're going to, we give our stamp of approval, but if they don't have the resources to deploy and get their people out, it doesn't have the same impact versus somebody out. Walk us through that a little bit because I think it's a little bit opaque for people.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think like, I think we were in an era of profound sticker endorsements. where we're talking about literally just a sticker, no one's going to recognize on a piece of wit. I think that unions have a lot of members and a lot of power still, and as they should, and I want to be more union power and more union members. I think they will find more electoral success when the candidates they back more closely align

with what is going to be best for their members. And I think the kind of part of the mayor's approach to this endorsement slave in his campaigning, I think he went above and beyond. And I think a lot of that has been seen, but we're talking months and months of fundraisers, of phone banks, of canvas launches, signing off on any text that was needed for volunteer recruitment, recording voicemails, using his platform repeatedly on cable news, on different platforms, literally walking across every single district he was in. Like the nonstop investment from him, I think, is something that you really almost never see from someone with that level. of political celebrity. You know, like I was talking to someone earlier,

and I said, he may be a political celebrity now, but once an organizer, always an organizer. Right. And I think that's kind of the approach he has where for a lot of the kind of general political establishment blob endorsements, what you're seeing is like some money moved through a pack, you know, a sticker on a mailer,

and a bunch of people on consultant calls with different ideas. How does, in the absence of Zohran Mamdani, when you're in Maine, in California, when you're in, you know, across the country. How is the absence of a Zohran Mamdani, like what translates? What goes in? Obviously, you need a candidate who is going to have speaking to the issues of working class. But from an organizational standpoint, how replicable is this?

I think what's deeply reputable is the thing of like, there are few, one, like, speaking to sound of point with making the ad and organizing, you can't run a movement campaign if it doesn't feel like a movement. And so, like, there's a, you know, broad desire a lot of the times to kind of cut field, to, like, you get a lot of eye rolls on it. And I think that that is always a massive mistake and a misunderstanding. I like to kind of pride myself on being the only media consultant

and cuts TV budgets to put money into field. And you need the organizing. you need conversations. There's still, I like, I always said, TDS is a substitute for the person who doesn't answer the door when we knock. And I think there's that kind of strategic approach. But then the other part of it is like we can't, and this is true with the digital content that the mayor puts out,

that everyone tries to emulate with different walking talks now. It's true with ad campaigns and it's true, even with field. If you have nothing to say, you have nothing to say. And the voters bullshit meters are really high, and you need something to fucking. say. And I think, you know, I'm very fortunate to a lot of time with incredible candidates who are inherently incredible messengers. But I think there's no reason that every candidate in the country who's running can't decide I'm going to run aggressively on not allowing billionaires

to buy elections. I'm going to run aggressively on very tangible ideas to adjust the cost of living crisis. I'm going to call out what I see is what it is, whether that's genocide, whether that's crypto, whether that's AI. And also, we're going to build a campaign that means. people where they are. And I find it like very, the, the notion that electorates are locked in as what they are, I think, is a lie that is sold to us by people who do not want the electorates to change. And if we communicate with people where they are and with a message that reaches them, we can change what those electorates are. Last question. Have you gotten any texts, calls from someone who was

may have been sort of perceived this movement as a rival. And they said, okay, let's do this. I mean, is there has a bit, are you anticipating anything like that? Or have you gotten one? You don't have to say who it is. I've done a decent amount of outreach of, whoops, I guess you were right. I've gotten medicine. I'm not of outreach of

a lot of people want to get drinks next week. You won't have to pay for a drink for a while, I have a feeling. Yeah, and I think there's a broad sense of, like, from a lot of, there are a lot of good faith.

Like we were kind of poking at some of the people who I think are bad faith in their post analysis. I think there are a lot of good faith elected officials who do want to actually represent the people they're serving and just like have bad consultants or have believed that the city was in a different place or their positions were a different place. And I think it's like is an important message to them of I don't think but they're I don't like and you know everyone might have different takes on this this is me talking on behalf of

the mayor or anyone else. Like I'm not interested in gatekeeping the move like if people get to the right places through real conclude through real good faith conclusions come on board. like it is not too late to say the word genocide. It is not too late to not take pack money. It's not too late to do any of those things. And like even some of the people I think have done it politically motivated. That's not what you want, but it's still healthier for the party. And if anyone has any sense of electoral political survival, I think they would start moving in that direction.

Well, I'm encouraged that you're getting so many drink offers because that's, it's indicative of, I think, at least a certain percentage of candidates and electives out there and consultants. On some level, it's just a question of fear. They don't want to be the first person out on that branch or they see it. And now they can see that it's fairly safe to travel there. That's a good thing. Morris Katz, thanks so much for your time today. Again, congratulations.

Good luck for the rest of the next six months. we're counting on you. Now you're running. There's more to come. Actually, you know what? It's actually closer to like four, four and a half, if that makes it any easier. Four months. Hang in there.

Really appreciate it. Thanks so much, Sam. We're back. Emma Vigland. join us for the fun half ladies and gentlemen before we get there um some of this came up in uh the interview with morris cats but let's just do a slight tour around democratic moderates democratic conservative democrat corporatists democrats democrats who have lost significantly in the past and how they're dealing with this really, like,

it was a political earthquake last night. There is nobody in the establishment who anticipated three for three. Everybody, I think, was anticipating Brad Lander winning. I think probably it was 50-50 as to Valdez, despite the fact the chance of winning by 20 points. But the idea that Chevalier would defeat a 19-year vet, sitting incumbent, I think, was very surprising for people. Here's Jamie Harrison.

Jamie Harrison, what year was he the DNC chair? 2021 to 2025. 2021 to 2025. You will recall that Democrats lost all those elections. Right? I mean, now off your election, okay. But Democrats lost all those elections. Here's Jamie Harrison.

And he writes, I say this with no will, and excuse me, no ill will or animosity. If you hate the Democratic Party, then please don't run for our nomination. Don't use our resources. Don't rely on our volunteers. Don't use our infrastructure. Don't ask Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign. Now, here's the weird part. If you hate the Democratic Party, first off, let's just put aside the sort of reduction of this to like honestly like I feel like this is like upper levels of elementary school stuff.

In New York City, middle school starts in sixth grade. But when I grew up, it was sixth grade was elementary school. I feel like this is sixth grade stuff. But put that aside for a moment. If you're running for the nomination and presumably folks like Jamie Harrison don't like you, then you are not relying on their volunteers. You are not relying on their infrastructure. You are not asking Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign.

you're asking voters to do that and they're deciding the the the the democratic the the idea like you hate the democratic party is so this is not a football team this is not your favorite team the reason why people are involved in politics is because of outcomes the idea that like I'm a Democrat just because it's like I like I like words that start with D or you know

my dad was a Democrat and so it makes me feel good about myself the whole point of a political party is to deliver to you what you want from politics and the idea that there's a Democratic party that exists

outside of it functioning to bring about political results is part of the problem. The idea that there should be just this naked loyalty to a party divorced from its potential to deliver outcomes is just bizarre. Yeah, I mean, you could say his Jamie Harrison type Democrats hate the Democratic Party because they don't want to make it look like FDRs and want to make it look like Clinton's. They have a different vision and Jamie Harrison doesn't like it. And he hides the ball. I mean, here's the thing. I've been accused many, many times of vote blue no matter who. And I would say that's 99.99% true. Like, theoretically it's possible. I would say,

well, I would never say vote for a Republican. But certainly I would say, say vote for an independent if there was an opportunity for them to win. But the whole point of the Democratic Party is because it's the best vehicle in any given situation, not always, but in a situation to bring about political change. You know, I can imagine some local elections where it's not necessarily the best vehicle to do that, but we start getting into federal elections without a doubt. depending on the state without a doubt you know Nebraska it's not his whole like idea is just so stupid and I can't tell who it's supposed to appeal to

focus on building the party you actually support okay that's exactly what they're doing what's happening political parties aren't perfect I don't even know what that means thanks Jamie they are built by millions of people who knock doors make calls, organized meetings, and fight for the values they believe in. The reason why all of those DSA candidates won last night is because they did those things more fervently, more consistently, more competently than their opponents. Yeah. That's it.

If you don't believe in the party, what? What do you mean? Don't believe in it. It exists. And the question is, is what, in what form is it going to be? I would say to Jamie Harrison, if you don't believe that the Democratic Party in 1936 or 1965, or 1995 are different from each other than you have no business, I would say, tweeting, running anything? spelling, tying your shoes, none of it.

It's so juvenile. Speaking of business, and I say this with the no ill-will or animosity, before he was the leader of the DNC, Jamie Harrison was a lobbyist for the pedestrian group for clients, including Bank of America, Wells Farrell, Berkshire, Hathaway, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity in Walmart, just to note that. Oh.

But the parties are made up of millions of people. Some of those millions get to rise to the top if they have. had, you know, great client, corporate clients. He's a concierge. This is a type of politics where people like Jamie Harrison have sold the Democratic Party ballot line to corporations so that they can control the outcomes of politics. And people don't like that anymore. And they're going to get their clocks cleaned.

And what's amazing about this now is how weak the Jamie Harrison wing is. It's stunning. And I would also say to Jamie Harrison, where this party is today. If you hate it. maybe you need to stop pretending like you represent it yeah start your own party jeremy all right let's turn to

the other reaction that we saw from not necessarily liberals this guy was like a new republic writer under marty paredes so that tells you just about everything you need to know

uh james kurchic Jamie Kirchick, they used to call them back in the day. With Darlaiza Chevalier's victory tonight, publicly exalting in the mass murder of Jews is no longer a barrier to high office in the Democratic Party. I do not recall her publicly exulting

in the mass murder of Jews. But the attempt by folks like Jamie Kirchick and this guy, Jamie Metzell. What's going on with the Jamie's? Jay Street. I am a lifelong Democrat. I served in the White House for President Clinton. Awesome.

In the State Department for Madeline Albright. And with the United Nations in Cambodia. I believe the most important role of any government is to protect the most vulnerable people in society and create an environment where everyone can realize their fullest potential. So it gives me no pleasure. A lot of people are saying things very reluctantly. It gives me no pleasure to have to come to the following conclusion.

The American left, including the left wing of the Democratic Party, currently embracing an orgy. that's how you know he worked for clinton yes oh i'm sorry an orgy of it continues virulent anti-semitism now i think jamy kurchick is upset about the leftward um the rise of the left within the democratic party i think this other guy this other jamie metzel i think he just might also have this sort of like like literally psychological problem anti-semitism is definitely on the rise in this country but it is vastly on the right on the right I mean, it's not even comparable. And the anti-Semitism we're talking about is through social bigotry.

But it's not systemic in the way that it was even like around the time of my birth, where there was still like a country club you couldn't get into or some schools that still may have had quotas in the 60s for Jews. or, you know, people wouldn't sell their houses to Jews. When I was a kid, it was not like a weird anomaly to get a penny thrown at you by other kids. It was not strange for me to have people who were friends of mine coming up to me and go like, don't chew me down. I'm like, dude, what do you say? I'm Jewish. and they're like, I thought it was just a verb.

I met a girl in college from West Virginia in the early 80s who thought I would have horns, who literally thought that Jews had horns. We're not at that place. We're at the bigotry of the right that sees Jews as being responsible for black people. and uh... brown people gaining power in the in the country this stuff where the criticism of israel

is equated with anti-semitism we have said this now for for for years is uh... it's grotesque in some you at times it's used sort of opportunistically it's cynical and cynically and there are other times I honestly genuinely think it is a mass sort of trauma response. I don't know what else to say.

It's just bizarre. And the fascinating thing about it is, again, Brad Lander, the primary disagreement they had was a perspective on Israel, the most Jewish district in the country.

And to the extent that Claire Valdez lost the Saddamar vote in her race, the Saddamars are a Hasidic community that are, probably more anti-Zionist than Valdez. They believe that Judaism and Zionism are diametrically opposed. So to the extent that she lost that vote, that was because the borough president had a relationship with the Saddamars. That was all transactional. But I would bet that every non-Hasitic Jew

that voted in this election, and there were many voted for the candidates that supposedly were engaged in an orgy of anti-Semitism because now you're in a position of basically telling Jews you don't know what you're doing

which I find to be horribly anti-Semitic all right with all that said we're going to head into the fun half

Emma just stumbled in. yeah. Wow. It's like the shining. Somebody's still drunk. Watch out.

Oh, boy. Here's Emma. I'm back.

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That's the problem. You don't want, yeah, exactly. To each according to their need. Do you see what happened last night? Okay, Joe Hill.

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um also uh what was the last thing i wanted to oh yeah we've got our uh carpenter pen pencils are back in the um in the merch store so bury the lead i know it Matt, what's happening in the Matt Lecky and Media Universe? Do you don't have any more pencil announcements? Speaking of, yeah, Instagram, I am 545 followers away from 10,000, and then I can really set my sides on Brian. No, yeah, follow that. And also, check out Left Reckoning this week. Yesterday we had Devin Thomas O'Shea on.

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See you in the fun half. And that's at Brian Voki on Instagram. Jamie and I may have a disagreement. Yeah, you can't just say whatever you want about people just because you're rich. I have an absolute right to mock them on YouTube. He's up there buggy whipping like he's the boss. I am not your employer. You know, I'm tired of the negativity.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. You're nervous. You're a little bit upset. You're riled up. Yeah. Maybe you should rethink your defense of that, you're fucking idiots. We're just going to get rid of you. All right.

But dude. Dude. Dude. Dude. Dude. Uh, you want to smoke this. Yes.

Do you feel like you are a dinosaur? It's a good shit. Exactly. I'm happy now. It's a win, win, win. Uh, hell yeah. Now listen to me. Two, three, four, five times.

Eight, four, seven, nine, six, five oh, one, four, five, seven, two, thirty-eight, fifty-six, twenty-six, twenty-seven, one-half, five-eighth, three-point, seven. One-half. Five-eighths. 3.9 billion. Wow. He's the ultimate math, third. Don't you see?

Why don't you get a real job instead of steering vitriol and hatred you left wing limbaugh? Everybody's taking their dumb juice today. Come on, Sammy. Dance, dance, dance.

Rand Paul. I had my first post-coital scene with a woman. I'm hoping got more moves to my repertoire. All I have is the dip in the swirl. Fine, we can double dip. Yes, this is a... perfect moment. No.

Wait, what? You make under a million dollars a year, you're scum, you're nothing. Excuse me? Fuck you. You fucking liberal elite. I think you belong in jail. Thank you for saying that, Sam. You're a horrible, despicable person. All right, going to take quick break. I want to take a moment to talk

to some of the libertarians out there. Take whatever vehicle you want to drive to the library. What you're talking about is jibber jabs. Classic. I'm feeling more chill already Donald Trump can kiss all of our asses

Hey Sam Hey Andy Are you guys ready to Do some evil Hitler was such an idiot You think I might be a Nazi Agree No

Death to America Do Yes Wow Wow that's weird No way Unbelievable. This guy's got a really good hook.

Throw her hands. Wow. But, Sam, I've got to get off. No worries. I want to just flesh this out a little bit. I mean, look, it's a free speech issue. If you don't like me, hey, hey, hey, hey, shut up. Thank you for calling into the majority report.

Sam will be with you shortly.