New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reaffirmed his support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday, telling a reporter he “continues to support Congressman Jeffries and his bid to become the leader” if Democrats retake the House this fall.
The comment landed at a delicate moment for Jeffries, who spent the weekend fielding criticism over a private meeting with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and White House envoy.
Mamdani’s answer set off a wave of frustration among figures on the party’s left flank who had claimed him as their standard-bearer. Kshama Sawant, a socialist organizer and former Seattle city council member, wrote on social media that Mamdani “continues to support genocidal Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker” despite the Kushner meeting. She argued the Democratic Socialists of America’s strategy of working inside the Democratic Party is not working.
Hakeem Jeffries can get fucked with a cactus for all i care. He doesn’t represent the people.
There would be ZERO point to pick a fight and burn bridges with Jeffries right now. Similar to what a speaker with a 4th-grade speech level said, “Nothing good can happen, it can only bad.”
- We’re past Democratic Primaries.
- We’re less than 60 days out from November midterm elections.
- All that matters is unity against the Republican threat.
If he still maintains this after a hypothetical election sweep, then I may care.
This is basically the flipped-around equivalent of Jeffries begrudgingly endorsing Mamdani after he was the nominee.
Nobody wants Hakeem Jeffries in case you didn’t notice. Replacing him with a pile of rocks would be beneficial. It’s like you’ve learned nothing from Kamala Harris.
I don’t know what / when Primaries are.
This is what your comment told me.
Take Poli-Sci 101 course and get back to me.
So you want Hillary over Bernie because the DNC endorsed her
lol this makes no sense. You’re not American, are you?
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I’m sorry you don’t understand the American policial system. Who won the primary in 2016?
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Why it is so hard for politicians to abide by human rights and obligation under international law and morality in geenral?
Great Hakeem Jeffries defense .worlder
It looks like he wants EVERYONE left of center to just get out and vote blue for now, including for all the great candidates who beat out establishment Dems. At this point they’re going to try to interfere and throw the elections, and they’ll just need to be overwhelmed with enough sheer numbers for it not to matter.
Interesting strategy. At this point, it seems like the most workable election strategy. If leftists gain a majority within the Dem party, Jeffries will be like removed as speaker.
Socialists of Lemmy: let’s not take Mamdani out behind the woodshed just yet.
First of all, the article makes it sound like Mamdani has pledged his undying devotion to Jeffries, above all other options, but as far as I can tell all he said was “I support him as Speaker”, with no actual timeframe given. Jeffries is the current Minority Leader, and no other candidate has come out to say they want to challenge him, at least not publicly. So, there technically isn’t another option right now. Mamdani could make an announcement that he supports Rob Manfred as Commissioner of Baseball, and it would have the same practical impact.
Also, Mamdani seems to be a savvy political operator. Remember how he had Trump mesmerized when they talked? This announcement didn’t come out of nowhere, I’m sure Mamdani has his reasons to announce this right now. I think it’s likely that Mamdani is trying to send a message to Jeffries. Yes, this is a public endorsement now, but Mamdani could change his mind, and the amount of press this is getting for a relatively minor announcement should be an indicator to Jeffries that he might not be able to hold on to his Leadership position while still ignoring progressives, since Mamdani is such a public figure in the progressive movement and his endorsement is meaningful.
I would Trust in the Zohran, he knows what he’s doing.
Trust
Yeah, we don’t do that any more. Trust died in 2016. Now if you want us to change our minds, you’ll have to tell us why.
And in this case, it better be a pretty fucking good reason.
Jeffries has still failed to explain what Kushner wanted. This makes me think he’s compromised.
“hE wAnTeD tO dIscuSs AfForDaBilItY”
It’s an absolutely brain-dead expectation that people would accept that line.
I’ll accept that this is probably “political”, not full-throated support of an establishment Democrat.
I just don’t like it.
Same. It feels like he could have said nothing? Or framed it as “wish we had someone better vying for it.”
He’s smart enough to know that if we continue to split, the republicans will keep winning, and that the country can’t afford that…
There is an old saying, Democrats fall in love, republicans fall in line.
It’s true.
If Hakkeem Jeffries wins then Republicans already won. Jeffries just met with Kushner.
We don’t know what that means… No-one does. I mean, it’s just as likely Jeffries told him to get fucked.
And I maintain, the worst democrat is still better than the best republican.
This is how functional democracies are supposed to work.
Functional democracies are supposed to work on the basis of communication and compromise. They are not necessarily supposed to gatekeep that communication through the President’s son-in-law, though. But, these are the times that we live in right now.
Hakim is the total opposite of everything progressist stand for. Why would you compromise with someone who is going to sabotage you?
Meeting with the unelected son in law of the president?
Liberals will defend the wildest stuff when Mamdani is involved.
Basically what Sawant is saying:
Uh oh… Mamdani’s endorsement of Jeffries totally means he’s in bed with AIPAC, Netanyahu and the IDF. Time to base our entire opinion of Mamdani on this single unproven link, forget every other policy position he holds or has ever held, cut all ties and disappear into irrelevance…
Can’t say it matters to me. It’s my vote, and I vote for who I think is best.
I vote for the best of the available options, and yes, part of that vote is “can they win”
DSA was always going to have to deal with the issues of the DNC and Dem party there is no bypassing. Zhoran seems to have decent judgement. Jeffries is a terrible person I don’t agree with his choice but it is what it is.
When your goals are aligned with terrible people’s goals you have to just walk next to them. Fighting on the way won’t help you get there faster.
Just remember where you’re going
Between this and his friendly relations with Trump, Hochul, and Tisch, I get the impression that Mamdani has little interest in being a political leader or in the broader socialist movement—he just wants to be an effective administrator and happens to think socialism is the best approach.
Yeah, that gels with the vibe I get. And I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. He’s doing his job and supporting his constituents. And he’s not burning down the rest of the world to do it.
The last part is important, but the majority of US politicians seem to be forgetting that: they’re serving their (Zionist) constituents and tossing everything else in the burner.
