Going with the Socialist wing, Bernie is 1.0, AOC 2.0, and Mamdani 3.0. Liz Smith discussing the current state of the Democratic Party on “The Political Scene,” a New Yorker podcast.

Democrats forgot that the customer is always right. Also, Liz Smith.

I’ve read, maybe a dozen times, that the United States, today, is like Germany circa 1933 when the Germans abandoned the ineffective moderate parties for radical parties like the Nazis because they promised stability and national revival. Maybe, maybe Trump is the next Hitler and the current Republicans, including the Roberts’ Supreme Court, are the next Nazis, but I don’t think so. I think Trump is too incompetent, and our Democratic traditions are too strong.

I think another, and I hope more accurate, comparison is France in 1783 – give or take five years – waiting for an unknown future that could be a soft revolution, like the election of an FDR, or a hard revolution, like the French Revolution of 1789. I think Trump won in both 2016 and 2024 because he understood and said he respected the electorate. His competition from Jeb Bush to the Democratic aristocracy was not, and still isn’t, aware of the anger and despair among much of the electorate. In other words, I think much of the Trump vote was not for Trump but against the status quo.

Obviously, Zohran Mamdani will never be president; he was born in Kampala, Uganda, and is only a naturalized U.S. citizen. But, if we have another FDR, he or she will be like Mamdani, young, energetic, authentic, with a sense of humor. Here are a couple of Mamdani Social Media ads to show you what I mean.