Kenmin

If you’re a Mamdani booster, there’s nothing to be mad about here; if anything this helps cement his broad appeal as normal/relatable, vs “crazy” leftists. If you’re a leftist antizionist, though, this is frustrating and disappointing. Not because they’re being unfair to Zohran or whatever—but because there’s still so many on the left who clearly have no theory of power or change beyond “petition those who have power.” The archetype of The Radical that they hold in their minds—and which they seek to emulate—is the permanent outsider, the externalized (shaming, haranguing) conscience of those who can actually make decisions. Never the decision makers! Never the ones with power, but solely the beggar to power. Except the begging is disguised through performative hostility as if it were something else, a demand with real force behind it. But of course, there is no force, no leverage. It’s all kabuki—but the audience for the performance is, more than anyone, the performers themselves. If you think Zohran is a genocidaire, I think that’s nonsense, but honestly that doesn’t bother me *nearly* as much as that *this* kind of empty gesture is your response to something as profoundly horrifying as genocide. Can’t you build something better, bigger, stronger? At the minimum, you could primary him from the left in 2029! But if not, please come up with *something* other than these kinds of powerless acts of prostration, of begging, masquerading as demands. You can’t demand anything without power—if not electoral power, then find something else. But without power, it’s not a demand, but a plea. A whimper.