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In this episode we break down the results from last week's Democratic primaries in New York City, which saw candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America prevail in key congressional races (as well as downballot in local and state races). We break down what happened, review the deranged responses from both the right and centrist Democrats, the place of Israel/Palestine in these contests (and the ludicrous if expected charges of anti-semitism that followed), and consider what it might mean for the left in the age of Trump—however much longer that lasts—and more.
Sources:
Peruse all the results from the NYC Democratic primary at the New York Times.
Noah Rothman, "The DSA Is a Hate Group, and What It Hates Is America," National Review, June 24, 2026
— "The Hostile Takeover of the Democratic Party That Everyone but the Democrats Saw Coming," National Review, June 25, 2026
Brianna Lyman, "Socialist Primary Wins Prove Mass Migration Remakes America," The Federalist, June 25, 2026
Jonah Goldberg, "Crazy Begets Crazy in New York City," The Dispatch, June 24, 2026
Michael Luciano, "'I'm Done, I'm Not in That F*cking Political Party':James Carville Freaks Out After Progressives Win Big in Democratic Primaries," Mediaite, June 24, 2026
Elizabeth Kim, "'You're next': The Black and Latino New Yorkers Feeling Burned by Mamdani's Primary Sweep," Gothamist, June 24, 2026
Michael Lange, “DSA vs. WFP,” The Narrative Wars, May 18, 2026
Well, because we're talking about the Israel issue, the other race in which Israel and Palestine was really central to the differences between the candidates was in New York's 13, which is in Upper Manhattan, where Daria Lisa Avilla Chevalier won. She's a very serious, capable, accomplished, and beloved organizer. I mean, everybody that I know who knew her from working, she worked on Mom Donnie's campaigns, on various DSA campaigns, and in the Palestine Solidarity movement, that she's just fantastic. And one of the things that motivated her to run, she talked about a lot, was that when her friend, an organizing compatriot, Mahmoud Khalil, was arrested by the government, he was Espayat's constituent, and Espayat didn't do shit for him. You know, he did some tweet saying, like, you know, we'll see what the Justice Department says. And that really pissed her off, as it rightly should have. And he's, to some degree, paying for that uncaring ineptitude on his part from that moment. I mean, what a disgusting response. I think, like, in terms of emotional satisfaction for a lot of people on the left in New York in DSA, it's delicious irony, right, that this Columbia PhD student will now be represented. I know we mentioned that briefly at the start, but it's just like kind of incredible. And she's also the candidate that is driving the right, you know, the most. The most crazy, yeah. But I think part of the satisfaction is that so much, I think, of the New York Democratic establishment's flat-footedness uncaring kind of indifference to the government's crackdown on pro-Palestine organizing in this city, it was motivated in part, some of them, for ideological reasons for the because they support Israel. But I think a lot of them just did it out of cowardice because they thought, "Oh, this Israel-Palestine issue is too hot and these crazy leftist anti-Israel people are going to ruin the Democratic brand." And courage is what has paid off. Those people who took a stand early and righteously on the right side of that issue are going to Congress. And those people who were cowardly are not. And I think that is unbelievably satisfying and just sort of like a rare moment of the moral arc of the universe bending towards justice, you know? [Music]
Matt and Sam break down the results from last week's Democratic primaries in NYC.
