Jay Weber Show transcript 6-26-25
I’ll remind listeners who are exasperated at New York democrats going ‘full socialist’ and nominating an America-hating, jew hating Zohran Mamdani as their mayoral candidate-that he hasn’t won the general election yet.
This is precisely why this race is getting so much attention this week. As i said on Tuesday: I wouldn’t normally care much about a mayor’s race in New York-except that this time- it’s basically a ‘proxy race’ for today’s democrat party, and this larger question of whether it’s members are going to moderate and move back toward traditional liberalism and-at least try- to get back onto the right side of the 80/20 issues....or whether they are going to follow their vocal and angry young zealots further down this path of ‘ramming socialism’ down the rest of our throats.
Hey-it’s easy to elect the ‘most extreme’ left-wing candidate in a deep blue area like New York city-but that doesn’t mean the rest of the country wants what that person or party is selling.
And that’s the test here- and the warning for the larger democrat party: Zohran Mamdani might be able to win in New York with this genuinely extreme agenda.... but the biggest problems for today’s democrats are:
First- Americans have traditionally-and generationally- rejected socialism and communism....
And second- their party platform is still on the wrong side of all of these 80/20 issues- heading into 2026...whether it’s crime and cop-hating, immigration, economy, tax cuts, gender mutilation of our minors...or whatever.
And I’ve seen this circus before: if a few nitwits like Mamdani win in their ‘deep blue, very safe’ cities like New York or LA between now and next fall- the democrat leaders are going to take it as a sign that their party- as a whole-needs to keep moving more socialist. Not more toward the center....
And overall, their electoral problems are going to continue.
You can see it in the coverage of Mamdani’s win on Tuesday.
The question now is, will most voters in New York turn back toward Eric Adams, who, up to this point, has seen his popularity tank as the current mayor, but at least has a track record of being reasonable and level-headed on things like crime and policing.
And no, I don’t think it’s a ‘fate accompli’ for New York, as i knew it was for Chicago, when voters down there had a choice between racist socialists Brandon Johnson and a more traditional liberal a year ago.
I knew how Chicagoans were going to vote on that one because they’re famous for always making the wrong choice.
New York city’s voters are at least a ‘little mixed’ and have a slightly better track record of not going too crazy- toward the left.
That could change if they elect Mamdani.
Also remember- the sliver of people who voted in this democrat primary- are just a sliver of the overall New York city electorate. Yes, the turnout was said to be huge-
But huge ‘for a primary’. Only about 15 to 17 percent of New York city’s eligible voters participated in this week’s decision. That means the general election results could end up looking ‘very’ different- in fall.
Is Mamdani most likely to win now, because he’s the democrat party’s candidate? Yes.
But is it a certainty?
No.
Especially not if Andrew Cuomo is smart enough to stay on the sidelines and -not- run as an independent, too, which would split the non-Zohran vote with Eric Adams-
And- if Adams and his team can run a campaign that makes it clear: this Mamdani is a fraud and a dangerous clown who will only harm the city.
Eric Adams turned up on fox news yesterday morning-
And in response to a list of freebees and promises Mamdani is making to the people of New York- like free buses, free childcare, rent freezes, govt run grocery stores-
Adams said, the guy is a snake oil salesman:
That’s actually a pretty good point be Eric Adams: if Mamdani was serious about any of these promises he’s making to the people of New York city, he’d stay in the legislature and work to implement them there- because the mayor of a city doesn’t have the power to do most of those things.
That’s true.
But as for the general election, itself, which comes later this year – and is going to be seen (incorrectly)....as an early preview of next fall’s larger off-year elections-
Yes.Mamdani’s win in this primary is going to lead to a moment of truth for the democrat party. A decision: what do you want your party to be-moving forward?
Do you want it to be a socialist party? Anti-capitalist? Anti-prosperity?Anti-liberty and freedom?
Do you want it to be a party that ‘imposes’ it will onto the people?
Or do you want it to still be a pro-capitalist, pro-prosperity, pro-freedom party?
This party has been at a crossroads since their loss last fall. I’ve talked about how they have both a gaping ‘age divide’ and a gaping ideological divide to work out, here.
This is -very much- the ‘old guard’ democrats and powerbrokers and more traditional liberals...against the newcomer young “socialists’ who reject nearly everything America and free markets stand for...and have prospered under.
Look. Hard truth: 2024 could have been winnable for democrats, except they ended up with an ‘incapable’ candidate running on an extreme platform that was on the wrong side of every popular issue.
It shouldn’t be that hard for democrat leaders and strategists to figure this out and pivot back toward success.
But they’ve got this ‘hard’, smallish, yet sizable core of loud, angry young people who are still allowing them to bully around and yank around the rest of the party by their nose rings.
The best thing for the more rational and enduring members of the democrat party-would be to put a lot of effort and focus on defeating Ramadani in fall- and trying to snuff out this ‘angry idiot socialist’ movement, all together.
It hasn’t done well over the last two election cycles.
Yes, the screaming socialists and their movement gained some traction in 2018 and 2020 but haven’t really done well or added to their numbers much -in terms of winning high-profile seats- since.
Reasonable democrats-right now-have a chance to choke out this nonsense- show the American people that they have learned from their mistakes of the Biden era- and move back toward matching their policy agenda with one that the bulk of the American people actually want....instead of some odious list of things that the young socialists just want to ram down our throats.
So -it is a good thing-that we are seeing so much push-back within the democrat party- on Mamdani’s win Tuesday.
Yesterday-everyone noticed- that both chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jefferies stopped short of endorsing Zohran Mamdani or really heaping praise on him.
Both men are from New York. Represent New York, themselves, in congress....and so... They both felt the need to say some nice and complimentary things about Mamdani- but neither of them moved to endorse Mamdani in the race.
And this was happening as other New York democrats and major donors were huddling to decide whether they are going to break away-and endorse Eric Adams- to keep this young clown out of city hall.
Most are still ‘keeping it private’.... but a few are already rattling sabers.
If NY’s other top democrats and donors can beat that drumbeat between now and fall-they could beat this pretender idiot-and take a step toward retaking rhetorical control of their party.
The lefty news media wanted to pretend that it was we ‘on the right’ who were rushing to make Mamdani the face of the democrat party. Or it was we ‘on the right’ who were leaping to trash him.
Nope. That was mostly long-time democrats, themselves, who were doing it.
Hey-we’ll be happy to promote this racist turd as the new streak in their underwear.... but...it’s in the democrat party’s -own-best interest- to launch an organized campaign to snuff out his candidacy in fall.
After all- it doesn’t even mean ‘electing a republican’...to do it. If Eric Adams is the alternative-well- he’s still ‘too far left’ to be called a traditional liberal. They’d still have a left winger in charge.
They just wouldn’t have an untested, silly socialist destroyer in charge, as the city of Chicago does right now.
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here > New York has become a battleground for democrats