Link: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/zohran-mamdani-democrat-anger-primaries

The new power broker: How Zohran Mamdani muscled NYC’s Democratic establishment

Outside Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s primary night party, four men on the sidewalk were dressed in full neon sequins, trying to get the party started. Inside, the bar had barely opened.

Espaillat spent 20 years trying to get to Washington and another 10 years in Congress. He arrived to give his concession speech and left in under 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the real party was going on about three miles away. That’s where Zohran Mamdani was completing his victory lap of three celebrations with candidates who likely would not have gotten near Congress without his endorsements, just a year after he stunned the political world by beating Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary.

CNN trying to paint Mamdani as a party boss instead of merely a beneficiary of a left shift among the electorate

So...you think he just "got lucky"? He was just in the right place at the right time, and none of his successes have anything to do with his skill as a politician?

Being a skilled candidate isn't the same thing as being a "power broker" in the machine-politics sort of way CNN is trying to insinuate. They're trying to paint him as a corrupt, 'more of the same (just a slightly different flavor)' establishment-esque Democrat in order to minimize and distract from the fact that, yes, the People actually do want socialist policies.

That's exactly what being a "power broker" is all about, though. You are leveraging your success as a politician, in order to advance your own policies...or in this case, get your choice of candidates elected. Mamdani is in the perfect position to get things done, and he doesn't need the DNC's upper management to even back him up on it.

I'm glad he's using that influence to get more DSA members into office. And it's particularly satisfying knowing that he's pissing off the establishment in the process.

"So you hate pancakes" ass sentence