Mamdani is the new king of the Democratic Socialists, and he didn't get there by accident. He understood that closed primaries are a rigged game where the players are also the referees — and he played that game to perfection while more than a million New York City independents were locked out of the vote that actually decides who represents them. Paul Rieckhoff breaks down what happened in NYC, in Maryland, and in Utah, why Brad Lander worked so hard to kill the open primaries ballot initiative, and what the rise of the far left in safe-blue cities means for the angry middle that has nowhere left to go.
From there, the briefing widens out. The Senate finally voted to check Trump's Iran war powers — with an asterisk worth knowing about. Hegseth forced the retirement of General CD Donahue, the last soldier out of Afghanistan, and the patriotic purged are starting to file for office. Trump botched a Medal of Honor ceremony, fixated on UFC fighters' muscles, and pushed a SAVE Act designed to scare Americans away from the ballot box. Paul also flags some good news: DC just funded open primaries, retired Navy Admiral Nancy LaCore won her South Carolina primary, and a six-tour combat veteran named Kate Connolly is coming for Mike Lawler in the Hudson Valley.
In this episode
- Why Mamdani's win is a masterclass in exploiting a rigged closed-primary system
- Brad Lander, the killed open-primaries ballot initiative, and why now you know why
- Only 420,000 voters out of 5 million decided NYC's future — 7,000 in all of Staten Island
- Maryland, Utah, and the millions of independents shut out of determinative elections again
- Kate Connolly: six combat tours, West Point, and the moderate veteran coming for Mike Lawler
- The patriotic purged — fired by Hegseth or DOGE, now running for office and ready to fight
- The Senate's 48-50 War Powers vote on Iran, and the McCormick/McConnell asterisk
- Hegseth forces out General CD Donahue and why the silent flag officers need to speak up
- Trump's SAVE Act decoded: voter intimidation dressed up as election security
- Trump challenging a UFC fighter to wrestle and botching a Medal of Honor ceremony on camera
