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With a new NBC poll showing that only 28% of Americans view the Democratic Party favorably, Republicans hardly need to be handed any more gifts this holiday season.

But hang on.

Speaking to his Democratic Socialists of American just two years ago, the new national face of the Democratic Party opined thusly on the proximate cause of any police misconduct in New York City: "We have to make clear," proud DSA stalwart Zohran Mamdani told his group, "that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the I(srael) D(efense) F(orces)." That was in August 2023, before Hamas' invasion of Israel, before Hamas' massacre of 1,200 Israelis by machine-gunning, burning and pulverizing them, and before Israel's response that Mamdani called "genocide" even occurred. Naturally, on Oct. 8, while Israeli medics were still trying to ID body parts, Mamdani blamed it on the obvious culprit: Israel. This was DSA doctrine 101: within hours of the slaughter, DSA held a rally in New York celebrating Hamas.

Mamdani denies that he's got an anti-Semitic bone in his body. Of course he does. As Orwell once wrote about the British intellectual who denied that he supported fascism while defending fascists, a pickpocket doesn't go to the races with a sign saying "Thief" on his lapel. But Mamdani denies it so earnestly. It's the kind of gift that has led awestruck commentators to label him a "great political athlete."

There's some truth there.

Mamdani has denounced as an outrageous smear the claim that he's ever called to defund the police. Okay, but here's his tweet from 2020: "We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundtheNYPD."

Seems pretty straightforward.

And this, about budget negotiations with the police union: "There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence."

To some traditionalists, this sounds a lot like con-artistry. For others, it's political athleticism. Still, give Mamdani his due: anyone who wants to advance in Democratic Party politics had better kiss his ring. He has become to Democratic politics what Don Corleone was to olive oil importation.

The Intifada wing of the Democratic Party dominates now; that much is clear. In Maine, Graham Platner is the DSA darling as he runs for the Democratic nomination for Senator, and national Democratic Party figures scurry to pay him their heartfelt respects. Revelations that over the past 20 years, Platner has said things right out of The Wackjob Playbook haven't bothered them in the slightest, or at least not enough to distance themselves.

Platner, whose claim that Israel is guilty of "genocide" has earned him Bernie Sanders' endorsement, turns out to have called rural white Americans "racist" and "stupid," and has described all police as "bastards." He has called himself a "Communist." And in language which under other circumstances might have earned him a Proud Boys Honor Badge, he has exhorted us to "not expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle."

Then there's his Nazi tattoo, which he has happily sported for nearly two decades before deciding to run for Senate. His skull and crossbones are the symbol of the Nazi police that murdered millions of Jews under Hitler. He says he hadn't the slightest idea that's what it was. "He got it years ago and he should have had it covered up because he damn well knows what it means," says his now former political director, who recently resigned.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Ct), who wants to run for the Democratic presidential nomination, likes what he sees in Platner. "He's talking a language that speaks to a lot of middle-class voters," says Murphy, pandering up a storm. He may be a Nazi tattoo-wearer. But he's OUR Nazi tattoo-wearer.

It's Platner himself who may have assessed the Nazi insignia disclosures most shrewdly. "I don't look at this as a liability," he says. As things stand in the Democratic Party these days, he's probably right.

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Jeff Robbins' latest book, "Notes From the Brink: A Collection of Columns about Policy at Home and Abroad," is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Google Play. Robbins, a former assistant United States attorney and United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, was chief counsel for the minority of the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. An attorney specializing in the First Amendment and a longtime columnist, he writes on politics, national security, human rights and the Middle East.

Copyright 2025 Creators Syndicate Inc.