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You are listening to a free version of the Majority Report. Support this show@jointhemajorityreport.com and get an extra hour of content daily. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Wednesday, June 24, 2026. My name is Sam Seder. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Morris Katz, political strategist, served as the lead media strategist for Zoram Mamdani's mayoral campaign. Also working on Platner campaign Dan Osborne. Dan Osborne Others to talk about the big story of the day. Mamdani DSA shocked the Democratic establishment across New York City. Valdez, Lander, Chevalier all but become Congress people knocking out two incumbents on the way. Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer puts himself on a wait list at a retirement community near you. Senate passes the War Powers act resolution. Texas anti ice protesters convicted of terrorism charges. They get over 50 years in prison. House and Senate now have passed bipartisan housing bill and despite Pete Hegseth proclamation, the military begins re requiring flu shots once more. New York Times finds documents which show that Trump is lying about his reflecting cesspool vandalism, COVID vaccine study that was suppressed by the CDC published in an outside journal. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Emma Veglin out today. You can simply check her Instagram feed to find out why. Yeah, probably a Tylenol shortage on her block. Things have markedly changed since the supply of Zbiotics in the office has dwindled.
B
Reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Read some more of that stuff.
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Exactly, folks, big win last night. And by wins I mean by win I mean wins. Next year New York will have three federal Democratic socialists in office. AOC Claire Valdez and Darlisa Chevalier. There will be New York. There'll be four DSA members in New York City elected to office. There will be 15 state socialists in office in this state. Rivalry, rivalry in rival, rivaling, rivaling the number of socialists since like literally 1915. I think it was. Yep, Just huge wins. Claire Valdez. This is the New York 7th district. Claire Valdez beat Antonio Reynoso and Reynoso was a sort of a, I would say mainstream progressive. He was Velasquez. Nydia Velasquez, the retiring congresswoman's pick. She endorsed Reynoso. Reynoso got endorsements from a lot of unions. Not all the unions. Claire Valdez won by 21 points, 20 points. A huge win. Brad Lander beat a sitting congressperson. Now, I think a lot of people anticipated this. Certainly everyone did, or, you know, everyone around here did. Goldman won last time only because the vote was split amongst progressives. But this race came down to, in many respects, the question of Israel and aipac. This is the most Jewish district in the country. Both Goldman and Brad Lander are Jewish. Goldman won. Excuse me. Lander won by 30 points. He won by 30 points. You will hear a lot of mainstream commentators, Republican commentators, Zionists, say that this is a very scary time for Jews in New York. I cannot tell you how absurdly laughable that is. Just absurdly laughable. This is Michael Cohen. Let's put this up here. He is a writer. I don't know if he writes for the Globe now, a liberal writer. He writes. This is genuinely a scary night for New York City Jews. I honestly, like. I cannot tell you how, because I think he's sincere. I cannot tell you and I'm not. Obviously. I don't believe that even psychiatrists from afar can diagnose someone. And I am not a psychiatrist. There was a sitcom pilot where I performed a laparoscopic cholecystectomy as a doctor, but I am also not a doctor. But I will say, in my layperson's opinion, he is demented. Like there is a psychological problem associated with that. You're acting like you didn't ask me to go get groceries for you last night because you were too scared to leave the house. I did ask Brian that, but that was because I was too lazy to do it. And I thought he would buy into that. The idea that New York is even remotely scary or remotely more scary today for Jews is one of the most batcrap crazy things I've ever heard. It's inexplicable to me how someone could say that. I don't even know if he lives in New York. Maybe I can't imagine he does, but it's just insane. Brad Lander's pretty Jewish. In District 13. This was the one, I think, that surprised most people. Dara Lisa Avila Chevalier goes up against Adriano Espionage. Espionage. Not just an incumbent, not just a 19 year incumbent, but also the chair of the Hispanic Caucus. She beat him by four points. To beat an incumbent is crazy
B
with that kind of.
A
And also understand this. There are times where it's like, oh, you know, Joe Crowley got surprised by aoc, but supposedly they've all been on alert since then. And it's not like these two incumbents are so far removed from leadership. You know, we just didn't realize. We didn't have a sense of what was going on the ground. I don't. You can go from either one of these districts to Hakeem Jeffries districts in anywhere ranging from, like, I think 10 minutes on the subway to different parts of it that might take you 45 minutes or so. They were completely blindsided by this. You brought this up before the show. Esplat's last three elections, he won 90%, 81% and 81. Oh, those were general elections. I don't think he was even challenged. Oh, yeah, those are generals.
B
Yes.
A
So these are major wins. And there were big wins in the state Senate. There was some upstate. The only other one that was a real competition was, or I should say a surprise on some level was the 12th, where Lasher won and Boris. Neither one of them was. The biggest difference was that Boris was willing to regulate AI and they spent something like $20 million. And he still only lost by single digits. Here is Zoran Mamdani, who is now being hailed. I mean, look, this was. This was risky for Mamdani to do, or at least that was the story. He is pissing off the leadership. It was less than a year ago when this headline popped this up from the slack where Jeffrey's people
C
were.
A
Were saying, if these Democratic socialists are attempting to primary any incumbents, they're going to regret it. I think it was.
C
Nope,
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nope, that was that CNN headline, I think it was. Yeah, here it is. This is from July 9th. Some of mom Donnie's far left allies want a primary. Hakeem Jeffries and other New York City Democrats. And the. The byline, or the. I should say the. The subtitle was. There was a quote in that tweet that was there. I can't find it now. But it was basically to the effect of like, good luck. They're going to have a real problem if they do that. Here is Zoram Mamdani at a. At the Claire Valdez victory party last night.
C
My friends, I know many of you have been canvassing for months, and if those canvases at those fundraisers, at those events, when we introduce our candidates, we use a language of hope. We say the next assembly member, the next State senator, the next Congressperson. Tonight, we use a language of fact. So please join me in welcoming up to the stage Assemblywoman Deanna Moreno, Assembly member david organ, Assembly woman Samantha Kattan, State senator abedon towers, And the one, the only, Congresswoman Claire Valdez. Now, Claire was Claire was. Now you're going to hear from every one of these incredible candidates. But before I leave, I just wanted to share a few words with all of you, which is, first and foremost, this is your victory. What you all have shown this evening, whether for State assembly, state Senate or Congress, is that a year ago, it was not the end of a political movement, it was the beginning. And I want to thank you because in this room I see those who believed, no matter what tweet, they read from Michael Lang, they believed. They put that anxiety into shifts, they put it into door knocks, into phone calls. Raise your hand if you canvas. Those are the hands that won this race. And every single one of these incredible candidates, they are going to be the partners in transforming the most expensive city in the United States of America into one that working New Yorkers can afford.
A
I have to say, like, I don't. I. Certainly not in New York City, but I don't recall anything quite like this where a mayor who's been mayor only for six months. Essentially throws all of his political cachet into these races. We certainly haven't seen a movement like this. We just, it just hasn't existed in our politics for decades. And on some level that's why, you know, a lot of this is just not predictable where this leads. I'm quite sure it does not lead to a place where Jews should be nervous about. But honestly, in terms of like political power, it is unclear because this is definitely going to influence Democrats across the country some less, some more. And when we talk to Morris Katz, I think you'll get a sense of that in a bit on how it's going to implicate things. And speaking of something else I haven't seen, I mean, I guess I've seen this on the right. I think back to like when George Bush in 2005 attempted to, maybe it was 2004, 2005 attempted to push immigration reform. When the Republican intelligentsia believe that demographically speaking, they needed to open their party to Latino and Hispanic voters. And there was a massive pushback by Mark Levin and Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham and a lot of these sort of xenophobes, racists. Who push back on it and shut the whole thing down. We've never had that on the left. Any type of media platforms that can really singularly influence the outcome of a political fight. I mean, there's been moments. Talking Points Memo did a great job of Social Security in 2005. There are others. But this is pretty amazing. Hassan Piker, a couple of Days ago, I think it was only a couple of days ago. Started encouraging his audience to phone bank. He has a slightly larger audience than we do. And the last figures that were public were that 90,000 calls were made by his audience. And here he is at, I think it was Claire Valdez's party and the DSA co chair, Gustavo, I can't remember his last name. He tells Hasan Piker that it translated into at least 2000 votes. Check this out.
D
That's about the size of Darrell's team right now.
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From those phone calls alone, 2,000 identified likely voters. As of like 10:38pm last night when the call with the. The race was called. I think this is what the vote tally was. Chevalier had 32,790 votes and Espionage had 30,464 votes. I'm not going to do the very specific math, but it looks like a 2300 vote lead. That's amazing. Really indicative of how these wins were brought about by a movement that literally that mobilizes its people. Not just mobilizes, but organizes and mobilizes its people. A real fundamental change to see. You know, it's one thing like, okay, AOC knocks off Crowley and she does this through organizing and whatnot in 2018. Nobody expects it, nobody sees it coming. And it's almost like a, like a quiet insurgency. This was a, this was. No surprises here other than the specific outcomes. And to mobilize in three different districts, and not just three different districts, but also like, you know, Senate races, assembly races, is incredibly impressive. You will hear all sorts of different spins on this. Like what happens in New York can't translate into other places. You will hear that this was all about gentrification. It wasn't. Both Chevalier and Valdez won in cohorts, not just the sort of like new young white people where. Which I also think is sort of an amazing critique from people who are saying, well, we need candidates who will work in a, you know, in Iowa.
B
Well, where do you think the white people.
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Where do you think the white people came from? But it's also not the case that they just won, you know, white podcast listeners. Here is Neera Tanden on CNN last night. Neera Tanden, who has spent the better part of the past couple of months attacking Hassan Piker on Twitter, which, to be fair, she apologized to me for, and attacking progressives across the the country
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saying
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that the DSA was a problem, et cetera, et cetera. Here she is on after the results have been made public.
E
This whole issue, 2010 and 20, 2010, 2012. You're absolutely right. Republicans took a very competitive races and they put very extreme candidates in. And I think that is not what's happening in the Democratic Party today. What you said today is in the most liberal.
A
One second, incidentally, the three Congress people that we've talked about, the winners of these primaries, we can call them congresspeople now because they're going to win their race. There's no Republican Party in this city. What she is addressing is that in 2010, 2012, the Republicans nominated people for the Senate like a woman named Christine o'.
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Donnell.
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I believe she was in Delaware or Maryland. She had to publicly come out and do an ad refuting the idea that she was a witch. There were candidates who said, who were parsing distinctions of rape that lost. We're talking about candidates who won these races. And maybe they, maybe their style or the way they code wouldn't necessarily translate to other cities or towns for that matter, But their positions are fairly mainstream. The American public, by and large perceives this as a genocide. The Jewish public perceives it as a genocide. The American public across the political spectrum largely want the US to stop funding Israel, Medicare for all, very popular. All of these raising the minimum wage. None of these positions are particularly radical. I don't know if Graham Platner could come down to New York City necessarily wearing his lumberjack outfit and code in the proper way for New York City in some of these districts. And I imagine some of these candidates also don't necessarily code in Iowa, but in terms of positions, not that dramatically different from anywhere else in the country. But continue
E
what's happening in the Democratic Party today, what you saw today is in the most liberal parts of America, they found very liberal candidates. And you know, those people should represent. They should get the representatives they want. But as I pointed out in competitive spirit, straight districts and states they were nominating, Democrats are nominating sometimes more moderate candidates. Josh Turek just won in Iowa against a more progressive candidate, a great candidate, more progressive candidate that people believe he has a better chance of defeating. Ashley Hinson. And I think that we also saw that today in New York 17.
A
Okay, in New York 17, there was a marginal difference in the progressiveness of the candidates. Effie, who came in third, simply didn't have the money to compete in that. But when she talks about, like, you know, nominating people in Iowa, I'm trying to think if there's any state where we can see someone who is not necessarily a proclaimed Democratic socialist but is talking about these issues and these exact same ways. I'm just trying to think if there is a state, I mean I was a pretty white state. There's, there's one up in the upper right corner of the country. Oh, right, that's Maine. Yeah, that's what it's called, Maine. And I'm trying to think they beat an establishment candidate in that primary pretty bad, quite handily. Yeah.
B
But yeah, Neera Tanden and people like her, they definitely know how to win in rural areas as they've shown in recent history. Yeah. Keep locking that down, guys. Great job.
A
And I will also say like, I don't think like the Democratic establishment played too hard in that Turek Zach Walls race because they're toxic. And I think they're also incompetent, which is even worse. We will have more tweets from and stories from the so called moderate wing of the Democratic Party. A lot of tough talk from anonymous quotes. I know when I'm tough, I want to make sure I do it under the shroud of anonymity. We're going to take quick break. When we come back, I'm going to be talking to Morris Katz. He's the political strategist, served as the lead media strategist for Zoran Mamdani, has been heavily involved in the campaigns that took place across New York, in Maine, in Nebraska, in California. We'll be right back after this.
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Foreign.
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We are back. Sam Cedar on the Majority Report. Emma Vigland out today. It is a pleasure to welcome to the program. I, I think it's the first time Morris Katz, political strategist who served as the lead media strategist for Zoram Hamdani's mayoral campaign, obviously also working on some of the campaigns that were victorious last night in New York as well as up in Maine on Platner's campaign and others across the country. Morris, first off, congratulations and thanks for joining us. Last night was a late night for a lot of folks. Let's just start with like what
C
were
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there any surprises for you? I mean, obviously you go into this very confident because you got to. But were there surprises in the results? And I'm specifically talking about the 7th, the 10th and the 13th.
D
Well, thanks for having us, Sam. It's great to be here. And in my mind I'm filling in for the role of Emma today as hungover progressive Knicks fan.
A
Yes, you do have the Knicks shirt on there. So there it is.
D
Look, I think, you know, I, I would be a bad political operative and a bad New York Joe if I wasn't going into yesterday incredibly anxious. And so there's always the anxiety factor. And you're always both kind of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. And we what we what we got last night I think exceeded even what was the best that I was hoping for in terms of the margins that you saw Brad Lander win by an over 30 point win over that, winning by 20 and then Dari winning not just by, you know, a handful of those. It was a close race, but still I think that was at 4% when I last checked at 4:30am and the level of, you know, kind of build up of people who are every pundit kind of captured every single thing there was to say of oh, young people aren't going to turn out. Oh, the coalition was unique. Oh, it was just a referendum on Andrew Cuomo that was able to hold that coalition together. Oh, incumbents aren't popular. All of that being disproven feels pretty good and in such a dramatic fashion. I think some of what's exciting about it is we so often see the like dynamic in which politicians who shape a new coalition required as part of that is always kind of an act of an ask of faith, like faith to believe in a different kind of politics and different candidates to believe that voting matters. And it's really cool to see that when you reward that faith with good governance, that coalition can be maintained.
A
Let's talk about I wanted to get into some of those the spins that we're going to hear in the wake. But let's what's the proof of concept here? Like there's a theory of power. You're building on something. What is it that this showed?
D
I think it showed immense popularity of Mayor Mamdani. I also think it showed the immense success, organizational discipline and power of New York City dsa. I also think it showed an overall hunger for a different kind of politics that we've been seeing kind of across the country trickling in this cycle. But I hope that it would aggressively break through after last night that it's no longer enough to just be the like I'm going to fight Donald Trump and all of our issues can be reduced to 1600 pen. And that kind of theory of our job is to protect the status quo, to protect the institutions of power. I think what you're saying when you sign New York and across the country is just it's immense, immense hunger to change that and to fight not just Donald Trump, but to fight everything captured by that status quo. And that was true in New York. And it's been true. It's true in Philadelphia, it was true in California. It's been true across the country. And I think it's also true from research we're seeing in general election electorates.
A
What I thought was fascinating was not to pick on Dan Goldman, but I'm happy to pick on Dan Goldman.
C
Of course,
A
even after, in his concession speech, or at least in interviews I think I saw afterwards, I mean, he was like, we've got to stay focused, that the real problem is Donald Trump. And I spend a lot of my time talking about Donald Trump being the problem, and I would extend that to the Republican Party. But even in losing, he does not seem to understand, and I suspect this is the case of a lot of the establishment Democrats, that there are structural problems that people have issues with that they feel the Democratic Party is not addressing. And even in losing, he didn't seem to understand what, what people were saying to him.
D
It does not, I would say it shocks me. But I'm like, I think I'm beyond being shocked by a refusal to learn lessons by the party establishment. The thing that, and this applies to Graham, who you mentioned, and all these different candidates, kind of more populist wave that's coming through. What they understand that I think those in power don't is the very basic principle. And like, I felt this way when people were shocked again at Trump, too. Winning, where it's like the reality there is we had power for 12 of 16 years, and if we're not going to be honest about not having done enough about people's lives having gotten worse during that period of time, then we're just so deeply disconnected from the lived reality that, that, like, of course we're not going to be able to win elections. And I think the, the people who still believe that we are in a battle to protect the powers that be in the systems that be in the institutions are so disconnected from a reality in which those institutions are coming down. The question is like, is it going to be done by the fascists or is it going to be done by us and who's going to rebuild them and who are they going to work for? And the people asking that question, I think, are succeeding. The people who are pretending that, you know, once Donald Trump's out of office, we're going to be okay. I would assume we're living in 2019.
A
What was the role? And I asked this, obviously woke up this morning in New York, as a Jew, I'm terrified because of the results last night or at Least that's what I've been told. I should be terrified. I made it down here to work no problem today, I'm sure. Also, as a Jew, it must be very difficult for you. But what role did. I mean, obviously we see it in the context of Bradlander and the Goldman race, but what role does the awareness of Israel's genocide, the sense that the United States should not be actively participating or enabling this genocide, in fact, should
E
be
A
creating a different dynamic with Israel, a different relationship. What role does that play in not just these races but across the country, do you think?
D
I think that it's, you know, Dori Lieva often said, you know, invest in babies, not bombs. And I think it's a great concise distillation of what's at the heart of the issue where you have, I think, appeals to such a large swath of voters. Some of those voters care very deeply about the issue of Palestinian liberation, specifically about occupation, specifically about, you know, any of the kind of specific nuances of what's happened there. And I think that if you're not talking about it, you're not going to turn those voters out. And so that's just a kind of electoral analysis of that belief. But I think there's an even broader thing that reaches beyond people who are high information on the genocide that speaks to, like, if you're willing to sell anyone out, are you. It doesn't pass the smell test. You know, it feels like, okay, you're willing to turn a blind eye to this. You're willing to tell me that I'm not seeing the things I'm seeing on my phone. Oh, and also, there's not money for any of the things that make my life better, but there's money for this. It doesn't pass the smell test. And I think it speaks to a politics that then can't be trusted. And it plants the seed of distrust, the seed of corruption, the seed of dishonesty that then kind of robs you of credibility on everything else. And that's what a lot of politicians don't understand. It's like people I hear all the time from, like, more establishment politicians when they're justifying their positions. Like, I'm not hearing about this in my district. It's like, no, but what you're hearing about in your district is there's not money for affordable housing, but there's not money for new jobs. There's not money for health care. And when those people are then seeing that there's money for, you know, billions of dollars for Iran or money to send to Netanyahu years and years into what is clearly the systemic ethnic cleansing of a people that then is an indefensible thing that undercuts anyway, when you're going to talk about health care costs or housing costs or affordability at large.
A
There's, you know, a concept in media training called get inside the circle of trust. And it feels like this is. This is simply a question of the basic sort of. That's the way you entered the circle of trust is to acknowledge that there's something deeply, deeply wrong here. And without doing that, I think it leaves people out. But let. What is the. With that said, what are some of the spins that you anticipate coming out of. Out of this from the Democratic establishment, for lack of a better term?
D
Well, I'm so deeply relieved we don't have to ever read the spins that would have occurred had we lost. Right, Right.
A
Well, I mean, but maybe let's start with that, though, because that is like, you could see some of the pre spins already being sort of like put into the. The chamber and those were loaded like Mamdani has gone too far in New York. That it is creating fissures, which I think seems to me to be completely contrary to everything I understand about politics on some level. And the idea that this is just not the. I mean, there was a piece from a year ago when Jeffrey's people apparently had said, like, if these guys want to do primaries, good luck to them, we're going to take it to him. And it didn't seem to work out that way.
D
I mean, look, I think, like, and again, I've got a number of texts I gotten from reporters throughout the day, but we're clearly preparing to write stories about how we lost. Oh, I heard you had recommended this, or I heard the mayor had second thoughts of it all different kind of bullshit of people ready to circle and try to claim a narrative. And I think now in the absence of that, they're going to pivot away to what is even. I think we're seeing this already a surprising tactic of blaming the voters, that being like, oh, this is what MAGA does. This is what. And like, to that I think I'd say, yeah, know who has power in the White House and the United States Senate and the U.S. house right now? MAGA. And that's, you know, because they, the people took over their party and they're wrong in what they are trying to do. They're wrong with what they're saying and the laws they're pushing but they have an electoral majority because they have a party that's responsive to where their people are. And I don't know how many more times, you know, people I'm sure will do things about, oh, this is a liability, and swing districts and swing estates. This is messy. We have no power right now. Like, we. The idea that we are somehow jeopardizing the electoral strength of a party that is in what feels like a permanent minority and doesn't have the White House makes no sense. And then not just that. When you look at the candidates who I think are doing the best job to cycle in swing places, they're running campaigns in. What is a cohesive message with what you saw last night? Like, it is outsiders who want to see dark money out of our politics, who want to take on corruption, and who have real ideas to address an affordability crisis. And that's not going to look the same in the common corridor as it looks in Texas. It's not going to look the Same in New York 10 as it looks in Maine. But that is a big tent that works. And what people are fucking angry about is the fact that they want a big tent where, like, as long as you don't go after apac, as long as you don't question the kind of political establishment, the powers that be, we don't really care what else you think. And the flip of that, I think, is, you know, going to make a lot of people angry. But that's okay.
A
What is that, that, that tentpole? I mean, if you were to distill it, you know, as. As you. The difference between the commie corridor, Texas, Maine, for that matter, what is the one. What is the distillation of the message that that comes across? I mean, I think it was on. I don't know if it was on Meet the Press, it was one of the Sunday shows or the weekend shows I saw where you made a point of, like, there has to be a specific agenda. And I'm just contrasting that to what I've heard from Democrats saying that, like, well, we need a big enough tent where we care about working people, but we also care about billionaires. And that seems like. That seems like a tent that has nothing suspending it in some way.
D
Yes, I think that's well put, Sam. And because I feel comfortable on your show and with your viewership, I'm going to present it when we talk here.
A
Oh, feel free.
D
I think, like, the example I like to like to use is, like, shared Sherrod Brown, who I think hopefully will be back in the Senate. And who, when he was in the Senate was one of the maybe three or four best senators and most like progressive, I would say populist senators. And he was winning Ohio over performing. Ohio is up in the polls right now in Ohio. And that's off of an entire platform around the dignity of work, raising the minimum wage, fighting back against the bad free trade deals that fucked everything up, taking dark money out of politics, supporting unions. The idea that that is somehow like, cannot be a part of the same party as someone like Cerval, who has essentially the exact same vision, who is a union organizer, who believes that the way we get back to an economy that works for everyone is empowering unions and empowering workers. Like that is a cohesive message. And I think it's a big enough tent for, you know, a Sherrod Brown, Nicar Valdez or a Dariel Lisa and a James P. Rico for, you know, a Graham Platner and Bob Brooks and Randy Diagas and all these candidates who, if we put them in a room, they would come out with, you know, there'd be areas of disagreement, but they'd come out with a perfect alignment. That we should not be allowing members of Congress to enrich themselves on stock. So we should not be allowing members of Congress to have lobbyists dictate their votes. That we should be doing everything in our power to bring unions roaring back, that we should raise wages, that we should have universal health care, all of those things, like that's a ton to unite and. And instead we have all this, what I call like the blob Democrats in the middle that take up all this room with like the least popular positions. And it drives me crazy as someone who does both primaries and a lot of competitive races, like the myth of this idea that somehow the left is liability in these elections, I find so infuriating. Like even when people get into identity politics Bullshit, it's like 2016, Hillary Clinton invented identity politics in our Democratic Party. Like that is what's the lag on the Democratic Party. The lag in the Democratic Party is when they think we're fucking corrupt. Because a lot of us, a lot of the people in the party are corrupt. That's the lag. And we need to kind of exile that.
A
How much of what we hear from so called moderate Democrats. It's very difficult. It's such an amorphous term and I think deliberately so, how much of it is a function of their politics translating into the mechanics of what they do. In other words, there's an ideology associated with dsa. That necessarily means we're gonna bring a lot of people up onto the street and that's the way we're going to run this camp. We're not going to raise a ton of money and do television campaigns. Obviously money helps, but that money, a significant portion of that money is going to go towards or organizing as opposed to blanketing a message. That blanketing a message is also very profitable for your counterparts working for Dan Goldman. Let's say how much like what's the relationship there between the politics on the ground, the ideology and the mechanism? Almost like the corporate structure around the way that certain Democrats get elected.
D
And I think like, you know, as someone who like makes ads and that's what pays the bills. One of the things that I think has been really interesting I consider, I feel very lucky to have gotten to work on so many of these campaigns now in collaborating or on DSA races because I think there's, you hit this magic where the message you are telling people on their screens is seen on the streets and felt at their doors and it's like you're running out saying that Sarah Valdez for example, is a movement leader who is not just going to vote the right way but is going to bring together masses of people to create incredible change. That's a case I can make in a 30 second television ad. But if then people are walking around their neighborhoods and not seeing anyone, if no one's ever knocked on their doors, if they've never interacted with another human being who's talking about it, it doesn't feel credible. And I think that when you hit this kind of combination of those things, it's a really magical middle ground. I also think TV hate media in general does not work for large swaths of what the new electorate are and that then you know, there's no one tactic anymore and you need to do all of it. And I think that anyone who's not, you know, for obviously I don't like him, but I thought Tom Suozzi actually had a good quote this morning which is a bunch of people, all the anti DSA people are wringing their hands at cocktail parties while DSA is organizing, right? And you know, I'm sure he has the wrong conclusion but the right analysis and I think that's true. Then I think like the consultant industrial complex component that bothers me the most is when we talk about the one that it's like the example I encounter the most because people are like Bernie Sanders is a, you know, you can't Take that, Bernie. Endorsement in a swing seed you can't take. And it's like you guys are hypothetically numbers people who don't care about ideology, who just want to win. And poll after poll after poll after poll tells us that he's the most popular politician in America. That is no longer an analysis. As a consultant or as a staffer, you're just imposing an ideology. And I do think it's a mix of a desire for profit and a mix of a lot of the people who at this moment all work in politics are people who have their own ideological beliefs, who come to power in a system that they trust. And there's just like a little bit of a holier than thou faith in the institution of politics that is kind of bullshit and unhealthy.
A
Yeah, I think that is. I mean, I think that that seems to me to be the part that is sort of like really ossified within the Democratic Party. What is the. And I know you got to go, and I appreciate your time. I imagine you got a lot of
D
interviews, the minutes of whatever you. Okay, great.
B
The.
A
What does it say to the leadership? I mean, I. I should say, full disclosure. I tweeted last night that I thought Chuck Schumer was probably scrolling through retirement communities by 11pm last night. But what is it? I mean, for Chuck Schumer and for Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom were ranging from hostile to extremely annoyed at Mamdani's run. This is their backyard. This is like 20 minutes away from where they live. They. They lost two incumbents. What does it say? How much is this going to impact their decision making? Schumer's, as to whether his career is going to go forward or in Jefferies, in terms of, like, how he'll be a leader if he starts to see where this is going?
D
I'm going to kind of choose to take the good faith, forward looking version of an answer here where I'd say, I think we truly all are aligned on wanting a Democratic majority in both the Senate and in the House. And I think if you look at last night, there is a lot of good lessons to learn and reasons for faith and hope and optimism that people who have not previously been reliable voters are now reliable voters, that if you. That really, like, if you build it, they will come. And I think if we can scale that up across the country, if young people can vote in swing districts and swing states the way they voted in New York last night, it's going to be a really good November for us. And so Instead of kind of let's be excited about that. We don't have to be upset that we have new and exciting voices. I think one of the other things we have a very, very bad and dangerous eat your own mentality in our party. The Republicans get an insurgent who wins and everyone wraps around them. You know, fox news runs 247 propaganda. They're at the White House there ever else because they understand these are the people who bring more in, who expand our tent. And I think like I would, you know, ask leadership to kind of maybe suspend whatever their general feelings would be towards these kinds of campaigns or candidates. And like, let's be excited. Let's talk about how Claire Valdet is strengthening unions and bringing more people to unions is going to help us win the Rust Belt back. Let's think about how Dari is going to bring new people to the table. Let's talk about how Brad Lander is going to give us credibility to talk about AIPAC and Israel in a way that we haven't been able to before. Let's be inclusive here. And then I think when we take that majority back, what do we do with it? And hearing the frustration with the establishment, like, you know, I think we need to hold the Republicans fucking feet to the plane. It cannot just be dragging in like Trump person after Trump person for oversight Committee stuff on, you know, which plane he used at a given time. I think it's. There is a cost of living crisis, there's a corruption crisis. We need to tie those to the Republican Party and we need to show we have an affirmative vision too. Like if we should raise the minimum wage in this country if we don't have the votes, hold them accountable every single day. Bring it to a floor vote every single fucking day until we get it through. And if we don't, there will be no question anywhere about who's to blame for that.
A
There was a Axios piece this morning, quote, appeasement doesn't work. You have to be tough. This is from a centrist House Democrat and he's talking about, I will continue. Because you hear those first couple of lines and it's almost like, guys, we, we, we've seen what happens. We need to rally against the Republicans. But he's talking about, or she is talking about the dsa. Nancy Pelosi brought a machine gun to a knife fight. You can't win with these guys by playing Patty cake. These are words that should have been articulated by the candidates about the Republicans 10 years ago. And yet they're deploying them in regards to the most amount of excitement that has been in the Democratic Party, really. I mean, you know, along with AOC in the past decade. Let's talk about, like, how much was there, Like, AOC seemed to take a backseat in these races, in at least in terms of, like, national media. It seems like how much of that is. Is there strategy there is that she has her path, Mom, Donnie has his.
C
What. What.
A
How much of the. How much coordination exists in there?
D
I mean, like, our teams are frequently in touch. I talk to her team frequently. The mayor talks to her frequently. And it's all incredibly strong and good relationships. And I think it's a shared vision of what we want the party and our politics to look like. I think the mayor has a specific campaign style that he emphasizes and focus on. He's also mayor of New York City, and so, you know, she's a member of Congress with a national profile. You know, Randy Dagos in California, 22, for example, he got across the finish line, I think, in large part because of AOC's endorsement. Same thing with Sam Forstag in Montana, Chris Rabb in Philadelphia. You know, she's been all over doing a lot of work, and I think the New York City, like, you know, the mayor's win last year is not possible without her, and the win last night aren't possible without her and the kind of politics that she's brought to the table, I think with the mayor and New York, you know, and his. The. His approach to campaigning. And I do want to, like, kind of hit this point, I guess, like, Emma would appreciate my basketball reference here. I was watching him this week. It's like, I was. It was like watching LeBron James when he was on the Heat, whereas Penn feels like, oh, this is just like, there's nothing you can do. Like, it's a pure force of nature, just like someone at the top of their fucking game. And I think there is. He is. He gets so much joy and energy from engaging with people, like, the most. For all the different things about Zahra Modani, his love of New York City and his love of people in New York City is so unbelievably profound. And, like, walking selfie lines, visiting restaurants, barber shops, clubs, like, he loves it and he's incredible at it. And, you know, I think we. We wanted to. We weren't going to, like, not utilize, you know, utilize.
C
Right.
A
You ISO LeBron because he's. He's the guy, you know, you're going to give the ball to, and everybody's sort of just like we're just going to occupy the other defenders and let him go to town on that with an endorsement because you know, Renaisso Reynolds. So sorry. Got a lot of endorsements from unions. And I'm curious when Mamdani, when other DSA people endorse what is involved in terms of resources that come with that endorsement? Because one of the things that people were sort of assessing from Reynoso's endorsements is that the union can say in some instances it wasn't all unions. UAW was involved in DAC's win, but the union or I should say Valdez, but the union can say we're going to, we give our stamp of approval. But if they don't have the resources to deploy and get their people out, it doesn't have the same impact versus somebody. Walk us through that a little bit because I think it's a little bit opaque for people.
D
Yeah, I mean look, I think like I think we are in an era of profound sticker endorsements where we're talking about literally just a sticker no one's going to recognize on a piece of witness. I think that unions have a lot of members and a lot of power still and as they should. And I want there to be more union power and more union members. I think they will find more electoral success when the candidates they back more closely align with what is going to be best for their members. And I think the kind of part of the mayor's approach to this endorsement slate in his campaigning, I think he went above and beyond and I think a lot of that was has been seen. But we're talking of months and months of fundraisers, of phone banks, of canvas launches, signing off on any text that was needed for volunteer recruitment, recording voicemails, using his platform repeatedly on cable news, on different platforms, literally walking across every single district he was in. The nonstop investment from him, I think is something that you really almost never see from someone with that level of political celebrity. You know, like I was talking to someone earlier and I said, yeah, he may be a political celebrity now, but once an organizer, always an organizer. Right. And I think that's kind of the approach he has where for a lot of the kind of general political establishment blob endorsements, what you're seeing is like some money moved through a pack, you know, a sticker on a mailer and a bunch of people on consultant calls with different ideas.
A
How does in the absence of Mamdani, when you're in Maine, when you're in California, when you're in, you know, across the country, how is the absence of a mom, Donnie, like, what translates, what's, what goes in. Obviously you need a candidate who is going to have speaking to the issues of the working class. But from an organizational standpoint, how replicable is this?
D
I think what's deeply replicable is the thing of like, you know, there are a few, One like speaking sound of what I was making the ads and organizing. You can't run a movement campaign if it doesn't feel like a movement. And so like there's a, you know, broad desire a lot of the times to kind of cut field, to like, you get a lot of eye rolls on it. And I think that that is always a massive mistake and a misunderstanding. I like to kind of pride myself on being the only media consultant I think cuts TV budgets to put money into field. And you need the organizing, you need conversations. There's still, I, like I always say TV is a substitute for the person who doesn't answer the door when we knock.
B
Right.
D
And there's that kind of strategic approach. But I think the other part of it is like, we can't. And this is true with the digital content that, you know, the mayor puts out that everyone tries to emulate with different walk and talks. Now, it's true with ad campaigns and it's true even with field, if you have nothing to say, you have nothing to say. And the voters bullshit meters are really high and you need something to fucking say. And I think I'm very fortunate. So a lot of time work with incredible candidates who are inherently incredible messengers. But I think there's no reason that every candidate in the country who's running can't decide. I'm going to run aggressively on not allowing billionaires to buy elections. I'm going to run aggressively on very tangible ideas to address the cost of living crisis. I'm going to call out what I see is what it is. Whether that's genocide, whether that's crypto, whether that's AI. And also we're going to build a campaign that meets people where they are. And I find it like very. The notion that electorates are locked in as what they are, I think is a lie that is sold to us by people who do not want the electorates to change. And if we communicate with people where they are and with a message that reaches them, we can change what those electorates are.
A
Last question. Have you gotten any texts, calls from someone who may have been sort of perceived this movement as a rival? And they said okay, let's do this. I mean, has it been, are you anticipating anything like that or have you gotten one. You don't have to say who it is.
D
I've gotten a decent amount of outreach of whoops, I guess you were right. I've gotten a decent amount of outreach of a lot of people want to get drinks next week.
A
You won't have to pay for a drink for a while. I have a feeling.
D
Exactly. Yeah. And I, and I think there's a broad sense of, from a lot of. There are a lot of good faith. Like we were kind of poking at some of the people who I think are bad faith in their post analysis. I think there are a lot of good faith elected officials who do want to actually represent the people they're serving and just like have bad consultants or have believed that the city was in a different place or their positions are a different place. And I think it's like, is an important message to them of, I don't think, I don't like. And you know, everyone might have different takes on this. This is me talking that on behalf of the mayor or anyone else. Like, I'm not interested in gatekeeping the movement. Like if people get to the right places through real conclude through real good faith conclusions come on board. Like, it is not too late to say the word genocide. It is not too late to not take PAC money. It's not too late to do any of those things. And like even some of the people I think have done it politically motivated. That's not what you want. But it's still healthier for the party. And if anyone has any sense of electoral political survival, I think they would start moving in that direction.
A
Well, I'm encouraged that you're getting so many drink offers because that's, it's indicative of I think at least a certain percentage of, of of candidates and elected out there and consultants on some level, it's just a question of fear. They don't want to, they don't want to be the first person out on that branch or they see it and now they can see that it's fairly safe to travel there. That's a good thing. Morris Katz, thanks so much for your time today. Again. Congratulations. Good luck for the rest of the next six months. We're counting on you.
D
Now you're running. There's more to come.
A
Well, just actually, you know what, it's actually closer to like four, four and a half if that makes it any easier. Hang in there. Really appreciate it.
D
Thanks so much. Sam,
A
We're back Emma Vigland may join us for the fun half. Ladies and gentlemen, before we get there, some of this came up in the interview with Morris Katz. But let's just do a slight tour around Democratic moderates, Democratic conservative Democrats, corporatist Democrats, Democrats who have lost significantly in the past and how they're dealing with this. Really like it was a political earthquake last night. There is nobody in the establishment who anticipated three for three. Everybody, I think, was anticipating Brad Lander winning. I think probably it was 50, 50 as to Valdez, despite the fact that she ends up winning by 20 points and. But the idea that Chevalier would defeat a 19 year vet sitting incumbent I think was very surprising. Surprising for people. Here's Jamie Harrison. Jamie Harrison, what year Was he the DNC chair? 2021-2025-2021-2025. You will recall that Democrats lost all of those elections, right? I mean now off your election, okay, but Democrats lost all those elections. Here is Jamie Harrison and he writes, I say this with no will, excuse me, no ill will or animosity. If you hate the Democratic Party, then please don't run for our nomination. Don't use our resources. Don't rely on our volunteers. Don't use our infrastructure. Don't ask Democrats to invest their time, money and energy in your campaign. Now here's the weird part. If you hate the Democratic Party, first off, let's just put aside the sort of like reduction of this to like, like, honestly, like I feel like this is like upper levels of elementary school stuff. In New York City, middle school starts in sixth grade. But when I grew up, sixth grade was elementary school. I feel like this is sixth grade stuff. But put that aside for a moment. If you're running for the nomination and presumably folks like Jaime Harrison don't like you, then you are not relying on their volunteers. You are not relying on their infrastructure. You are not asking Democrats to invest their time, money and energy in your campaign. You're asking voters to do that and they're deciding the Democratic. The idea like you hate the Democratic Party is so this is not a football team. This is not your favorite team. The reason why people are involved in politics is because of outcomes. The idea that like I'm a Democrat just because it's like I like, I like words that start with D or, you know, my dad was a Democrat and so it makes me feel good about myself. The whole point of a political party is to deliver to you what you want from politics. And the idea that there's a Democratic Party that exists outside of it functioning to bring about political results is part of the problem. The idea that there should be just this naked loyalty to a party divorced from its potential to deliver outcomes is just bizarre.
B
Yeah, I mean, you could say his Jamie Harrison type. Democrats hate the Democratic Party because they don't want to make it look like FDRs and want to make it look like Clinton's. They have a different vision, and Jamie Harrison doesn't like it and he hides the ball.
A
I mean, here's the thing. I have been accused many, many times of vote Blue, no matter who, and I would say that's 99.99% true. Like, theoretically, it's possible. I would say. Well, I would never say vote for a Republican, certainly. I would say vote for an independent if there was an opportunity for them to win. But the whole point of the Democratic Party is because it's the best vehicle in any given situation. Not always, but in a situation to bring about political change. You know, I can imagine some local elections where it's not necessarily the best vehicle to do that, but we start getting into federal elections, without a doubt, depending on the state. Without a doubt. You know, Nebraska. It's not his whole, like, idea. It's just so stupid. And I can't tell who it. Who it's supposed to appeal to. Focus on building the party you actually support.
B
Okay?
A
That's exactly what they do.
B
What's happening?
A
Political parties aren't perfect. I don't even know what that means. Jamie, they are built by millions of people who knock doors, make calls, organize meetings, and fight for the values they believe in. The reason why all of those DSA candidates won last night is because they did those things more fervently, more consistently, more competently than their opponents. Yeah, that's it. If you don't believe in the party. What do you mean, don't believe in it? It exists. And the question is, in what form is it going to be? I would say to Jamie Harrison, if you don't believe that the Democratic Party in 1936 or 1965, 1995, are different from each other, then you have no business. I would say tweeting, running, anything, spelling, tying your shoes. None of it. I mean, so juvenile.
B
Speaking of business, and I say this with no ill will or animosity, before he was the leader of the dnc, Jamie Harrison was a lobbyist for the pedestrian group for clients, including bank of America, Wells Farrell, Berkshire Hathaway, the American Coalition for Clean Coal, Electric, Electricity in Walmart. Just to note that. Oh, but the parties are made up of millions of people. Some of those millions get to rise to the top if they had, you know, great client, corporate clients. He's a concierge. This is a type of politics where people like Jamie Harrison have sold the Democratic Party ballot line to corporations so that they can control the outcomes of politics. And people don't like that anymore. And they're going to get their clocks cleaned. And what's amazing about this now is how weak the Jaime Harrison wing is.
A
It's. It is. It's stunning. And I would also say to Jamie Harrison, where this party is today, if you hate it, maybe you need to stop pretending like you represent it.
B
Yeah. Start your own party, Jamie.
A
All right, let's turn to the other reaction that we saw from not necessarily liberals. This guy was like a New Republic writer under Marty Peretz. So that tells you just about everything you need to know. James Kerchick. Jamie Kirchik, they used to call him back in the day. With Dara. Lisa Chevalier's victory tonight, publicly exalting in the mass murder of Jews is no longer a barrier to high office in the Democratic Party. I do not recall her publicly exalting in the mass murder of Jews, but the attempt by folks like Jamie Kirchick and this guy Jamie Metzl. What's going on with the Jamies? J Street. I am a lifelong Democrat. I served in the White House for President Clinton. Awesome. In the State Department for Madeleine Albright and with the United nations in Cambodia. I believe the most important role of any government is to protect the most vulnerable people in society and create an environment where everyone can realize their fullest potential. So it gives me no pleasure. A lot of people are saying things very reluctantly. It gives me no pleasure to have to come to the following conclusion. The American left, including the left wing of the Democratic Party, currently embracing an orgy. That's how you know he worked for Clinton.
C
Yes.
A
Oh, I'm sorry. An orgy of it continues. Virulent anti Semitism. Now, I think Jamie Kirchik is upset about the leftward, the rise of the left within the Democratic Party. I think this other guy, this other Jamie Metzl, I think he just might also have this sort of like, like literally psychological problem. Anti Semitism is definitely on the rise in this country, but it is vastly on the right. I mean, it's not even. It's not even comparable. And the anti Semitism we're talking about is through social bigotry, but it's not systemic in the way that it was even like around the time of my birth, where there was still like a country club you couldn't get into or some schools that still may have had quotas in the 60s for Jews
C
or,
A
you know, people wouldn't sell their houses to Jews. When I was a kid, it was not like a weird anomaly to get a penny thrown at you by other kids. It was not strange for me to have people who. Who were friends of mine coming up to me and go, like, don't you me down. I'm like, dude, what, what are you saying? I'm Jewish. And they're like, I thought it was just a verb. I met a girl in college from West Virginia in the early 80s who thought. Who thought I would have horns, who literally thought that Jews had horns. We're not at that place. We're at the bigotry of the right that sees Jews as being responsible for black people and brown people gaining power in the country. This stuff where the criticism of Israel is equated with anti Semitism. We have said this now for years, is. It's grotesque and some times it's used sort of opportunistically. It's cynical and cynically. And there are other times. I honestly genuinely think it is a
B
mass
A
sort of trauma response. I don't know what else to say. It's just bizarre. And the fascinating thing about it is, again, Brad Lander. The primary disagreement they had was a perspective on Israel, the Jewish most Jewish district in the country. And to the extent that Claire Valdez lost the Satomar vote in her race. The Satamars are a Hasidic community that are probably more anti Zionist than Valdez. They. They believe that Judaism and Zionism are diametrically opposed. So to the extent that she lost that vote, that was because the borough president had a relationship with the Satomas that was all transactional. But I would bet that every non Hasidic Jew that voted in this election, and there were many, voted for the candidates that supposedly were engaged in an orgy of anti Semitism. Because now you're in a position of basically telling Jews you don't know what you're doing, which I find to be horribly anti Semitic. All right, with all that said, we're going to head into the fun half. Emma just stumbled in.
D
I'll be on there soon.
E
Yeah.
A
Wow, it's like the Shining. Somebody's still drunk. Oh, boy, here's Emma. I'm back, folks. You can support this program by going to join themjorityreport.com when you do, you not only get the Free. Free show. Free of commercials. But you also get the fun half. You can imus also go on Instagram and we have a our streamlined moniker now which is majority FM on all our socials now 20 years.
D
Finally line it up.
A
Finally line it up. Go on Instagram. You can also follow Emma or Matt or myself and spread our stuff. Or me. You can follow me on Instagram. Don't get carried away. You don't want everybody.
B
That's the problem.
A
You don't want. Yeah, exactly. To each according to their need. Do you see what happens? L. Joe Hill. Follow us on Instagram. Also join our discord majority discord.com great way if you want to start organizing in your hometown, your region. There's. There is definitely somebody who lives near you in that discord and they may be looking for somebody to get something going as well. Also don't forget the AM Quickie three days a week for free email in your email box. 9am in the morning. And lastly, just coffee co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code majority. Get 10% off by the majority report blend. Check it out. If you've never checked out just coffee, do yourself a favor. That's assuming you drink coffee. If you don't drink coffee, I wouldn't do it because it'll get you hyped up. Also, what was the last thing I wanted to. Oh yeah, we've got our carpenter pen. Pencils are back in the. In the merch store. So Barry the lead. I know it. Matt, what's happening in the Matt Lecky and media universe?
B
We don't have any more pencil announcements. Speaking of. Yeah, Instagram. I am 545 followers away from 10,000 and then I can really set my sights on Brian. No.
D
Yeah, follow that.
B
And also check out Left Reckoning this week. Yesterday we had Devin Thomas O' Shea on. If you are from St. Louis, you need to read this book. It's mandatory. You need to be aware of the Veiled Prophet society and the long history from the Ku Klux Gilded Age era to Ferguson. Everything from the Manhattan Project to Pruitt Igoe and Harry Truman in between. It's an amazing, amazing book. So check out our interview with Devin on Left Reckoning.
A
See you in the fun half. And that's Ryan Vokey on Instagram. Left is best. Jamie and I may have a disagreement.
D
Yeah, you can't just say whatever you
A
want about people just because you're rich. I have an absolute right to mock them on YouTube.
C
He's up there.
A
Buggy whipping like he's the boss. I am not your employer. You know, I'm tired of the negativity. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. You're nervous. You're a little bit upset. You're riled up. Yeah, maybe you should rethink your defense of that. You fucking idiots. We're just going to get rid of you. All right, but dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude. You want to smoke this joint?
C
Yes.
A
Do you feel like you are a dinosaur?
E
Good.
A
Exactly. I'm happy now. It's a win, win. It's a win, win, win.
D
Oh, hell yeah.
A
Now listen to me. 2, 3, 4, 5 times 8479-065014-57238, 56, 271 half. 5 8. 3.9 billion. Wow. He's the ultimate math nerd. Don't you see? Why don't you get a real job instead of spewing vitriol and hatred?
D
You left wing Limbaugh.
A
Everybody's taking their dumb juice today. Come on, Sammy, dance, dance, dance.
B
Ooo,
A
Grandpa. I had my first post coital scene with a woman. I'm hoping to add more moves to my repertoire. All I have is the dip and the swirl.
D
Fine, we can double dip.
C
Yes.
A
This is a perfect moment. No, wait.
C
What?
A
You make under a million dollars a year.
C
You're scum.
A
You're not the hanging. Excuse me? Fuck you, you fucking liberal elite. I think you belong in jail. Thank you for saying that, Sam. You're a horrible, despicable person. All right, gonna take a quick break. I want to take a moment to talk to some of the libertarians out there. Take whatever vehicle you want to drive to the library. What you're talking about is jibber jabba.
D
Classic. I'm feeling more chill already.
A
Donald Trump can kiss all of our asses.
D
Hey, Sam. Hey, Andy.
A
You guys ready to do some evil? Hitler was such an idiot.
B
That guy might be a Nazi.
D
Agree.
C
No.
A
Death to America.
B
Ew.
E
Yes. Wow. Wow.
A
That's weird. No way. Unbelievable. This guy's got a really good hook.
C
Wow.
A
But Sam, I gotta get off.
C
No worries.
A
I want to just flesh this out a little bit. I mean, look, it's a free speech issue. If you don't like me.
D
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
C
Shut up.
A
Thank you for calling into the majority report.
D
Sam will be with you shortly.
Date: June 24, 2026
Guest: Morris Katz, Political Strategist
This episode dives into the political upheaval triggered by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) victories across New York City in the most recent primaries. Sam Seder is joined by political strategist Morris Katz, the lead media strategist for NYC Mayor Zoran Mamdani and several successful progressive campaigns, to break down why these wins matter, how they were achieved, and what they signal for the Democratic Party moving forward.
"The idea that New York is even remotely scary or remotely more scary today for Jews is one of the most batcrap crazy things I've ever heard." — Sam Seder (07:10)
"This was a movement that literally mobilizes its people. A real fundamental change to see." — Sam Seder (20:44)
"None of these positions are particularly radical...The American public, by and large, perceives [Israel-Gaza] as a genocide. The Jewish public perceives it as a genocide." — Sam Seder (24:48)
(Begins at 29:38)
"All of that being disproven feels pretty good and in such a dramatic fashion." — Morris Katz (31:15)
"If we’re not going to be honest about not having done enough, about people’s lives having gotten worse…then we’re just so deeply disconnected from the lived reality." — Morris Katz (34:55)
"If you're not talking about it, you're not going to turn those voters out...If you're willing to sell anyone out, are you—you can't be trusted." — Morris Katz (37:02)
"They’re going to pivot away...to...blaming the voters. That being like, oh, this is what MAGA does...MAGA has power because they took over their party and they’re responsive to their people." — Morris Katz (41:13)
"We have all this, what I call the blob Democrats in the middle that take up all this room with like the least popular positions. It drives me crazy." — Morris Katz (45:45)
"You hit this magic where the message you are telling people on their screens is seen on the streets and felt at their doors." — Morris Katz (47:35)
"If young people can vote in swing districts...the way they voted in New York last night, it's going to be a really good November for us." — Morris Katz (51:44)
This episode documents a “political earthquake” for NYC and the national Democratic Party. The DSA’s strategy—prioritizing organizing, candid communication, and working-class messaging—not only delivered remarkable primary upsets but is shifting the party’s power dynamics and narrative. Sam and Morris Katz argue these victories are a wake-up call for establishment Democrats: adapt to a new era of movement politics or risk irrelevance.