Of all the democratic socialists who piled into a Manhattan church on Wednesday evening, none had the cachet of the man handed a microphone toward the meeting’s close.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani offered some pleasantries — “Hello friends, Zohran, he/him, Queens D.S.A.” — before launching into his mission: torpedoing the candidacy of a left-leaning ally, Councilman Chi Ossé, who is attempting to unseat Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat.
The remarkable scene was both a reflection of the tricky political calculuses Mr. Mamdani confronts as he prepares to take office next year and the egalitarian nature of a group that served as the grass-roots organizing machine of his political success.
I don’t see how your quote contradicts “not knowing what he was getting into”. Leaving so soon after joining for non-alignment sounds like he thought the DSA was something that aligned when he first joined.
Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I meant more “life experiences that influence beliefs at a personal level”.
That could either mean what you’re inferring or that the DSA allows quality pluralism in its members’ beliefs. Mamdani back then did not have the influence within the DSA he has now.
You would notice from my other reply that I only hold one of these contrary beliefs.