Cranks, Extremists, Bigots, and Terrorism Apologists Are Ascendant in Today’s Democratic Party

Democrats are again acting like they occupy the moral high ground of American politics. If 2026 has proven anything, though, it’s that there’s virtually nothing a left-wing candidate could say or do that would elicit condemnation from Democrats if doing so threatened their power.Democrats, for example, demand credit for their opposition to Maureen Galindo, the Texas congressional candidate who proposed putting American “Zionists” (wink, wink) into concentration camps and castrating them, lost her Texas primary last week, winning 36 percent of the vote — not a bad showing for a politician championing mass imprisonment of her political enemies.The question, though, is whether the House minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, or Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or anyone at Pod Save America or the Bulwark had uttered a word in protest, had Ms. Galindo already won her primary before making those comments? All the evidence strongly suggests no.And by evidence, I mean their explicit support for slightly less offensive cranks, extremists, bigots, and terrorism apologists such as new party power broker Hasan Piker or the socialist Hezbollah fan Abdul el Sayed in Michigan or the Hamas apologist Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, a guy who suggested the massacre of Jews at Bondi Beach was a “false flag” operation by “Zionists.”Imagine telling someone 20 years ago that a leading congressional candidate in a New Jersey district situated right outside New York City had both volunteered for an al Qaeda front in Europe and spent years being friends with “The Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman, the longtime jihadi preacher who was sentenced for seditious conspiracy after planning a “day of terror” in 1995. Adam Hamawy defended Abdel-Rahman during his trial. And yet not a single notable Democrat has called him out on it.Many of the same Democrats who expect Republicans to wring their hands over the Republican Texas senatorial candidate, Ken Paxton, a man tainted by corruption, have offered full-throated endorsement of a man who knowingly got and kept a Totenkopf SS Nazi tattoo for 20 years.It’s not just that Graham Platner’s mentally unstable ravings, including saying a Purple Heart recipient didn’t “deserve to live,” or that “all cops are bastards,” or that white rural Americans were “racist and stupid,” or that the Virgin Mary was a “skank” or defending child killers of Hamas or contending that sexual assault victims bring it on themselves. It’s that he still uses unhinged Marxist language right now.Mr. Platner isn’t the first skeeze to run for major office, but he might be the most extreme. Only two elected Democrats, as far as I can tell, have spoken out about Mr. Platner’s soft spot for Nazis. One is Senator John Fetterman, who is under relentless attack from his own party for supporting Israel over Islamists, and Representative Jake Auchincloss.Now, if Mr. Platner’s opponent in Maine was a raging, corrupt ideologue, independents might be torn between two dangerous candidates. Yet the incumbent Republican in Maine is Senator Susan Collins, perhaps the most milquetoast centrist member of the entire chamber.Some Democrats rationalize their support for a self-described “communist” by noting that control of the Senate is far more important than worrying about the individual ravings of unhinged candidates. Though gutless establishment Democrats did virtually nothing to counter extremists during the primaries, there’s a utilitarian logic to this thinking. But then you’re in no position to lecture Republicans about Mr. Paxton or anyone else, for that matter. The 2026 elections will be held during the second term of an unpopular presidency, so there’s no telling how many Democrats will win. Or, perhaps, the new reality is that pro-Islamist Marxists are now an influential part of the contemporary Democratic Party. How popular such a party will be nationally moving forward is yet to be seen.I am constantly being assured that Democrats are the adults in the room. I’m supposed to believe that self-styled socialists are not only going to uphold norms, decency and democratic institutions but also improve the economic conditions of Americans. That contention clashes with every shred of historical evidence we possess.Democrats had a chance to be normal. They chose crazy.Creators.com

Cranks, Extremists, Bigots, and Terrorism Apologists Are Ascendant in Today’s Democratic Party

More from the New York Sun

‘Risings’ Tells the Story of How a Mix of Yeats and Bullets Inspired Irish Independence

Ex-Border Patrol Commander Bovino Offers To ‘Handle’ Protests Outside Newark ICE Facility

For Both Reagan and Trump on the Economy and a Nuclear Axis of Evil, Trust but Always Verify

More from the New York Sun

‘Risings’ Tells the Story of How a Mix of Yeats and Bullets Inspired Irish Independence

Ex-Border Patrol Commander Bovino Offers To ‘Handle’ Protests Outside Newark ICE Facility

For Both Reagan and Trump on the Economy and a Nuclear Axis of Evil, Trust but Always Verify

Shake-Up at CBS as ‘60 Minutes’ Executive Producer Tanya Simon Is Fired, Sharyn Alfonsi Ousted

Israel Severs Ties With UN Chief Guterres After the Jewish State’s Inclusion in a Rape Blacklist

Waiting on Justice for 9/11

Spanberger Removes Virginia Tech Rector for Alleged Ethics Violations as She Moves To Reshape University’s Governing Body

Gustav Klimt’s ‘Women’ Serves Up a Refreshing Reminder of Artistic Freedom