FLASH
Shkruar nga Federico Rampini
A victory for democracy and for Democrats. Not just the election of the first Muslim mayor in New York history. On the same day, two Democrats became governors in New Jersey and Virginia. First and foremost, democracy is alive and well in the nation that has preserved it for 250 years. The obituaries of freedom in the American Republic were premature.
Nine months after taking office, Trump is already suffering a defeat among the electorate. This is added to many other signals coming from the institutional anti-establishment: Congress blocks the budget, the courts strike down laws, the media opposes him, and large states like California, thanks to federalism, oppose him.
If democracy survives, even if chaotic and disorderly, what can be said about the Democratic Party? The vote gives hope that the rebirth could translate into a victory a year later, in the midterm legislative elections, putting Trump in the minority in Congress.
Optimism is fueled by several important signals. In New York, the high turnout of young people after “Hurricane Mamdani”. In Virginia, the winner is Abigail Spanberger, while in New Jersey it is Mikie Sherrill. Two young women, both with patriotic credentials. Spanberger, before entering politics, was a CIA functionary. Sherrill was a military helicopter pilot in the US Navy. Two perfect profiles to pursue the working-class electorate that had switched to the Republicans. Two figures at the antipodes of Mamdani.
This "unity in diversity" could appeal to multiple constituencies in the many and diverse Americas. Although a synthesis will have to be found for the 2028 presidential election.
Another reason for optimism: the victories in New York, New Jersey and Virginia have had in common concreteness. The socialist Mamdani, in his speeches, has talked more about the cost of living than about Trump. He has not campaigned with the slogan “save America from fascism”, but with “save purchasing power and the opportunity to find a home”. Trump is losing support not because he is a dictator, but because he promised economic miracles that he is not realizing.
There was no tariff apocalypse (even the ultra-liberal Wall Street Journal admits it was wrong in its predictions), but the inflation problem remains as severe as it was in Joe Biden's four years: it was decisive in Kamala Harris' defeat. Inflation is 3%, there is no tariff shock, but the sharp increases during the pandemic have pushed all prices very high.
Everything else is secondary. The Latinos in East Harlem who voted for Mamdani don’t read the anti-fascist editorials of the New York Times, they don’t care a whit about Mamdani’s LGBTQ+ agenda, much less understand why the new mayor continues to denounce the “Islamophobia” of this country. But rent and health insurance are expensive, so is meat, and they haven’t seen anything from Trump’s miracle in nine months.
Now Trump will use Mamdani. He hopes to turn New York into a “greater San Francisco.” The California city, at the worst of its decline, was a showcase for the excesses of the far left: sprawling homeless encampments, record sidewalk overdose deaths, booming crime, excessive judicial freedom. Before New York’s youth fell in love with Mamdani, across the river their digital peers in Silicon Valley had been moving rightward, fed up with Californian misrule. That’s why Barack Obama is getting in on the act. His embrace of Mamdani is an attempt to unite, guide, and advise.
The attempt to “Obamaize” the 34-year-old Indian-Ugandan begins. Even the charismatic Obama, at first perceived as a revolutionary, later proved to be more moderate. That’s how it stayed for eight years: since yesterday, he is explaining this to the young man from New York. Mamdani has taken several steps in that direction, meeting with Wall Street capitalists and the real estate business. Even though New York has the population of Belgium and the GDP of Canada, it will need help for its plans (social housing, free buses, free childcare, municipal supermarkets). With money come alliances, compromises, pragmatism. Young people may be disappointed, but the path to building the post-Trump era will not pass through extremism./Corriere della Sera
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