Kamala Harris must oppose, not appease, extremists in her party

Memo to Kamala Harris: You’re supposed to oppose the extremists in your party — not appease them.

News emerged this week that the former vice president, and failed 2024 presidential candidate, is courting the support of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as she plots a political comeback.

Three years ago, Mamdani was a street protester with a bullhorn, screaming at Chuck Schumer about why he should oppose Israel.

(Not that Schumer was doing much to help Israel. In fact, Schumer was devoting his energy to trying to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of office.)

Today, Mamdani is the effective leader of the Democratic Party. He squeaked into office in a three-way race, and has barely been there for half a year. But he has turned New York City into a stage for his ideology of “democratic socialism” — an oxymoron, since no government can control an economy without also suppressing the self-governance of its citizens.

Mamdani has endorsed fellow socialists in Democratic Party primaries — and they have defeated long-term incumbents. Not just in New York City, but in Colorado as well.

Democratic presidential hopefuls see which way the wind is blowing.

After Mamdani’s team won several races, Gov. Gavin Newsom came out in favor of a nationwide “billionaire tax.” Billionaire Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who slammed Mamdani last year for attacking billionaires, has softened his tone, even praising Mamdani for his sense of “fight.” Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley, has come out as a full-throated, Israel-hating radical.

And Harris is looking for support, hinting that she will support his position on “Palestine.”

Harris appears to buy the left-wing line that the reason she lost to Donald Trump in 2024 was because President Joe Biden had not been tough on Israel. Biden gave Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars, and denied some arms to Israel, but that wasn’t enough, the radicals say. 

They are right about one thing: Biden’s stance hurt — because he was indecisive, not because he was pro-Israel. His weakness only invited further aggression from Iran and its proxies.

Harris also seems to think that she lost because she was barely given 100 days to mount a campaign. But she didn’t have to run. She’s the one who cleared the field after Biden quit.

How often did we hear that Trump had to stand up to the extremists on the right?

He did. Now it’s Kamala’s turn.