The Mamdani moment of the Democratic Party: from the political bureau

Welcome to the online version of Political officeAn evening newsletter that brings you the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Policy team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign campaign.

IN today’s edition, Ben Kamisar passed at the time the benefits of the rise of Zohran Mamdani at the top of the Democratic primary field for the mayor of New York. In addition, Andrea Mitchell examines the impact of President Donald Trump’s issue on post-Iran Strike Intelligence reports.

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– Adam Wollner

What the rise of Zohran Mamdani means for the Democratic Party nationwide

By Ben Kamisar

The dramatic and strong spectacle of Zohran Mamdani in the primary democratic mayor of New York, in which he forced a concession From former governor Andrew Cuomo, is equivalent to a massive shot in the arm for progressives and other democrats who implored the older statesmen of their party to withdraw for a new generation of leaders.

Mamdani has carried out his campaign as a progressive without an excuse against an established favorite who argued that his pragmatism would meet at best, a new 33 -year -old face against an area of ​​experienced candidates, a democratic socialist at a time when many democrats are worried about whether the nickname of the voters swing and a critic of the conduct of Israel in his war against the Hamas, Moderate democrats who accused him of sticking the war against Hamas.

The primary of Tuesday evening was far from being a clear test case for one of these factors, with the resignation of Cuomo in 2021 as governor in the midst of allegations of sexual harassment and mismanagement also cocoked in play. And the voters of New York are barely representative of the electric and swing state electricities which determine the power in Washington – Republicans already use Mamdani as a rhetorical leaf for swing democrats.

But Mamdani’s push – put it on the precipice of the democratic appointment, with the results of the tab of choice classified to come next week – puts the rest of the Democratic Party in opinion.

Democratic divisions: Senator Bernie Sanders, i-vt., Originally from Brooklyn who approved Mamdani, told Ryan Nobles that Tuesday’s results are an indication of the place where energy is located in the Democratic Party – mainly because candidates like Mamdani focus on the cost of living cost that care about voters.

“He spoke to the needs of the working class,” said Sanders. “He was ready to face the billionaire class and their super pecs, mobilize people at the local level who hit hundreds of thousands of doors. This is how you earn elections. ”

The main leaders of Democrats at Congress – Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, both New York – offered more silent answers. They published statements congratulating Mamdani, but they did not explicitly called the party to settle for him in the general elections.

And the representatives Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi, two Democrats de New York who are veterans of the Congress of the Battlefield Congress, published statements criticizing Mamdani. Gillen called him “too extreme” and Suozzi said that his “concerns remain” about Mamdani.

Find out more of Ben →

In relation: How – and where – Zohran Mamdani catapulted at the top of the primary of the town hall of Democrats in New YorkBy Adam Noboa

Trump is on a slippery slope while he disputes intelligence on Iranian strikes

Analysis by Andrea Mitchell

“Erased” is the way President Donald Trump described the Fordo nuclear installation of Iran, both in the hours following the B-2 complex on Saturday and even today. At the top of NATO, he and his national security team furiously challenge a Pentagon preliminary intelligence Analysis that the destruction of the nuclear program was far from complete.

The conflict betrays a continuous misunderstanding by the White House of the nature of intelligence.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is one of the 17 student agencies intensely the results of the extraordinarily precise bombing mission. The pilots did their jobs: they stole for 37 hours and reached their targets, for the first time by abandoning 14 massive “bunker buster” bombs in combat.

Now, analysts, using complex measurement devices of soil, atmospheric dust, debris of bombs craters and electronic interceptions of Iranian conversations, among others, evaluate the remaining risk of a reconstituted nuclear threat. It could take months – or forever – have absolute or unanimity confidence in a conclusion. Their work is to provide a continuous flow of intelligence to the commander -in -chief and his advisers so that they can decide what to do afterwards.

The slippery slope here is for the president and his team to bring to conclusions that the strike “erased” anything. Today, Trump also said about Iran: “I don’t see them getting involved in the nuclear sector. I think they got it.”

But the International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran has probably moved its highly enriched uranium to other underground sites before the United States strike. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said to me last Friday The United States could bomb Iran’s nuclear program but not its knowledge. And now, Iran still insists on its right to continue to enrich uranium, although it never explained why it needed to enrich nuclear fuel with a purity of 40% of weapons at 30% – far beyond what is necessary for peaceful use.

Wednesday evening, CIA director John Ratcliffe, in what seemed to rebalance the debate, published a statement The fact that the CIA can confirm the “credible information” indicating Iran’s nuclear program has been “seriously damaged” by American strikes, destroying several nuclear installations which would take years to rebuild. He did not say that Iran had abandoned its nuclear aspirations or could not rebuild.

If Trump and his team want a political rotation instead of being honest, so preliminary, information, they will end up obtaining sources like the “named” agent’s codeCurveWho said that Iraq had developed biological weapons, which led the CIA director to call him a “slam dunk”. This is how the presidents wrongly launch Forever Wars.

Related readings:

Trump says that we will meet with Iranby Megan Lebowitz

Trump sails the most complex foreign policy crisis in his presidency, a “truth” at the same timeby Allan Smith

Iran’s strategic errors have paved the way for humiliating defeats, say the expertsby Dan de Luce

The comments of the NATO chief betray the reality of the military alliance’s vision on Trumpby Alexander Smith

🎙️ It’s scoop

This week, NBC News launched “Here is the scoop», A new evening podcast which brings you a new version of the best stories of the day in 15 minutes or less.

In the episode of today, the host Yasmin Vossoughien speaks with the national security correspondent Courtney Kube about intelligence assessments after the United States strikes on Iran.

Listen to the full episode here →

It’s all of the political bureau for the moment. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Dylan EBS.

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