Full Transcript for Democrats WON the Midterms… But Can They Win in 2028? - Nick w/ NSFD | Systems & Power #21

kind of theater that Republicans and Trump have been so good to seize and capture attention in this new attention economy. So now Democrats are gonna have to wake up and get a little creative on how they will be able to, fight back with this messaging. And you message, like you mentioned, plastering it all over the world will be great in terms of optics, but will it actually lead to something if they can't find a full conviction, if they don't get anyone behind bars? Like what does account be what does accountability need to look like? And how will Democrats be able to do that again when they still don't have the White House? Moses Parente: I think I remember I was watch watching Anthony Sarcamucci's podcast and Nick: yeah. Moses Parente: and I I I personally am a am a fan of his podcast. I think he's a great speaker and since he's actually worked in the Trump admin for for one week, he it's fun hearing his stories about like I guess his stories working the Trump administration. But I th I I do agree with what he said that impeaching the president straight up isn't necessarily the best idea. I think like a Pete Hagzeth or like an RFK junior I th I Nick: yeah. Moses Parente: I I predict that they'll probably go after more of them. there'll be more, I guess, fresh meat for the Democrat base to really rally behind and a lot of and and a lot of people need to keep this in mind is that for this year, this was not supposed to be a good race for the Senate for Democrats. Many of Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: the states that were that were running for reelection were Texas, Mississippi, Kansas and A lot of seats that traditionally Democrats would have never won in a normal in a normal cycle. But the outrage against the Trump administration was so huge, everyone just everyone just sorry, I was just getting a couple of text mess text messages, but everyone was just so angry at what was going on that many of these states flipped. And now a lot of the Republicans that are running for reelection are going to be it's are going to be happening in twenty twenty eight. So a lot of them will be vulnerable and I think they will they will be qu questioned and and being in terms of being pressured to flip if an imp an impeachment happens to indict whether it's Pete Hegzeth or RFK Junior or maybe even Trump himself if they view him that Nick: Or Moses Parente: much as a liability. Nick: or maybe whoever was in charge of making sure the lettuce was clean, right? The fact that Americans had to go through that. Let's impeach that guy. I mean, come on. That's what we've been going through. It's just been so wild this election season. But hopefully they've they figure out a solution there, right? Moses Parente: Mm, what what do you see the Democrats have to improve or at least tailor their messaging for towards when it comes towards at least preparing for twenty twenty eight? Nick: yeah, that's a really good question. So full disclosure, I am a democratic socialist, I'm someone on the left. Shocking. I know some people really reject that label, Moses Parente: Ha ha ha. Nick: but hey, here's the thing. If we're gonna want to have a big tent party where everyone feels included, everyone feels heard, and there's some level of just relief with this affordability crisis, whether someone was, living in the Midwest or down south, this was a type of issue that, infected impacted our groceries, gas. Even just cost of living and quality of life. So I feel like the message will have to be we have your back. We need a way to bring you into the full that we have not just that Democrats are able to create economic power, but economic opportunity. So we know that Trump had a huge, let's say, attack on DEI and DEI programs, right? That became very clear in his messaging and administration. But now it's the time for Democrats to maybe not take back the left woke culture, but at least say, We have a place in our economy for all of you, whether it's the construction and the labor and protecting union jobs, or it's maybe the corporate work that are per currently getting automated out by AI. But Democrats have to come across both fronts, both impacting big city economic opportunity as well as what's happening in the suburbs and in rural America. Where I think folks like even Rebecca Cook out in Wisconsin, she was very much in the middle where she had leftist ideals but ran on a rural on rural values. And she was able to really do a good job getting her building a coalition within her own district by f saying, like, we have a place in our economy for you, especially with farmers. I think agriculture gets so overlooked, especially in democratic politics, because it's always the the liberal elites, right? So now that we can extend an olive branch to those outside of the big city saying, We have a place in the party for you and you know, one other point on that, it is a party. You say Republican Party and Democratic Party, but like Democ the Republicans showed us the past year and a half has not been a fun party. So now this is a chance for Democrats to use more positive, encouraging, hopeful messaging that can really bring people back to the fun side. And that's where I'm at. Moses Parente: What many of the the Democrats who flipped not just like marginal or conservative districts, they flipped d solid D s I mean solid R s like sol solid Republican districts Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: and that means that in normal cycles, like normally they wouldn't have been able to take those. What do you think they will do you think that they will be adopting a more left leaning I guess messaging to their audience or do you think that they'll largely be kind of shifting a bit more to towards the middle and try to govern from there? Nick: Well, interesting question because we know we the there was no one side that won election night. I think everyone had an equal say in what the message was, how we had good quality candidates this time around. And I

think what really will have to come is like the unifying thread that we'll weave through all of this in order to win a successful twenty twenty eight. And that's gonna come through an economic populist message. I think it's one thing to say, Someone who is on the democratic socialist side, such as myself, we do believe in fighting harder for raising the minimum wage. Why start at fifteen dollars? Let's go to thirty dollars an hour. Whereas someone on the moderate might s wing of the party might say, Well, we need small businesses in order to generate enough revenue to pay the workers before you even have that conversation. So at least as long as the Democrats, I think, keep it somewhat high level, and sure, some wonks like you know, Elizabeth Warren, she can get very technical into the details, and I applaud that for her. But keeping it high level saying that we have a space in our party for you would be at least enough of a olive branch to get enough people, enough buy-in from all different parts of the country, all different voting types, whether they're moderate, centrist, progressive, democratic, socialist, so many labels. But the key label is making sure that we win for twenty twenty eight. Moses Parente: Yeah, because I I think a lot of and this is just my my hot take and I talked about it on my on one of my last podcast episodes, is Nick: Right. Moses Parente: that a lot of the a lot of the results of the twenty twenty six midterm elections is that it was largely a referendum on the Trump administration and they voted Democrat down to ballot largely because they were just so fed up with what the Trump administration was doing. Not necessarily too much out of a love for what the Democrats are are currently doing. If you even look at the the statistics on the on on favorability for the for the for the Democrat Party as a whole, many of the registered Democrat voters are very unhappy with the leadership of where their party's going. So I've always wondered like what what direction do we think we're going w where where us Democrats are going to have to go forwards, whether we're moderate cent centrist, maybe the occasional conservative Democrats or the the DSA le leaning or adjacent Democrats. Where will they have to go from there in terms of a governance standpoint? Nick: So from a governance standpoint They're honestly they're gonna have to lead moderate. Now I know that sounds antithetical to what my values may be, but when you really think about it, we know that going big, bold, and progressive is what people want, but look at who we just selected. We just selected a majority of more moderate central left candidates, which is going to be the majority of the party. So if that's what their district is looking to send to Congress and in the Senate, that is what we're gonna need to cater to because at the end of the day, the way Democrats or any re party wins is going through the lowest common denominator. And another thing on that is the fact

that we know that while progressive policies are popular, right, Medicare for all, over I think sixty three to sixty six percent of people approve, even when it comes to raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars hours at least. Those are popular policies. But the catch though is that when we have individuals, when the persona overtakes the policy, we're gonna have to if we wanna to govern on big, bold, progressive ideas, we're also gonna need to get more vigorous and competitive in those democratic primaries. I mean, New York is sending three Democratic socialists now to our Congress, whereas other folks they might have just elected a Democrat sending to Congress for the first time. So how do we reckon that? And I think if we really think about the policies that folks want to see, that's how we're gonna have to govern. So while I think again, economic populism is kind of the catch all that will allow for that room for conversation. It's gonna have to be governed through a moderate standpoint in order to really make sure they're effective, they deliver for the people, and then by twenty twenty eight, maybe we'll have a really strong progressive candidate to then govern big, bold and strong. Moses Parente: ALC's polling very well right now for the Democratic primaries. Remind me what she was Nick: Cheers. Moses Parente: polling at last time. Nick: Man, I feel like I don't remember all the polls, but there was one where she was up like she had twenty or maybe eighteen, nineteen percent. And then Harris has always been at the top of these where she's getting twenty one, maybe twenty two percent, in the top realm. But the most recent I think she was down, AOC was having eight percent, John Osef had nine percent, Pete Buttigieg was either also eight or nine percent. So at least they're all being recognized where these young, progressive ish leaders are all kind of in the same page. Like I'm not gonna necessarily call Pete Butsof a progressive, but they are younger and they are actually messaging really well with the American public, especially after John Oslo's eighteen point win in Georgia. Like I did not see that coming, but congrats to him. That's impressive. Moses Parente: I felt that John Nassoff was going to go on a landslide victory. A lot of the Republican candidates who were honestly running weren't running because they were exceptionally good. It was all about their loyalty to Trump and how much that and how much they were willing to kiss the ring. But on election day they found out how what that what kissing the ring costs. And it cost Nick: Exactly. Moses Parente: the Republicans basically a near what I like to call extinction level wipeout. if the Republicans Nick: Exactly. Moses Parente: like like re Texas flip blue, a lot of people would have never seen that coming under normal circumstances. It's a very Republican state. And if Tech if if Republicans can't win Texas, there's no there there's no way for them to win the presidency ever

again. Nick: That's a really good point. Now more people are saying Texas is competitive and if it's even if p let's say Democrats lose the Midwest, they could still win the presidency just with Texas alone. So now it really does shake up the map and have a lot of Republicans shaking in their cowboots for sure. And I guess Moses Parente: yeah. Nick: the other thing too, thinking about If you've seen some of the reaction videos on Instagram about how the voters were so overjoyed they won with James Telarico, Gina Hina Josa. Like just the excitement in Texas living under Greg Abbott's governorship for so almost four terms. that's just so wild. So I feel like I'm so happy for them out there. Anyone in Texas who voted Democratic, like relish in the victory because they deserve it. Moses Parente: No, I I remember when I was at the New York State Democrat watch party with where Kathy Hokel was was there. I remember that the two biggest cheers I've heard was when James Talarico and Gina won their seats, and then the Nick: Mm. Moses Parente: second one was when Mike Lawler conceded. Nick: Of course. my gosh. I didn't know he was gonna win. 'Cause I really felt King Conley. She was no she had a really uphill battle, right? purplish swing district, first time running, and she had really good credentials and The fact that she really I think came off strong in that debate performance and really reaff reaffirmed herself, saying, this is who I am, Mike Lawler, I appreciate what you're doing, but this is not enough what the district needs and I think that kind of strength really showed the contrast between someone who's just been doing his job, going through the motions, versus someone who really, really wanted it. And I think that hunger is what really pushed her over the edge, in New York seventeen. Moses Parente: Mm. I think also, a at least the fact, like i it it it was originally a it was like a Harris plus two district, I I believe, and you can Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: correct me if I was I was wrong on that. But in in the way how the the tides were turning, the pr the president's party always has been losing seats in the House of Representatives ever since nineteen thirty four, I believe. Except for like the except for two thous except for like when Bush was president than there was nine eleven but that was a that's completely different outlier but but like Nick: Exactly. Exception to the rule. Yeah. Moses Parente: though those like like those marginal seats where Republicans are holding they were definitely in my opinion expected to to lose it especially when there was some like such a huge amount of animosity towards the Trump administration because of the Iran war and the And and all the gas prices and the affordability issues many are are going on. Did you see Trump's interview with 60 Minutes, by the way? I definitely wanted to ask you about that. Nick: my gosh, I did not have a chance to see that. But o the fact that right now Republicans and their messaging on Fox News, they've been saying, yeah, this is normal. Yeah, we always lose seats when we're not in power in the White House. But it's like actually when you think about it, the red wave was a mirage in 2022 when Biden had only lost nine seats and they were looking to take the wipeout of like fifty plus seats. But now here we are where we were expecting, Republicans will lose, but Democrats will win maybe plus five, plus ten We're looking at plus forty now. So the fact that two hundred and fifty nine Democrats are now on their way, or even some of the freshman members went to Congress at the time of this recording. it's been really great to see how now the blue wave is really pushing strong despite what Republicans were talking. Moses Parente: It it it's also y you you reminded me back when it was during the Biden administration administration and he had his midterms, a lot of Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: those seats were largely lost because of New York. Because a lot of people were just upset Nick: exactly. Moses Parente: with Kathy Hochel and also Andrew Cuomo had the sexual assault allegations and all of that stuff. So in in my opinion, it was largely a a screw up of New York Democrats that caused the Democrats on a Hold on one second, my Nick: Go for it. Moses Parente: Hold on. Yeah, sorry, my mom my yeah, my mom was calling. Gonna have to call her later. But Nick: She wants to get it on the phone. my gosh, I love it. Moses Parente: Hold on. She is calling me. I will have to tell her I am calling her I will have to call her later. All all good, all good, all good. Hold on one second. My my my stuff is hold on, it just got it logged me okay, okay, okay. We can Nick: good. Moses Parente: I'll I'll I'll edit all that stuff out. My bad. Remind me where we were on again. We were just talking about the Yes Nick: to jump in to add to your point. So we were just some you were just saying how basically, you know, New York lost the 2022 midterm election for the country because of not only Kathy Holkell's poor performance, not only because of the Andrew Cuomo scandal of sexual assaults, right? All these horrible things, it's just bad juju that voters are like, uh-uh, I'm rejecting that. But one other thing too, to take it a little step further, if you really think about it, we were also the state that was looking to increase our gerrymander Where New York is a fairly deep blue state, especially New York City, and that really does power a lot of the congressional seats we have. So what the state Senate was doing at the time, led by when I was living in Astoria, actually I'm still in s state Senate district twelve, Mike Janeares. I know Mike, he's a great guy, and I know he's you Harvard grad, really good hand on his shoulders, and the fact that he was really working hard to make sure Democrats had a huge majority in our con with our congressional seats, he was the one drawing the map, or at least leading that charge. Now unfortunately

Moses Parente: That was right when he dis defeated the IDC, correct? Nick: Yes, yes, exactly. So the fact that we had so much like momentum on the Democratic side, he knew that we could really take that power back with the gerrymandering. Now, however, what happened was that the Republicans filed an appeal saying basically t filed a court a lawsuit saying these are unfair maps, we don't like it. But they filed in a conservative county. So even though Democrats I think were like plus five with the map. They had to, know, once the Republicans challenged it, it got struck down, they had to redraw new maps thanks to a nonpartisan commission. And that nonpartisan commission, which had appointees by Andrew Cuomo, is what then led the Democrats to then have like a plus one or two seat map, whatever it was. We basically lost Democratic seats after what Democrats were trying to put forward. So we had an unfair advantage of the map, but here we are fast forward. We basically lost it in twenty twenty two. But after organizing four years later, we came back stronger than ever. Moses Parente: Yeah, le leave it up to New York Democrats to screw everything up. Nick: We're not perfect, but like I've been there for the ride and now here you have so we're d we're doing the best out here to get the message out. People must get involved in politics and this is why primaries and elections are so important. Moses Parente: yeah. Especially that, for at least for those l live living in New in New York City, most of the dem most of the elections are pretty much decided by the primary. And because Nick: Exactly. Moses Parente: we are a overwhelmingly democratic city. Now unless you're in Staten Island or one of the weird pockets of Queens or southern Brooklyn, then and and of course, no shade to anyone who lives there. We we we love all New Yorkers. But we Nick: Exactly. Moses Parente: It it's just that this is the reality for the electorate for everywhere else. Your your representative is largely going to be put in is going to be decided by the Democratic primary. The elec the general election is largely just a formality at that point. Nick: Yeah, one other thing, I actually want to ask you a quick question. So we Moses Parente: Of course. Nick: have here for those who may not be familiar, in New York State, we have closed primaries. So anyone who is looking to vote in a Democratic primary must be registered as a Democrat. Same with Republicans, they must be registered as a Republican. So the fact that, you know, as we both know, the primaries are really determined the ultimate candidate who we send not just in the general election, but off to whatever elected body. Do you think we should have open primaries where independents or unaffiliated voters could also Participate in primaries? Moses Parente: I think, yes, and this is gonna be a hot take for me. I think we should open up primaries to independent voters. Because I think as we are getting more and more people to to

register to vote, a lot of people are still turned off by both parties. And while yes, Nick: Yes. Moses Parente: the Democrats won by large sweeps, there is still a lot of people who are very unhappy with how the dep the Democratic Party acts and essentially like governs their their leaderships with the Democratic Party leadership. And when when you see that, there is just a lot of people, especially immigrants, who come to New York and in Queens there's a huge immigrant population. They're registered to vote, but they're not registered Democrat voters. And Nick: Right, right. Moses Parente: over one third of all voters in New York, New York New York State and New York City, are independent voters. So Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: by disenfranchising voters by closing them off in a primary saying that you ha you can only join in our elections if you join our party. I don't think we should be forcing people to to essentially join a party. Because like by the time the general election happens where pretty much anyone can vote. Most of the the the the elected officials pretty much already decided already. Because let Nick: yeah. Moses Parente: l let's face it, it's gonna be against the Democratic incumbent I mean the Democratic nominee versus the the whatever fringe Republican candidate that they run or whatever person decided to have a independent line, which realistically those are just not gonna win. And by that that time what happened? Nick: I'll share real quickly that Absolutely. And I f I agree with that so hard. And one other thing too, which I find interesting, is the fact that now more people are registering as independents, where I think they've even surpassed the registration of Democrats and Republicans in some states. So now we Moses Parente: Mm-hmm. Nick: just have more of an influx of third party or non-democrat or non-major party c registered voters, right? Which is a real rejection of the establishment, the way things are going. And to your point, like I think we should absolutely have independence get The opportunity to participate in democratic primaries. We see that happening in South Carolina where they even have independents Moses Parente: Nice. Nick: in their democratic primaries. And I think that is actually one strong point that I want to echo. Mayor Mamdani actually does not support open primaries. And that's one thing. As listen, I know him personally. He was my state assembly member. I organized hard to get him elected as mayor, but I strongly disagree with Mayor Mamdani, where I think we should have open primaries. He does not, but it doesn't mean we can't have these conversations now and hopefully. push for more support when we get the chance to open those up. Moses Parente: I've always considered I guess myself more I don't know if you're a fang a fan of An Andrew Yang or not, but I think of what happened? no. No, th that that Nick: Not huge fan. I'm not a huge fan of Andrew Yang, but I'm open to hearing his ideas personally. Moses Parente: that's that that that's completely fine. I think we should it it it's always good that we all have, I guess, these different types of discussions. But I I've always liked I guess the term of kind of like including everyone in terms of the elections and And I know he started the the forward party across all fifty states. He had people who were running as independents r using the forward party label. I think in South Dakota there was an independent who was running on the forward party against the Republican incumbent, if I if Nick: Mm. Moses Parente: if my memory recalls correctly. But I think that I I I mean I I think in terms of the way how his messaging was working I think it had s it had substance to it, but I think z when Zoron ran in twenty twenty five, it had a lot more of a clear vision. Because I I do ag agr I do like the idea of I guess the the freedom dividend or the universal basic income and all of that stuff. I think Nick: Yeah, universal losing income. I explore for that. Moses Parente: all of those have a lot of merit, especially with us dealing with with an afford with the affordability crisis. It's just that unfortunately when he was running The the good old consultants took advantage and cashed in and w yeah. 'Cause they Nick: He really did. And one thing with his even with the candidacy, coming from a presidential candidate to then a mayor a mayoral candidate, like I think one thing that got lost was really just getting to know more about him. Where it's not like he was never like inauthentic. It was just that getting to understand his vision, his clear policies and the details behind it, he also wrote a book. And I know several people who read that book and were actually very inspired by what he had to say about thinking more of a thinking more of a stronger approach to mental health, but also more like kind of healing and using more emotion of an emotional healing approach to how we think about healthcare. And I think that's something that gets missed in the conversation. But leave it to Andrew Yang to bring up like put forward these ideas. Now it sucks that it's in a book because no one not everyone's reading these books to understand who you are as a person and then vote on you. It's like really the diehard fans, like yes, they'll they'll follow you on that journey. but to your point, Zoran had a clearer message and was just better at articulating what policies and ideas we should be, you know, fighting for and advocating for. And look at where we are today. So the kind of proof is in the pudding. Moses Parente: Yeah. A Andrew Yang had substance and was able to garner a large social media following from his run in the Democrat primaries for presidency and then he he Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: transferred that over to when he was running as as mayor. But it always the the differences between Andrew Yang and and Zoran in terms of people who largely got a big online following and then translated into

their races. I've always looked at them side by side and I've always wondered like what worked for Zoran. And made him succeed, where Andrew Yang failed to implement that, and then we ended up with Eric Adams as our our mayor for that one term. Nick: give you one example actually where we both know that Zora Monzani used to be a rapper. That was his, original resume builder, let's say. And while he did, Moses Parente: Ha ha ha Nick: venture into that and he was not unsuccessful, he obviously just didn't take off. But for him, it was always about kind of finding that little bit of fame. He wasn't afraid of the spotlight and he knew he could attack it, whether it was doing a music video and coming up with rap tracks, right? Even dancing with the Picha Lulu Longo. So the fact that he really was unafraid to just go there. Whereas it came off as cool, but he always kinda knew the balance of like where to stop. Whereas Andrew Yang, there was actually a show in Hulu earlier this year. I it wasn't called like the biggest dummy or something, but like there was a show where basically had like twelve or fifteen celebrities that were all compet Moses Parente: Is it am I smarter than a fifth grader? I think that was the one. Nick: No, it's not that one. It's not smarter than Fisher. This is really recent. My husband and I were watching it and it was like Andrew Yang was on there. Alex Baldwin's wife was on there. all these folks that were trying to Yeah, basically the challenges were all these like obstacles and trivia questions, right? And like basically whoever gets who is the smartest gets like off the show. So then the one that's left is like the dumbest in America. So basically Moses Parente: god it. Nick: he was on that. And the way I saw I'm like, Andrew Yang, presidential candidate. Mural candidate, now you're doing reality TV about how dumb you are. It just didn't seem like the right trajectory. So I'm like, this isn't like maybe it's not as fun and charismatic as you think it is, but like Zoran knew where to keep it cool, Andrew not so much. Moses Parente: W would you say that was also something that Donald Trump also implemented when he was running? Because he was a former reality T V star and he was doing Nick: Yes. Moses Parente: The Apprentice and everyone always like knew him from from the catchphrases like you're fired and and all that stuff. Do you think he was he and Zoran implemented a very similar strategy that they were both unafraid of the spotlight? They knew when to tone it down but when to amp it up at the same time. Nick: Absolutely. And even in both if you look at all three scenarios, right? Zor Modowney as rapper, Donald Trump as real T V star on The Apprentice, and then Andrew Yang on his reality T V journey, it really was like Andrew Yang's wasn't trying to uplift him. It was kind of like making him seem, I'm like one of you guys, I'm not this like I'm not on the pedestal Whereas Trump actually I was reading an article where The

guy the president of C CNN worked with Trump because they needed each other for that opportunity. Where the fact that CNN was low in ratings and the fact that Trump was looking to, you know, increase his you know stature because real estate business wasn't doing so hot at the time, they knew that if they worked together and created the apprentice, Trump could come off as authoritative, come off as a serious businessman, and really reshaped his entire image because at the time he wasn't exactly as popular. And then same with Zora, Moses Parente: Hmm. Nick: where he was a rapper, right, doing his thing. He's very talented. And if you notice his innate talent for music and like rapping comes so clear with how he communicates so clearly because he knows tonality and he knows you know how words work as a rhythm. But with Zoran's unafraid to really, you know, go after the spotlight. I think all three, it that part with the rapper uplifts Zoran in a way that makes him seem cool and a more larger-than-life persona. Same with Trump, right? Reshaped his entire image to be a more serious businessman. Andrew Yang didn't have the same exact experience with his reality TV show, but the end of the day, Trump and Zoran have so much more in common than people like to give them credit for. And again, it's more about the type of person they are rather than the ideology or the politics. Moses Parente: Yeah, I I saw a lot of videos by this one YouTube channel called Charisma on Command. It's one of my Nick: yeah. Moses Parente: favorite YouTube channels that I've been watching since high school. And Nick: Nice. Moses Parente: one of their episodes was covering the very similar pr traits that both used to win their elections. They both had a very crowded Democrat Democrat or Republican primary that was just filled with a lot more people with a lot more experience w that than them. But they were able to garner the spotlight and they were able to use very s again similar tactics to make sure that they were able to propel themselves to victory. Nick: Yeah. And the fact that even let's say Trump in that really crowded Democr Republican primary Moses Parente: Right. Nick: was so was entertaining T V. I can't say I watched all the primaries, but I can say I remember watching the clips and hearing from people who had they just loved Trump taking on the Republican establishment because Trump knew good T V. So even though he was always breaking all the rules what was acceptable and not acceptable, he made it work and people loved him for it. Which is why some can argue he has such a cult like following these days. Whereas even him darn Moses Parente: yeah. Nick: He knew good TV too when he was in a democratic mayoral debate when they asked him that question about Israel. He knew where he was gonna be and it wasn't gonna be anywhere outside the country because his focus was New York City. But even when he was going after Cuomo one on one, where he was saying how like he really

kind of laid into Cuomo about not only having the sexual assault scandal and one of survivors in victims in the audience, right? But even saying that one almost slip up where he was saying, You're gonna have to get my name right because We're gonna have to he basically was gonna Moses Parente: Mm-hmm. Nick: say because I'm gonna be mayor, but he kept it shut really quick. But yeah, Nate knew out of the room. You know he did. You Moses Parente: I I I know he wanted to say that so badly. Nick: know he did. my gosh. Yeah. Moses Parente: No, yeah, th those sound bites were just so funny. I remember like when when back when I was in high school you see Trump just like destroying everyone on the Republican pi Republican primary. He was calling he was saying low energy Jeb and then he was just like Nick: Yes. Moses Parente: making fun of Chris Christie for being fat and then just like Nick: Little Marco. Moses Parente: yeah, little Marco can't can't can't forget about that. He just Nick: Right. Moses Parente: essentially humiliated everybody to the point where like they're like, Okay, I can't do this anymore. I'm out. And you got people like going like they were just slandering and just going after Trump and then like even Lindsey Grant back when he he he was running, he was like Donald Trump is the worst person ever, blah blah blah. And then I love him. I love Trump so much. I love doing a complete one eighty. And and Nick: Exactly. Moses Parente: you you you see that that same thing going on with many of the the I at least some some of the Democrat esta establishment. They were like, Okay, Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: once Trump they once Mom Donnie won the mayor, they're like, alright, I'm gonna support the ticket. There were some who decided to stay out of it and did not, but it's overall roughly a very big two sides of the same coin in my in my opinion. A as sor sorry. Nick: Yep. I totally agree. And one other thing too, I'll add is there was an analysis from AOC who shared some of her voters too, back not in this election, but even the previous one, twenty twenty four, where some of her voters were also voting for Trump on the presidential ticket. And it's like how can one say voting for Democratic Socialist, Progressive, Puerto Rican, youngest Congress woman ever elected to Congress, how could she earn the same vote as someone who's Trump, boomer, older, dead? typical very conservative Republican, right? How could they both earn the vote from a from the same person? What it really comes down to, and I'll even add Mamdoni into this, is about not only authenticity, but s having that trust. And a lot of the voters trusted that they say what they mean. Again, whether it's the left or the right, I think Trump, AOC and Mamdoni have done a really good job, at least getting enough of those voters in their respective bases or camps, to really say, you know, I trust this person because they say what they mean and I know they're gonna do it. Whereas most politicians not very good at that. Moses Parente: I think one one of the things that a lot of people also keep forgetting about is that sixty thousand New Yorkers who voted for Donald Trump actually fli s flipped over and ended up voting for Zoran Mamdani. Come the I believe Nick: yeah. Moses Parente: it's the general election. And I think authenticity and at least g and giving an appearance of, Hey, I'm coming to fight for your kitchen table issues that you guys are facing Nick: my home. Moses Parente: right now. I remember I was on a podcast with Kleel Anderson and we were talking about th Nick: nice. Moses Parente: people people want to vote for for what they feel in the moment. And when they look at their politicians, whether it's on the federal level or local level, it's all about what have you done with me lately? And I think I that's something that I've been taking into my mind when I look at these elections and where and analyzing like where are the voters right now on things. What are they what What what what do they feel about the politicians of what have they done for them lately and what are their current issues that they're dealing with on a day to day basis? I remember Nick: And Moses Parente: Mamdani was he had his whole sign, like this was back when no one knew who who he was. He was just a state assembly member and he was interviewing people about like who did you vote for and like why did you vote for that person? And he never s and when a lot of people would say they voted for Trump, he never slandered or made them feel bad about who they voted. He just wanted to know what Why did he vote for Trump? Why did you vote this certain way? And what are the issues you're facing right now? Nick: And one of the great things about that Mamdani has done f in that experience through his mayoralship is that he doesn't try to attack people. He may attack systems and critique the process, but he doesn't go after people personally. So when he's asking like why did you vote for Trump, like most people on the left, I hate to say it, like, they will just go ham on like you're a bad person, you're racist, sexist, homophobic, blah blah blah blah blah. But like that doesn't create the conversation that we need or the dialogue to help move the the needle forward. So if you're just gonna just cancel everyone just because, they disagree with you on these things, it's really learning how to interface. And Mamdani has done such a good job interfacing with respect and grace and sometimes grit when he gets pushed on some things. And I feel like to your point, we that people value that. Especially the time when like we just talked about before with Trump, you know, bullying everyone in the primary, like while it is very entertaining, It's not the kind of politics we wanna have in our society. So I think Mamdani's really leading the way in a more humble, respectful political take and dialogue, which I think our country desperately needs and gonna be doing

more moving forward. Moses Parente: This also reminded me back in the twenty twenty four election. I think it was Joe Biden, he called MAGA voters garbage. And then Nick: Right. Moses Parente: Trump came in right driving like a garbage truck and was kind of like memeing the whole thing. And and I think that's one thing Dem Democrats need to to take away from Mamdani if when they're running in twenty twenty eight is to not necessarily attack if you want to attack the MAG as an idea. the the Trump administration for quid pro quo and the pay to play and the corruption and all that, that's fine. Nick: Right. Moses Parente: But it it's not going to be a winning message when you're attacking MAGA voters because there's a reason why they they voted a certain way. And in Nick: Mm-hmm. Moses Parente: in my opinion, if if and this also goes for like Republican parties too, the Republican party for if you're a Democrat or a Republican, no one is entitled to your vote because you're Nick: Exactly. Moses Parente: you you vote a certain way. You have to earn everyone's vote. And It's up to you, the candidate, to be able to bring them over on your side and show them why your policies and ideas and your platform is better than the other side. Nick: Absolutely. And it's all about what I think Harris really failed in twenty twenty four. Not because she wasn't sweet enough or kind enough. It was really because she didn't work hard to earn the votes, especially around the economy and what was happening in Gaza. So it just like those kind of things really do make a difference. So I think moving forward for even twenty twenty eight, what we're gonna have to see is like a lot of people, like all these candidates, whether it's on the left or the right, they're all gonna have to come from a place of we want you because we want to build trust with you, we want to treat people respectfully. It's gonna have to come from a place of like we we've got your back. And I feel like that's gonna have to be the new culture, at least with more of the Democratic primaries. Like for example, even in our mayoral primary here in New York City just a few years ago, there wasn't as much mudslinging. Not in the primary. It wasn't really 'til Andrew Cuomo, I think, kind of came about, like he was kind of throwing the jabs and the critiques. But for the most part, like most of the progressive candidates, like you Brad Lander, even Zorram Dani working together, even Michael Blake, they all stayed I'm not saying he's a progressive, but at least they all kinda stayed relatively positive toward one another. And that's the kind of, you know, unified front that I think if the Democrats are going to behave in order when campaigning, that could be a great model for the nation. So I'd love to see more of that coming in the twenty twenty eight Democratic primaries. Moses Parente: That's gonna that's speaking of the twenty twenty eight Democratic primary, that is going to be a crazy field. You were gonna see see Nick: Oof. Moses Parente: no joke, probably fifteen to set to fifteen candidates at minimum. We're gonna see Nick: Easily. Yeah. Moses Parente: pretty much everyone. Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigetz, who who else? A AOC, John Ossoff. We're gonna see so Rokana. Nick: Will Connor, West Summer. Moses Parente: That that that's one that also d is looking to run as well. Do I think he'll win? Probably not, but Nick: And Moses Parente: Everyone's gonna be going for that one. Everyone's gonna take their everyone's gonna go throw their hat in the ring and say, you know what? Let me give it a shot. Ha Nick: Yep. Yep. good more power to I think one thing that was successful having, twenty plus candidates in twenty twenty was that it really did energize more of the base. Where I'm not saying they were all progressive, but at least for the twenty plus candidates, like If you look a map of where those candidates were from, you had candidates represented each area of the country. So when you have attention, like a presidential candidate like running in your state or your community, at least you are then aware of what's going on. And they have to campaign and at least 12 months in advance. So the idea that we had a lot of lead up time and people all over the country, right? This energized each specific cohort, community, demo, whatever you want call it. But then by the time 2020 came, part of the reason why Joe Biden got eighty one million votes, wasn't just because it was anti Trump, wasn't just because people liked Joe Biden, but mostly because the Democratic primaries were competitive, we had decent ideas, and of course, even, you know, Bernie Sanders almost winning before Super Tuesday, it really did galvanize a lot of energy and excitement, which then that momentum stayed through all the way through November and of course the most votes in presidential history, eighty one million votes. Again, not because everyone loved Joe Biden, but because they started that work with the competitive primary back in twenty nineteen and then leading all the way up through November twenty twenty. Moses Parente: I'm so tempted to make a stop the steal joke. Nick: I mean people still talk about that to this day. That will be well you never won the election, you know. That's gonna go on forever. my goodness. Moses Parente: I mean you still got people in hearing saying that that that they still have to deny that Joe Biden won the twenty twenty election and re Republicans Nick: I know. Moses Parente: can't do anything about it. They it's you have to kiss the ring to Trump and over there. And also that that did also remind me about like back when you were talking about how a competitive primary that's open field has so many candidates and you're bringing candidates from all these different states and all over the world. It gives people the platform to be able to show themselves to all corners of the n not world. All all all corners of all corners of the country to show

yourself Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: to them. And respectfully, like D Donald Trump was a Democrat from New York who made Nick: Yeah, yeah. Moses Parente: who ran fundraisers for Chuck Schumer, had Hillary Clinton at his wedding and Well it's overall from a berry blue state and a reality T Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: V star who ha owned buildings on Wall Street. That's not something that should be resonating with rut Rust Belt or Bible Belt voters, you know? Nick: Hm, exactly. And I feel like back from what we've learned maybe from twenty sixteen, twenty twenty, twenty twenty four, obviously the electorate changes each year, but after this blue wave, I think that even says more about another change in our country in terms of how people are thinking and what's at stake. And then even in terms of just presidential elections, which we know Hillary Clinton almost won. She had a popular vote but lost the Electoral College. You know, Biden came back and won both. And then Trump, this was his first time he won the Electoral College and the popular vote. So I think even in terms of like how issues are playing throughout our country, it'd be very curious to see if Democrats don't start delivering more relief and combating the affordability crisis, that may still be an issue come 2028. But if it's not, I wonder if then cultural issues will then t start to percolate back up the surface. Because there are so many social issues on the ballot with statewide initiatives in 2026 where I think abortion was on the ballot, some trans rights issues and all those things. But they actually didn't do so hot. So it's curious Moses Parente: Mm-hmm. Nick: how like, you know, Democrats had a blue wave, but in terms of the culture war, Republicans won out in terms of those ballot initiatives. And I was pretty I was interested by those results. But at the end of the day it means just we have more work to do. Moses Parente: also did wanna ask you a coup a couple of questions. A as a a democratic socialist, how do you think Mamdani is currently governing as a mayor and at least like holding up to the values of of the DSA? If you don't mind me asking of course. Nick: Well, I think he Yeah, no, great question. Well, I think he's doing exceptionally well, exceeding my expectations for sure, because being someone who is a millennial, so I feel like Sometimes we think will they have a good grasp on, he hasn't owned a a business. How can he know how the economy works? He hasn't had all these life experiences yet. How can he know? That's been a lot of the critique from some of the opposition. But in terms of a democratic socialist, I think he's done a really great job upholding the values of DSA and also of democratic socialism. For give me an example, I right now am in a rent stabilized apartment. And the fact that right now I'm also looking for my next opportunity, I was so overjoyed. The fact that he froze the rent. So my family, we are so grateful the fact that he clearly had a policy that affected my life materially. And I know I don't have to worry about rent as much as I did the day before. So now that I know he's like really doing the work to lift millions of New Yorkers like out of poverty so to speak, really fight for our safety and protection, especially making sure that he can work with Trump, believe it or not, to make sure we fight back against ICE and coordinating with the city. I think he's done a really good job. Now areas of improvement, of course, folks on the left are really adamant about having him fire Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, which I don't think is the right move at this point in time. Crime rates are the lowest they've been, not only over the past 10 months of his tenure, but also the lowest in New York City's history. So to fire the person who's keeping New Yorkers safe doesn't sound like the best move, but I will say say it again. Moses Parente: If it's not broke, don't fix it. sorry. I I I said if it's not broke, don't fix it. Nick: Yeah, no, exactly. And listen, I know d a lot of Democratic Socialists and DSA members want him to go harder and be more disciplined with democratic socialist policy. But I do think with at least him being there, I can trust that he will ninety nine percent of the time make the right decision. Again, he's not open to open primaries, but ninety nine percent of the time I'm very confident that he will have the wherewithal and the leadership and the moral conviction to do what's right for what's good at the moment. And hey, listen, this is only his first term. Who's to say he won't go hard in his second term? But we have yet to see. And this is only the first year of his governance. But at the end of the day I'm very confident that we are in good hands with Mayor Mamdani. Moses Parente: So you think he's essentially towing the line between governance and governing and can and what he campaigned on to make sure that like, hey, Nick: Yes, and even Moses Parente: everyone's happy, at least as much as he can. Nick: Exactly. I even saw some publications calling him a centrist because to your point he has to cater to more of the more moderate business leaders that are are, you know, have very powerful influence in the city of New York, which is obviously of course an economic engine, not only for the state, but for the country. So the fact that like Mamdani really isn't just dealing with like a local city council here. He's dealing with, you know, a lot of power players and one of the world's top economies. So any move he makes, he has to be very critical and careful, especially when dealing with eight point five million million lives he has to take care of. So when I hear the critique from Democratic Socialists and those of us on the left, like I hear you, I share those same values, but when you're really thinking about, you know, c like precise, thoughtful governance. We have to say it it can't be all or nothing. And the purity politics I think hurts his

movement more than helps it. So we can push him in the right direction. But just know we it like DSA cannot be the sole engine for his leadership, considering there's eight point five million folks and he got what, one million votes in the general election. But DSA Moses Parente: Yes. Nick: nationwide only makes up zero point three percent of the entire Democratic Party. So I feel like there kinda needs to be a little bit of scale while we have a lot of influence. We have to recognize Mayor doing Mayor Mamdani is doing the best job he can, especially when it comes to keeping our movement strong and pushing us forward. So I'm very grateful for all of his leadership and what he's done so far. Moses Parente: I think you nailed it right o right on the head with we can't let purity politics affect the way we govern. Because Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: w w one of my I guess like critiques of men of progressives is that they essentially want an all or nothing t style of Nick: Yes. Moses Parente: governance and essentially showing like unwillingness to compromise. And I I think one that gives a bad name to progressives or or progressive leaning l progressive left leaning candidates is that it gives them the image of like, hey, this is how we're gonna govern. This is how we're gonna operate, no such thing as compromise at all. And it gives a very a very bad name and image. And I think that Mam Dani proved a lot of people wrong in term and myself included. I I Nick: Hm. Moses Parente: thought that Mam Dani was also going to run on purity politics and he he he he did not. He did not. To h his credit, he proved me wrong and I'm glad that he did that, that he showed that hey I'm willing to work with everyone. I know that I am also working with as you said, we're work we're dealing with a lot of big power players here. I believe New York City is home to the most billionaires in the world. They're also they are also constituents. Nick: Yes. Over a hundred here. Over one hundred. Moses Parente: There are they are also constituents that I have to attend to and make sure that like hey, I'm doing my best to teeter the the line and make sure that everyone gets what they need. Now is everyone going to be happy? No being an executive type of elected official is often a thankless job in my opinion where you're gonna be be getting heat from basically everyone. And but he's been he's been towing the line fairly well and I hope that he keeps doing what's good for the city and he keeps it up for which I I think he's gonna win win reelection again. I don't see any Democrats challenging him for that role. Nick: absolutely. One other thing I'll share. one of my friends where I was actually at dinner out with them a few months ago and they were saying, like, on a you know, a grading scale, how would you rate Nair Mandani? And I said I gave him an A minus. And I would stick to that rating because that minus, while I do really value everything he's done, I think his handling of the first snowstorm, back in the winter months could have been a little better. Right. I think there was a little bit of unknown in terms of where snow needed to be removed, how did that look like on scaling up in terms of the not only the snow shovelers, but also the snow plows and working together with city government to understand what needed to be done when, and of course this was exceptional case because so much snow had was coming into New York. So not necessarily his fault. But again, some people did lose their lives because of the snowstorm. Wasn't wasn't as bad as the snowstorm in the nineteen sixties, where the New York City mayor actually lost over sixty people at that point in time. And of course that mayor had lost reelection because of that. So point is Mayor Ramdani is doing better. The second time there was a snowstorm, he Moses Parente: Was that David Dickens? Or who who was that at the time? Nick: I don't recall, but I do know is pff over like fifty years ago. but yeah. Moses Parente: Okay, okay. Nick: And last thing I'll share is like in terms of purity politics, I used to be one of them. I used to be one of those that was more like leaning into cancel culture, leaning into, just pushing really hard and that aggression, that aggressive political style. But what I've learned specifically after the 2024 election, I was like, Harris has got this. Harris is definitely gonna win. This is the the left, we've this is our moment. But seeing such a crushing defeat like that, I was like, something has to change. So personally, even having my own like political reckoning, I was like, we need a new approach. So I just encourage everyone on the left, progressives, democratic socialists. to really think twice before we're looking to, you know, let our feelings out in terms of anger and frustration. Because when we channel that at someone specifically, it might not resonate the same way we want. But what would be great is what Zoran and AOC do, they attack the systems. fighting the establishment, that is how we make change, not the person themselves. And yes, people are, they're allowed to be critiqued, freedom of speech. But I do feel like we need to do a better job keeping a positive message to bring people into the fold, right? We want more people joining the left, not less. But the best way we'll do that again is it is critiquing the systems, not the people. Moses Parente: I think that you're you're one hundred percent spot on for that because I think a lot of w one thing that the Democrats I guess they they they particularly put a lot on messaging o is on being inclusive. That was a big part of their Nick: Yeah. Moses Parente: message. And then I I think eventually as it became a lot more of an echo chamber, they started not letting people with different ideas come in and that's what largely gave the image of yeah, Democrats don't like different people. They like they only want you to follow like a certain script and that turned a lot of

people off. What what used to what I've heard that with the with the especially like the Democrat Party of old is that we we w since we're supposed to be a big tent party, a lot of people would say, I'm not a f really affiliated with any organization. I'm just a Democrat. And being a Democrat could be many different things. And Nick: Yes. Moses Parente: I think With now Democrats shifting more of their messaging towards affordability and economic populist issues, we can start being more of a big tent party again and being more inclusive as Democrats are what they were supposed to be. Nick: Absolutely. And one other note, even thinking about Gina Hinohosa said after she won her historic election, you know, she even campaigned on economic populism and she did a great interview with the New York Times where they asked her, like, how do you consider yourself a progressive versus a populist and why did she shy away from the progressive label? And one thing she really called out was she's not interested in culture wars, right? Like we heard the backlash from AOC saying Woke One was crazy, which listen, I think it was crazy. Woke one was absolutely crazy because it was the time time of change both socially, culturally, and people were going through a lot post-pandemic. So we have to acknowledge that it wasn't like the normal times. And Gina Hinojosa did a really great job not only focusing on economic populism in the state of Ruby Red, Texas, which is now pretty blue, and the fact that they just elected their first Democrat in s the Senate in the in for that Senate seat in 38 years. Right? that's basically my age. So my whole time on this planet, they've had Republicans in that seat. So just seeing that just play out, again, because she's had a relentless focus on what was going to help people's lives in terms of putting food on the table, a roof above their heads, and focusing on affordability. Whereas, like, yes, we want to push our culture forward. Yes, we support progressive social issues. But at the end of the day, that's not what voters really cared about in this election because things have gotten so bad. We need to get back to basics and to your point, bread and butcher, bread and butter. Butter issues was the name of the game and so many voters came out in support of that. Moses Parente: Yeah, shout out Sumbyman Khalil Anderson for I guess bringing that term up on the podcast. Kitchen table issues, Nick: yeah. Moses Parente: so I think I'm gonna be stealing that from now on. Nick: What? Moses Parente: But yes, and if if you don't mind if you don't mind me, like to finish off the the podcast, I don't wanna take up too much of your time. Where can Nick: All good. Moses Parente: we where can we find you and where can we listen to more of your content? Nick: Yes, absolutely. So I started a podcast in April of twenty twenty five, shortly after Moses Parente: Let's go. Nick: Trump was inaugurated the second time, and it's called Not Suitable for Democracy. And you can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, And if you like to watch, you can also follow along on YouTube. And I have episodes out once a week, give or take. I do my best to get out content here because it's a grassroots operation, one man show only. But with that said, if you are interested in following along for my journey, I also have a TikTok and Instagram where you can follow along at NSFD underscore pod. Moses Parente: Awesome. I also do want to ask you how when you started your podcast, because this this podcast is relatively also new for me. I'm also running a a one man show here. And I Nick: Hey. We love that. Moses Parente: s I started it back in July twenty twenty, twenty twenty six, d during this summer. Nick: nice. Moses Parente: And what how has you starting a podcast changed the way you network and meet people as opposed to when you didn't have a podcast? 'Cause that that that's something that I I genuinely want to know. Nick: Wow, so that's an excellent question because Moses, I'll just be very transparent. We're like, I never really did that when I started the podcast until you helped encourage me to start pushing myself and obviously having more of these really fascinating conversations. Like for most of my year and a half of doing this, I really focused on just doing my own kind of sharing my own thoughts and insight on the internet because One quick insight I found what before starting the podcast was that for every one liberal leaning video on YouTube, there were five hundred that are conservative. So there's an overamplification of just conservative content on the internet. So after Trump won and I found out about that stat, I was like, all right, we gotta change this. Something needs to change. So I really just wanted to have a place to share my thoughts and ideas. And I've had some friends on in the past and they've been ac excellent guests and really great insight. I had my friend Eric Thor on recently, my friend Jason Reyes. Moses Parente: Nice. Nick: he's also a music producer, so really fun conversation. And even some party elected officials, like my friend John Scott and Skylar Moore. But at the end of the day, it was really great just to have an opportunity to share my point of view. So now that election season's around the way, and you know, just posting videos on TikTok and Instagram, like they've gotten semi-viral. so that's actually also pushed me to have more. conversations with people. So for example, when Hassan Piker had the the meat pick at the Republican National Moses Parente: Ha ha ha. Nick: Convention or midterm national convention, I did a you know little video on TikTok that has over a hundred thousand views. So like all of a sudden I'm Moses Parente: Let's go. Nick: like, yeah, maybe you have something here. So It wasn't until that started happening I got more attention from going like semi viral and I like, Okay, maybe now I need to start branching out a little bit. So having this conversation with you and getting the chat politics on and off camera has been super fun and I'm super excited to see where this conversation goes next. Moses Parente: Of course. Thank you so much again for coming on, Nick. I really enjoy enjoyed having you on. Nick: Moses, you're the best. I appreciate it. Thanks again so much. Moses Parente: thank you, Nick. I really do appreciate it. Take care. Hold on. Nick: Later. Moses Parente: All right.