Democrat sleazeball Graham Platner, aka “Der OysterFuhrer,” suspended his Senate campaign Wednesday night. He announced the decision in a very effective, left-wing populist video. He essentially said, “We took on the Democrat establishment, and we won. But now they’re stealing our victory.”
 
He also said, “We’re not [ending the campaign] because of the [rape] allegations. We’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.”
 
On the one hand, Platner did Chuck Schumer a favor by dropping out so the party can pick a new candidate. On the other hand, Platner just created a huge mess for Schumer to deal with. A significant percentage of Platner’s leftist base must be furious that he’s been forced out by “those in power.”
 
The Democrat Party establishment is also fighting to prevent Abdul El-Sayed from winning the Senate primary in Michigan. If they succeed in stopping him too, the party may have created its own voter suppression problem. And Jasmine Crockett isn’t helping the party in Texas either.
 
For many left-wing Democrats, seeing Platner being pushed out will reopen old wounds, reminding them of how the Democrat Party rigged the 2016 primaries for Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders.
 
Then they rigged the 2024 primaries—twice. First by lying to everyone and saying Joe Biden was perfectly fit to serve a second term. Then by pushing him out in a coup and giving the nomination to Kamala Harris, who didn’t win a single primary.
 
All this from the party that is going to “defend our democracy.” Give me a break!
 
 
 
Harris Goes Hard Left
 
A new poll on the 2028 Democrat presidential nomination was just released. It finds former Vice President Kamala Harris leading California Gov. Gavin Newsom by 14 points (29% to 15%), with Pete Buttigieg at 11%. No other candidate received double-digit support.
 
There is a false narrative that people like Harris are deeply worried about the socialist/Islamist Left taking over the Democrat Party. But Harris isn’t fighting them. The truth is that she is actively courting their support. She has been meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and radical anti-Israel Palestinian activists.
 
The argument among Democrats isn’t that “mainstream” Democrats disagree with these radical Left positions. What makes them angry is that the Islamists and socialists are so open about it and keep saying the quiet part out loud.
 
 
 
Speaking Of Islamists…
 
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, is spending much of this month out of the country. She skipped the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations to co-host an Islamic spiritual retreat on the Spanish island of Mallorca that focused on the “Plants Of The Quran.”
 
This week, she is co-hosting another Islamic spiritual retreat on the island of Corsica. This event will focus on Mary, the mother of Jesus, who at past retreats was referred to as a “Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation.”
 
There are a couple of problems with that framing. First, Mary wasn’t a Palestinian. She was a Jew and the mother of our Lord and Savior, who was born 600 years before Islam even existed.
 
Second, the “occupation” being referred to is not a Jewish occupation. It’s the occupation of the Roman Empire. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate is not referred to as the “governor of Palestine” in the Bible but as the “governor of Judea.” The Romans did not name the region “Palestine” until the second century, and it was never an independent nation.
 
Whether it’s James Talarico in Texas claiming that the Bible endorses abortion or Rapheal Warnock in Georgia claiming that opposition to transgender insanity is “violence against God” or Mamdani’s wife trying to steal the mother of Jesus, the Left is intent on rewriting and warping the sacred texts of Christianity.
 
Every day we are reminded that this really is a spiritual battle.
 
 
 
Rahm’s Ramblings
 
Former White House Chief of Staff and Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel is entertaining thoughts of running for president in 2028. He gave a speech Wednesday at Tel Aviv University that is being praised for its “courage” in confronting the Left.
 
He said the people cheering on October 8, 2023, celebrating the slaughter of 1,200 Israelis, are “morally bankrupt.” That’s about the only good thing he said, and that’s a very low bar.
 
The rest of his speech essentially blamed Israel for the fact that some people hate Jews. He lectured Israelis, saying, “Your scientists face exclusion from international research networks. Your artists and academics are shut out of exhibits and conferences.” 
 
He’s blaming the victim! That exclusion is the result of antisemitism and the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
 
Emanuel is trying to present himself as a “moderate.” But does anyone seriously think the people shouting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” will be satisfied if Israel stops building housing in Judea and Samaria?
 
He also claimed that U.S. policy toward Israel was “to blindly and silently stand behind your government, without conditions, demands and consequences.” He said we need a “fundamentally new and different approach to the alliance.”
 
First of all, it’s a lie that the U.S./Israel relationship has been based on blind support. Emanuel served in two administrations (Clinton and Obama) that attempted to browbeat Israel into dividing Jerusalem in half. Barack Obama meddled in Israel’s elections trying to defeat Prime Minister Netanyahu.
 
For decades, American politicians have pressured Israel to “live side-by-side in peace” with a Palestinian state. Anyone with a brain knows Israel has no peace partner.
 
No one who cares about the security of Israel should feel good about anything Rahm Emanuel said in his speech.
 
 
 
The Affordability Crisis
 
Democrats are making “affordability” a key issue in the midterm campaign. But they are the ones who caused the “affordability crisis.”
 
A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas finds that Joe Biden’s open borders from 2021 to 2024 were responsible for 30% of the increase in housing prices and 20% of the increase in rents. In other words, Biden’s illegal alien tsunami sunk the American Dream for millions of our sons and daughters, preventing them from being able to buy their first house.
 
And if millions of extra people competing for housing drives up the cost of housing, logically they will drive up the prices of other products, too.
 
 
 
“Saving America’s Story”
 
The White House Domestic Policy Council, led by Vince Haley, has just released a report on how America’s history is being distorted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Vince has one of my old jobs in the Reagan administration, and we have discussed key priorities for the Trump administration.
 
This report is outstanding, and it reflects one of those key priorities. It won’t make headlines. But it is arguably one of the most important things the Trump administration is doing—trying to reverse the left-wing indoctrination that has infected our schools and hijacked our institutions.
 
If you visit the National Museum of American History, you walk away depressed and demoralized. All you get are smears of the Founding Fathers and how bad America is.
 
The museum will mention that some of our founders had slaves, but it won’t tell you anything about their efforts to end slavery. The Pledge of Allegiance is presented not as an expression of patriotism but of nefarious “nationalism.”
 
Of course, any attempt by the Trump White House to clean up this mess is attacked by the media as “censorship.” But this mess should have been described at the time as the Left forcing anti-American history on the American people.
 
 
 
Old Time’s Sake
 
Something caught my attention Wednesday. When President Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey, he said he was taking the old Air Force One for “old time’s sake,” instead of the new Qatari-donated jet he arrived on. That seemed odd to me.
 
Later in the day, the president noted that he was on the top of Iran’s “kill list.” We know they have attempted to assassinate him in the past.
 
Now, there are reports that using the old plane was something the Secret Service asked him to do. I suspect there is a bigger story here we may learn more about in the future.