The election of “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City had its domestic political reverberations. 

How an apologist for Palestinian terrorism got elected in America’s arguably most Jewish city, one that prides itself on its “liberal democracy” is a paradox. 

It is, in fact, a revelation: the Democrat party is now functionally in the hands of its extreme left-wing.  The “Squad” no longer is on the fringe of U.S. Democrats: they have become its litmus test. 

The national implications should be concerning, but more interesting is how international leftism has joined hands across borders.

The day after the U.S. elections, Polish social media featured tributes to Mamdani. 

“Lewica” (The Left) – a collection of Poles mostly too young to have experienced many, if any, of the blessings of real socialism 36 years ago tweeted congratulations. 

New York chose hope instead of inequality.  … Zohran Mamdani .. won election with the vision of … a city for people, not the elite.

It then praised his “program: a rent freeze; free bus trips; free infant care and preschools; an additional two-percent tax on millionaires to finance public services; … one can create a city where a dignified life is not a luxury but a right.” 

Their post concludes: “It’s time for Poland!”

Another Pole lamented:  

One can’t find anywhere in Poland a politician who could create so fascinating, sincere, unifying, and dynamic an electoral campaign as Mamdani did …

Even parliamentarian Stefan Niesołowski, an octogenarian riding on his anti-communist reputation who refuses to retire from Parliament after at least 22 years, tweeted:  

Great news from America.  The Democratic candidate won in New York, a general defeat for Trump and the American nationalists, enemies of freedom. 

Even a self-styled “democratic socialist” is better than Trump.         

Contemporary Polish politics is imitating the worst of its American counterpart. 

The election of leftist Prime Minister Donald Tusk (who plays a “moderate”) in 2023 has led to various campaigns – including lawfare -- against the former conservative Law and Justice government. 

Tusk hardly achieved an overwhelming mandate in 2023: he hangs on thanks to a coalition of the left, united by their more virulent Polish variant of Trump Derangement Syndrome: hatred of Law and Justice party chief Jarosław Kaczyński. 

Tusk’s coalition includes “Lewica,” the Polish equivalent of the AOC-Omar-Tlaib “squad.” 

Like their American counterparts, the ostensible leader of the “centrist” party – Tusk – dares not alienate his left hand.  It’s why, for example, he’s pushing a watered down version of “partnership” legislation in Parliament. 

That bill will almost certainly be vetoed by President Karol Nawrocki – the Law and Justice “Poland First” president just chosen in June – which likewise makes him the constant target of smears about his intelligence, background, and fitness for office. 

Americans might be excused for the naivete of supporting “socialists,” never having experienced socialism’s pernicious effects on their own skins. 

Poles, on the other hand, have no excuse.  The fact that the Polish Left cheers Mamdani simply tells you how the Left – which abhors borders – is an internationalist worldview inimical to every national sovereignty.

Image: logo, Wikimedia Commons // fair use