BY: ANDREW STILES 26 JUN 2026 -------------------- IT’S FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2026 Normal Americans are gearing up to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday with friends and family. The bitter lunatics who despise this country are already rejoicing for, shall we say, different reasons. Zohran Mamdani had a great week. All three of the terrorist-adjacent, anti-capitalist zealots he endorsed for Congress won their primaries against establishment-backed incumbents or their chosen successors. They won by reiterating the woke nonsense normal Democrats have spent the last several years trying to disavow, and assailing their opponents as fair-weather communists insufficiently devoted to Israel’s destruction. Mamdani’s candidates—Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier—ran up huge margins among a demographic that has consistently fueled the rise of left-wing radicalism: underachieving college grads still living off their wealthy parents. It’s the clearest sign yet that Democrats have entered their Tea Party era, and it couldn’t have happened to a more upstanding group of oblivious bureaucrats. The Democratic establishment, best known for bungling two out of the last three presidential elections, was understandably shaken by the New York primary results. Apparently, their core message—ORANGE MAN FASCIST!!!—has failed to resonate with their increasingly agitated base. To be fair, it’s hard to match the youthful exuberance of left-wing prodigies such as Aber Kawas, the professional activist who won her state senate primary with Mamdani’s backing. “Um, and, so, like, in finding that, like, you know, the system of capitalism and racism, umm, and white supremacy, et cetera, and Islamophobia, have all been used, umm, you know, to, uh, colonize lands, right?” she mused eloquently during a 2017 panel discussion while attempting to explain why America deserved 9/11. If that doesn’t send a thrill up your leg… It’s going to get uglier before it gets less ugly. On the bright side, America is an exceptional country with a long history of defeating communists and terrorists alike. The results could benefit Republicans, who have been doing everything in their power to orchestrate a catastrophic defeat in the midterms. To paraphrase Barack Obama’s timeless assessment of Joe Biden, the man he chose as running mate, one should never underestimate the Democratic Party’s ability to f— things up. To paraphrase Free Beacon founder Matthew Continetti, whose rhetorical gifts far exceed those of the 44th president, a race to the bottom is a race we can win. Happy Birthday, USA! https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xq5R!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20c75b5c-0ed4-4e15-9082-059dab7ac955_736x491.jpeg MAMDANI’S MAD TEA PARTY: 4 THINGS WE LEARNED Carpet-bomb the universities. At the very least, we need a complete and total shutdown of career grad students running for public office until our country’s elected representatives can figure out what is going on. Consider the “professional” backgrounds of the socialists Mamdani endorsed. Lander, an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School, has three university degrees, including two master’s degrees in anthropology and urban planning. Every job he’s ever had has been in government, academia, or the left-wing nonprofit sector, which is essentially a make-work program for career grad students. Valdez studied painting and art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to New York, getting a job at Columbia University, and getting elected to a leadership role in the local union representing Columbia support staff. Her policy views reflect her experience. For example, Valdez wants to abolish TSA PreCheck and nationalize the airline industry. Avila Chevalier majored in Middle Eastern studies at Columbia University and is studying for a doctoral degree in sociology with a focus on immigration and criminal justice. Her views on those topics—in favor of abolishing borders, prisons, and police departments—are consistent with her resume. She’s a communist who hates America, sympathizes with terrorists, and supports the “total eradication of Western civilization.” She might not be a starter on day one, but the Squad will be thrilled to have her on the bench. More than six decades later, William F. Buckley is still right. Jack Schlossberg needs a job America dodged a bullet as the Kennedy scion placed a distant third in the Democratic primary for New York’s 12th Congressional District. Schlossberg concluded his election night speech by leading supporters in a chant of “Let’s go, Jack,” a touching send-off from the candidate’s biggest fan. Days earlier, he told the Wall Street Journal his inevitable defeat would highlight the profound unfairness of our political system. “If I can’t do it, then nobody can,” he said. Indeed, if a Kennedy heir with four trust funds, three Ivy League degrees, and zero (actual) work experience can’t get elected to Congress in 2026, the American Dream is dead for all of us. In the good old days, the Camelot mystique could get a bloated sex pest elected U.S. senator for life after letting a woman drown in his car. Schlossberg did his best to burnish the Kennedy brand with schizophrenic rants about guzzling “Jew blood” and “male jizz.” It didn’t work, apparently. George Conway needs a life Schlossberg’s poor showing looked almost respectable next to Conway’s. The Lincoln Project co-founder, #Resistance podcast darling, and morbid obesity survivor spent more than $6 million on his campaign, including $2 million of his own money. He got just 6,200 votes, so roughly $1,000 per vote. Conway finished fifth behind Nina Schwalbe, a public health expert who spent less than $500,000. Scholars can debate whether so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome is a genuine psychological disorder. Conway’s behavior over the past decade is difficult to explain on any other grounds. He ran on impeaching Donald Trump (again), and posts Trump-related rants on social media at a rate most mental health professionals would describe as pathological. Conway has made nearly 177,000 posts on X (formerly Twitter) since joining the app in 2012. That’s more than 33 per day. Losing an entire person’s bodyweight on Ozempic is great, but it doesn’t necessarily make you healthier. It’s not a substitute for logging off and touching grass. Jews need not apply Mamdani’s wife, pro-Hamas influencer Rama Duwaji, raised eyebrows by snubbing Brad Lander in an Instagram post urging New Yorkers to support Mamdani-backed candidates. Lander, who is Jewish, has said all the right things when it comes to Israel. He’s accused Benjamin Netanyahu of “genocide,” and called for ending U.S. military aid. Nevertheless, despite the mayor’s endorsement, Duwaji and other members of Mamdani’s team have made clear that Lander isn’t one of them. In addition to being Jewish, Lander was one of several Democrats who condemned an “All Out for Palestine” rally that Valdez and Avila Chevalier attended in Times Square the day after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Duwaji liked a series of posts from the rally extolling the “Palestinian resistance.” In other words, the ascendant wing of the Democratic Party is totally fine with Jews so long as they publicly embrace terrorist groups dedicated to killing Jews. Best of luck to Josh Shapiro, J.B. Pritzker, Jon Ossoff, Rahm Emanuel, and other Jewish candidates considering a White House run in 2028. READ MORE: Meet the Mini-Mamdanis: Budding Crop of Extreme Left-Wing, 9/11-Justifying, Israel-Hating Socialists Win Primary Nods for New York State Legislature Seats https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yq5Y!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b34bcb6-493e-456b-b14a-5f9612982a13_736x532.jpeg OTHER MAD SH*T THAT HAPPENED Democrat enjoys sport: Congressman Ro Khanna (D., Silicon Valley) is trying to position himself as a leader of the terrorist-adjacent, anti-capitalist wing of the Democratic Party. He has a law degree from Yale, obviously, and a nine-figure net worth he amassed after marrying the daughter of a successful business owner. Khanna is definitely not a normal dude who likes sports. He’s more of a Mitt Romney type who “enjoys sport.” Nevertheless, he tried to portray himself in the role of normal dude by posting a selfie at the Washington Nationals game—in the club section, wearing an expensive button-down, and looking like a hostage about to be executed. No one has ever looked more desperate for a wellness smoothie and a dog-eared Howard Zinn paperback. The grooming scandal no one’s talking about: Are there any normal Democrats left? The people running the party these days do not belong in a functioning society. The Wall Street Journal published a profile of Dan Moraff, the left-wing activist who recruited—and allegedly vetted—Graham Platner to run for U.S. Senate in Maine because Democratic voters want candidates who are “real human beings.” Moraff has two Ivy League degrees and a beard, obviously, not to mention the most obnoxious voice in the history of recorded audio. The Journal reports that Moraff’s business partner and fiancée, Leanne Fan, has an engagement ring that “opens up to a tiny comb” she uses to brush the aforementioned beard. Would that we all could be so lucky in love. PALATE CLEANSER This delightful video captures Donald Trump at his most relatable: telling a nerd to shut up. https://substack.com/redirect/a1320592-1f53-475c-8280-c9f462c81c81?j=eyJ1IjoiNnVlc3ZsIn0.BJcoYw9Ub6BOyCI7PnebuX3zTJzpU7Dq3vUn9q1l3uM HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND X: @AndrewStilesUSA Email: stiles@freebeacon.com If you have friends, tell them to subscribe to the Stiles Section newsletter. Send them here. 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