To Mr. Mamdani, the Young Turks in the Democratic Party, and other radical leftists in America,
I respect that some of your favored candidates hold views I disagree with, and I’m even willing to tolerate a few congressmen who “are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization”, as Democratic candidate for Congress Avila Chevalier has proclaimed herself to be. But for the sake of political viability and not freaking out establishment stooges such as myself, I have a few suggestions for your vetting process and management of social media presence.
First, I suggest any leftists with political aspirations use the MESS test before posting on social media. MESS stands for Monumentally Embarrassing Social Media Statements your candidates posted while “fucking around on the internet”, as Democratic candidate for Senate Graham Platner so eloquently put it. Before you click “post,” ask yourself – “is this a Monumentally Embarrassing Social media Statement?” If the answer is yes, then don’t click post!
This simple strategy will help you avoid significant embarrassment and allow your candidates to keep their racist, anti-Zionist, far-left, and violent views to themselves so that people can at least claim ignorance when voting stupidity into power (which they’re already doing even with full awareness). When I was in preschool, I was taught about everyone needing to have some “inside thoughts”: things you think or feel but that you don’t express out loud because it could cause problems for you or other people. American leftists would do well to start keeping some “inside thoughts” rather than loudly voicing every opinion they have. For example, it’s perfectly fine that Graham Platner thought of himself as a communist five years back, thinks all cops are bastards, and has had a Nazi tattoo since 2007 (although he claims he never bothered to find out what the tattoo was until 2026). It’s just that he’d really do himself and his party a service if he would keep these things to himself rather than loudly advertising these beliefs on a Reddit account very easily linked to his real-life identity, potentially jeopardizing the Democrats’ chances at victory in Maine against a Republican incumbent after these posts were discovered by journalists.
Or take Darializa Avila Chevalier as another example: a democratic socialist endorsed by Zohran Mamdani for a New York congressional election. Defender of the poor, critical of ICE, speaks up for Gaza – all sounds great, until you stumble upon her social media posts from 4-5 years back. These include criticizing Black and Arab men for “fetishizing ugly colonizer women” (wasn’t the GOP the one attacking interracial relationships earlier?), calling Biden a “rapist” and “war criminal,” claiming Israel doesn’t exist, and making some very nuanced and thought-provoking remarks on police reform:
During the nationwide protests in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, Avila Chevalier responded to a user asking what a better slogan would be than “defund the police,” by posting, “F**k you. We’re gonna defund and abolish. You don’t get to water down our movements.”
Two days later, Avila Chevalier rejected an argument that abolishing police meant ending policing only “as we know it.”
“No. It means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all ever,” she replied, adding several clap emojis.
She also reposted a message stating, “In New York they don’t say ‘I love you,’ they say ‘NYPD suck my dick’ and I think that’s beautiful.”
Again, all very valid opinions backed by evidence and logic I’m sure, but maybe it would’ve been good for her political career if she’d kept these opinions to herself.
Or, alternatively, don’t just stop at keeping your radical, poorly thought-out, and offensive views inside your head – maybe don’t adopt these opinions at all! I’m probably being impractical, but is it really too much to ask that the left find candidates who aren’t anti-Zionist, racist, or against such basic things as policing and a prison system?
Oh, and another pointer – if you really must call for the total eradication of Western civilization, try making your argument without extensive use of profanity and ad hominem attacks. It really discredits your argument, makes you look intellectually immature, and causes massive embarrassment a few years later when you run for public office. For example, instead of posting
“We shouldn’t have the eat the pain because you c*nts and Massachusetts couldn’t act like adults. F**k off and die, leave Maine out of your capitalist fantasies.”
Perhaps Mr. Platner could’ve written something along the lines of “respectfully, I agree to disagree because XYZ.” Teenagers can be excused for expletive-laden attacks on online interlocutors when arguing over politics – 37-year-old men looking to enter politics should be more circumspect in their speech. Or, when you lose your head in the moment, at least try to feign remorse later rather than doubling down on ad hominem attacks in CNN interviews.
In another post in 2010, Platner took aim at musician Ted Nugent, a conservative activist. “As a combat veteran, that m*therf**ker makes me want to puke when he spews his warmongering macho bullshit. Suck a d*ck, Ted.”
“To be fair,” Platner told CNN. “I’m not really regretful of that one.”
Avila Chevalier and Platner have shown very little regret for their reprehensible remarks online (and in Chevalier’s case, some of her activism at Columbia University), and the left-wing establishment as a whole has shown too little discomfort with their support for such people.
Finally, a word to the leadership of this new radical faction plagued by candidates with severe runs-mouth-like-loose-cannon syndrome. Before you endorse a candidate and begin campaigning for them, you should ask them a few questions
Because it’s embarrassing that left-wing politicians are receiving such little vetting before being endorsed in important elections in the House and Senate. The GOP can afford to nominate people with a history of racist and sexist remarks, since their base is less bothered by it and some of their voters actually appreciate it – the Democratic Party, however, will not survive if its candidates resort to the same level of vulgarity and coarseness as Republicans. Mamdani did not endorse a candidate in every district of New York, he endorsed only three and attested to their stellar character in interviews. Given the selectivity of his endorsements, it is baffling that he (and for that matter, anybody else) didn’t bother to ask his favored candidates about any skeletons in the closet, of which Avila Chevalier has plenty. Mamdani’s response to the Avila Chevalier controversy was:
When it comes to Darializa’s campaign, I had not seen those tweets and what I’ve heard from her and what I know a lot of others in the district that have heard from her is that her views have evolved and that the campaign she is running on is reflective of what she’s going to be fighting for
That’s the kind of apology I might give for my short obsession with Noam Chomsky in 9th grade – on the other hand, woefully inadequate for a prominent Democratic politician explaining his favored congressional candidate’s history of racist, vulgar, and far-left rhetoric. The nominations of Graham Platner and Darializa Avila Chevalier constitute some of the worst vetting of political candidates in the history of the American left. Either Mamdani is lying about these tweets being surprising news to him, in which case it’s messed up that he still endorsed her, or he and other democratic socialists were incredibly negligent in their vetting.
So, again – great job on calling out weaknesses of mainstream Democratic politics, but before you can become a viable alternative, you really should work on getting slightly more sane candidates who are more palatable to the majority of Americans’ political and cultural sensibilities, and also less likely to cause a complete breakdown of law and order and a collapse of the economy.
Regards,
An Establishment Stooge