Resistance vs. Madness

By Noah Rothman

Monday, December 22, 2025

 

If Dan Goldman is bitter, he has earned his consternation.

 

The Democratic congressman from Manhattan rose to prominence during the first Trump administration as a figure who appealed to the so-called “resistance” left. His regular appearances on what was then MSNBC contributed to his selection by House Democrats to prosecute the case against Donald Trump during his first impeachment. Goldman, the heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, translated that role into a successful run for Congress in 2022.

 

Today, Goldman plays a leading man in CNN’s deep dive into the left-wing insurgency roiling the Democratic Party and targeting its incumbents. “Goldman is among more than two dozen congressional Democrats battling serious primaries this year,” the outlet reported. For his part, Goldman faces a potent challenge from his left by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.

 

To give you a sense of what Goldman is up against, this is how Lander — a figure who can boast the endorsement of self-described socialists including Zohran Mamdani and Bernie Sanders — introduced himself ahead of his bid for federal office:

 

 

This fever dream of a campaign announcement begins as the candidate is greeted both by his neighbors and a small flock of chirping cartoon birds. In the spot, Lander touts his own opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “kidnapping our neighbors” — a point illustrated by Lander’s own cloying efforts to get himself arrested on camera in anticipation of this very advertisement. The cartoon birds made a comeback as Lander mused wistfully about raising his children in Prospect Park. He somehow managed to couple that biographical detail with his determined support for the disruptive pro-Palestinian activism that convulsed his city and imperiled New Yorkers.

 

Goldman, Lander insists, is an “adversary” of Mamdani and an opponent of his vision. Lander did not elaborate on that claim. He didn’t have to. Ours is “a moment of dark oppression,” the candidate claimed. “While the oligarchy drives an affordability crisis, they shouldn’t be able to buy a seat in Congress while our neighbors are being demonized and attacked. We can put our bodies on the line to protect them.”

 

Lander wedded that language of the revolutionary left with a hokey homage to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, called himself a future “congressmember” to avoid using the proper (albeit gendered) honorific, and waxed poetic about the power of love.

 

This is the figure consigning Goldman to “the fight of his political life?” If so, it is hard to begrudge Democrats in Washington their grievance with their own voters. And they are aggrieved.

 

“The problem is, they’re attacking their own,” said the exasperated California Democratic Congressman Juan Vargas. “We will have spent this energy and money fighting amongst ourselves. And it’s really dumb.” Longtime New York Congressman Greg Meeks agreed. What the activist left is is “upset about and angry about is the President of the United States,” he said. Their anger is being deliberately misdirected. “I think we’ve got individuals who might be caught up in the moment, caught up in the internet,” Meeks speculated.

 

“I think everybody in New York has a socialist [challenger],” said Texas Democrat Vincente Gonzalez, who is facing an insurgent bid for his seat from a figure playfully deemed “the Mamdani of South Texas.” And the Democratic Party’s anxiety is leading its voters to make unforced errors, he contended. The wave of primary challenges arrayed against Democratic incumbents will sap the party of “resources” needed for next November’s general election contests.

 

That’s a prudent concern, but it is not one that a Democratic primary voter who is sold on cartoon birds and revolutionary Marxian rhetoric dressed up in mawkish appeals to the brotherhood of man cares about. If that is what wins primary elections, the Democratic electorate is not in a prudential mood.