Politico reports that at a Hamptons fundraiser last Saturday, Cuomo told his well-heeled supporters that, contrary to all available evidence, he could win the New York mayoral race as an independent—because he was likely to have the implicit support of President Donald Trump.
The imperative of defeating Mamdani justified the new coalition Cuomo is trying to create of his die-hard loyalists (who are Democrats) with Trump Republicans.
Some of that latter group might be tempted to back Curtis Sliwa, the actual GOP nominee in the race. Cuomo told these donors, “We can minimize [the Sliwa] vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate. And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa.” Cuomo went on to emphasize that he’d be a mayor who could find common ground with Trump:
The critical failure of “vote blue no matter who” is that many of those who run under the blue banner are actually just opportunistic Republicans who happen to live in blue states or districts. They’re Republicans who can’t get elected running as their true selves, so they lie and pretend to be Democrats. And then you do vote for them, because “blue no matter who.” And then they corrupt the party from the inside, and deliberately make it harder for Democrats to win in the future. Remember, these people aren’t actually Democrats. They don’t want the Democratic Party or Democratic values or goals to succeed. They’re just a bunch of cynical Republicans pulling one over on the Democratic base.
The problem with “blue no matter who” is that it has no way to address outright fraudsters. You’re electing ‘Democrats’ who literally want the Democratic party to fail.
“Blue no matter who” is a response to the republicans who just fall in line and vote for any ®. This is a way to suggest that anyone running as a democrat is better than someone running as a republican. Sure, a “DINO” or closet fascist is not a great option, but an out fascist is likely worse.
‘Blue no matter who’ is also an easy way to guide less-informed voters: fill in the circle, check the box, etc, next to the (D).
The real work, though, needs to happen earlier. This is where we address fraudsters. Be involved in primaries and kick these assholes out of office if they don’t live up. Find candidates who will actually work for us and get them on the ballot – and then the ‘blue no matter who’ will get them votes from the people who are not paying as much attention.
Diminishing the impact of the phrase only hurts our cause. If you see democratic politicians who are not living up, then find people to replace them.