Zohran Mamdani is the latest sign establishment Democrats don’t know how to handle a populist challenge.

They haven’t learned anything from the defeats right-wing populism inflicted on them with Donald Trump. Now they’re knocked on their backsides by a new generation of left-wing populism in their own party.

Making Mamdani mayor of New York is like electing Bernie Sanders president — maybe even worse. But in an era when populism keeps gaining momentum, Democratic insiders habitually turn to political has-beens to rescue the party. (RELATED: ‘Who The Hell Does He Think He Is?’: JD Vance Blasts Mamdani For His Disrespectful Tone Toward US) 

First it was Hillary Clinton, who staved off Sanders only to lose to Trump. Then it was Joe Biden, who got lucky in an election dominated by COVID lockdowns and George Floyd protests, even as Democrats knew he was far past his best-by date.

So the setback Trump’s right-of-center populism suffered in 2020 only set the stage for a comeback of historic proportions four years later. Democrats should have noticed their playbook wasn’t working even back in 2021, when Terry McAuliffe, the ex-governor and old Clinton crony they trotted out to run for Virginia’s top office, went crashing to defeat at the hands of Glenn Youngkin — a Republican who didn’t have a populist background but spoke to popular........

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