It’s Not Just France. Europe’s Political Center Is Crumbling.

Europe’s centrist parties are losing ground among young people and workers, who are increasingly tempted by populist promises of radical change.

A burned-out vehicle on Rue Yves Toudic in Paris on Monday after a weekend of rioting.Credit...Kiran Ridley/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Steven Erlanger

Steven Erlanger, based in Berlin, writes about European politics and diplomacy.

Oct. 20, 2026

Centrist parties are in trouble in Europe’s largest and most important nations. Anger over low economic growth, high inflation, sizable government debt and poor prospects for the young are feeding protest and populist parties of the far right and far left.

The mass riots in France, which started as protests over underfunded schools, are a shocking example. But the phenomenon has been building for years, with the perceived failure of liberal democracy to make good on its promises of a better future, especially for the young and the salaried working class.

There is a growing perception among many Europeans that traditional parties of the center-left and center-right do not offer real alternatives and are led by an educated elite that has lost its connection to the poor, the workers and the young. Facing rising deficits, expenses and interest rates, governments feel constrained in what they can do to respond.

Instead, many people are supporting parties like the National Rally of Marine Le Pen, leading the polls for the French presidency on the far right, and France Unbowed of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, on the far-left, running second. In Germany, they are turning to the far-right Alternative for Germany and the far-left Die Linke party.

With major elections coming in the next year in four of Europe’s most populous states — Spain, France, Italy and Poland — there are significant challenges coming from more extremist parties. Even in Italy, where protests erupted over the weekend, the right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, faces a former general, Roberto Vannacci, who is running even further to the right.

Socialism, Islam: Who's the Bad Guy? - Pastor Bill Hughes

A Religious Tsunami is Forming in America--Socialism

October 27, 2026 Gerry Wagoner



A religious tsunami is forming in America. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) do not just want higher taxes or a larger welfare state – they want a church. And they have built one, a sacred edifice with its own holy texts (the works of Marx, Engels, and the leftist chatter of 1,000 zealous university professors).

Its eschatology is a redeemed classless society, its doctrine of original sin is private property and the free market. It has prophets and martyrs, rituals of protest and moral purification, and a thick community that supplies friends, status, identity, and a sense of purpose. Its good work is social justice.

What was once a fringe movement has become the organizing force of its younger, more indoctrinated, and more urban devotees. Candidates who once treated socialism as a liability now treat it as an asset—to the delight of countless milennials who just want something different, without the historical awareneness of its cost.

Jeffrey Arm, vice president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, describes the DSA not as a political movement but as a congregation. It supplies the lonely, the underemployed, and the educationally indoctrinated with what churches once offered: moral vocabulary, social belonging, status, rituals, and a grand narrative of historical struggle in which the individual can play a redemptive role. The DSA offers an explanation and a cause. Capitalism, in this worldview, has cheated them, and they must oppose the owning of private property.

This is not politics as usual. It is the religious impulse emptied of God and poured into the state. Humans are created with a metaphysical hunger for answers about our existence, identity, the meaning of history, and the nature of man (Acts 17:27). When that hunger is denied its proper object, it does not disappear, it attaches itself to the nearest available substitute.

Marxism has always understood this. The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Communist Party did not merely nationalize industry. They offered a total account of history, a doctrine of original sin (class), a path of redemption (revolution), and a Promise Land (the classless society). The DSA is the American, post-Christian version of the same pattern. And it is coming fast.

Its leaders illustrate the point with particular clarity. The New York co-chair, a Yale graduate living in a $1.5 million townhouse, has claimed an immigrant background that does not exist. Zohran Mamdani, now mayor of New York, comes from an elite family. These are not dispossessed victims, they are educated, status-anxious zealous evangelists of this false religion. Their discontent is not primarily economic, but ideological, and spiritual, and they have been invited right into to Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Democrats can't shake their DSA problem | Opinion

Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the Democratic Party has a stark choice: Stay a mainstream liberal coalition or lean hard into democratic socialism.


To paraphrase a famous 2016 line about the "alternative right": A specter is haunting the dinner events, fundraisers and think tanks of the Democratic Party – the specter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

A quick saunter over to the DSA website (whose federal donation page is titled "Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash") shows the left-of-Foucault organization has run or strongly endorsed nearly 200 candidates so far in 2026. As of Sept. 22, DSA's election tracker claimed 67 wins against 60 losses. Sixty-four other races, including many of the biggest, remain undecided.

While the full DSA slate includes contenders for some mundane local jobs ("Ramsey County Commissioner, Minnesota"), multiple candidates have already become familiar names.

In New York City, pro-Palestinian activist Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat in a Democratic primary almost certain to determine who holds his House seat. Given Espaillat's status as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, it's fair to call this – as Politico put it – "a massive victory for the Democratic Socialists of America and Mayor Zohran Mamdani," one that "cements the DSA ... as one of the city's most potent political forces."

Why the DSA Is WRONG About the Nordic Model

 

What Happens After the DSA Wins?

 

SEPT. 11 MEMORIAL, TRUMP & IRELAND

LISTEN ▶️ HERE

NOTR - SEPT. 11 MEMORIAL, TRUMP & IRELAND

Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 2:18PM

Today's Show: SEPT. 11 MEMORIAL, TRUMP & IRELAND - 09.15.2026

Chris discusses the aftermath of the 25th anniversary of 9-11 and the continued pursuit of justice concerning the role of Saudi Arabia in the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. An American widow confronts America's past presidents for their role in the cover-up and calls on the Trump administration to seek justice for what was done. We discuss. Also considered is President Trump's recent comments about a "united Ireland" ... which has sparked controversy among Irish Protestants especially. We examine the history of that region, and how a united Ireland would wipe out the Protestant interest and force all citizens into submission to a Socialist form of government.

We Won’t Get Europe with the Democratic Socialists of America

And that's what they're counting on.

Vanessa Mares
Sep 15, 2026




A commenter on one of my recent YouTube videos said the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are “doing nothing but trying to resurrect social democracy.”

For many Americans that may read as benign.

But what is social democracy? And if the DSA is only trying to resurrect it in the U.S., does that mean people against the DSA platform are just fear-mongering?

After all, social democracy is what’s popular in Europe.

Many Americans may not know that European-style of governance by the name “social democracy,” but now is the most critical time to get to know it.

Because conflating it with democratic socialism, is not only false, but playing with fire.
But First, How Did We Get Here?

For over 20 years now, social media has connected people from all over the planet.

Suddenly, what was happening in one place could be made visible in the palm of your hand, on the other side of the world.

And when that happened, millennials priorities shifted.

We saw the rise of what is known as the experience economy, where millennials began prioritizing experience and travel over physical things.

Around that time, came the rise in creator economies and cohorts of Americans and Europeans abroad turning their lives into escapism content for the American audience.

Their content would circle around praising the healthcare system, free education, the pace of life, food, etc.,— all to high engagement among Americans.

Many of these influencers rarely posted anything negative in their experiences abroad, likely because it didn’t perform as well.

As an American that lives in Europe, and has for many years now, I can state with certainty it’s not all roses like the influencers make it seem.

There’s nuance in every experience, yet this is rarely shown in escapism content.

So, it’s only natural that young Americans getting these European utopias on their screens everyday want what Europe has.

Any political strategist could tell you, this is a powerful entry point— which is exactly how the DSA are strategizing it.

In 2021, Zohran Mamdani virtually attended a 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) conference and said as much himself, in his own words.

I clipped the most revealing part of this strategy as he laid it out, for you below.

Source

Socialism didn’t die with the Soviets — Mamdani just brought it to City Hall

By Kelly Sloan
Published August 29, 2026 7:00am ET

Watching Mayor Zohran Mamdani carry on in New York, I am reminded of Lord Percy of Newcastle’s ominous definition 75 years ago of “social democracy”: “The phrase,” he wrote, “does not imply that economic activity should not continue to be based on private property; it implies only that, as a matter of legal rights, such property should be perpetually insecure.”

One would be hard-pressed to find a more apt descriptor of the current situation in New York, three-quarters of a century after Lord Percy wrote those words intended as a warning to anyone who found themselves tempted by the intoxicating effects of socialism. Indeed, the rhetoric of Mamdani and his acolytes, who are now in the process of gobbling up Democratic primary nominations around the country, suggests their intentions for private property go further than that.

One can hope that it is merely hyperbolic license on their part, but such is the bombast emanating from the faction that is ascendant within the ranks of the Democratic Party. Conventional wisdom holds that this is a political anomaly, representing an extremist fringe that is too publicly unappetizing to warrant serious consideration. And yet they are winning primary elections in the middle of the country, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) name is being invoked unironically as a possible presidential candidate, and Mamdani is the mayor of America’s largest city. So, it’s probably best not to ignore the threat.

Source

Mayor Mamdani Promised To TAX The Rich — Then Something TERRIBLE Happened

Progressive leaders gathered in Uruguay denounce US interference and acknowledge their own mistakes

Saturday, August 22nd 2026 - 08:28 UTC

Participants questioned Washington's conduct in the region, citing that intervention, strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and sanctions on Cuba, and called for greater regional autonomy

The opening session of the third Pan-American Congress, held on Friday at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, combined criticism of United States policy towards Latin America with calls for self-criticism within progressive forces. More than 150 lawmakers, former presidents, ministers and political figures from fifteen countries are taking part, according to organisers.

Former Chilean president Gabriel Boric delivered the most widely noted speech, calling for consistency between political discourse and action. He criticised what he described as a “new imperialism” driven by Donald Trump and said the major powers “today do not speak of democracy, but directly of oil at the expense of a people.” He then turned a demand on his own allies: “We do not believe that violating international law is the way to intervene illegitimately in another people, but we also have to say very clearly that Maduro had stolen the elections and that his presidency at that time was also illegitimate.” He warned that if the left fails to acknowledge such distinctions, it will struggle to persuade its own electorates.

Nicolás Maduro was captured in Caracas on January 3 during a US military operation and remains in custody in the United States. Delcy Rodríguez has since served as Venezuela's acting president.

Participants questioned Washington's conduct in the region, citing that intervention, strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and sanctions on Cuba, and called for greater regional autonomy. Former Colombian president Ernesto Samper urged a revival of Latin American integration and closer ties with the Global South, arguing the region holds strategic water, food and mineral resources but lacks the political coordination to defend its interests.

US Representative Pramila Jayapal shifted the debate to her own country, saying opposition is growing to taxes being spent on military operations abroad rather than on health services and living standards. She defended a foreign policy based on dialogue and diplomacy as the only route to “a lasting peace.”

Uruguay's vice-president, Carolina Cosse, focused on disinformation and the contest for public attention. “Indifference to truth leads inexorably to totalitarianism,” she warned. Mexican Morena official Carolina Rangel proposed combining economic growth with social rights and called for an agenda covering care policies, energy transition, productive integration and digital sovereignty.

The forum, created in Bogotá in 2024 on the initiative of then Colombian president Gustavo Petro, is organised this year around four themes: peace, security and multilateralism; sustainable development and regional integration; digital sovereignty and artificial intelligence; and wellbeing and care. Sessions continue until Sunday and will conclude at the Parlasur headquarters.

Source

Why Socialism's Biggest Fans (Sanders, Mamdani, Piker) are Often Rich

Socialists Are Setting the Agenda in New York City

Claire Valdez and Brad Lander rapidly won their primaries Tuesday night, sending a sign of strength for an NYC left led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Akela Lacy

June 23 2026, 9:55 p.m. ET

Congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Brad Lander, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Darializa Avila Chevalier at a rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 18, 2026. Photo: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via AP

Two key primaries in New York City delivered whopping victories for an emboldened left led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday, as democratic socialists sought to define the future of the Democratic Party.

Mamdani-backed congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Brad Lander were declared the winners in their two districts less than half an hour after polls closed. While democratic socialist challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier was still neck-and-neck with fifth-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, one message from the night was clear: The left isn’t just having a moment — it’s dictating how Democrats play the game of electoral politics.

“Even when we are outspent, our agenda and operation bring out voters in a way the Democratic Party establishment no longer aspires to,” Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, told The Intercept. “It is democratic socialists who are defining much of the political terrain in New York.”

Several races played out as proxy wars between the Democratic Party establishment and progressive insurgents, or even between progressives and socialists, to prove who would do more to disrupt the status quo. In hotly contested primaries spanning four out of five NYC boroughs, candidates touted endorsements from Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as well as their proximity to the most unconventional wings of the Democratic Party.

“If you’re an establishment Democrat, that’s spent,” streamer Hasan Piker told local outlet Hell Gate Tuesday night. “We’re not giving another dime to Israel, hopefully an arms embargo, or at least pushing for one. We’re gonna make sure that we change the American trajectory.”

As Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman put it to CNN on Tuesday, “The dirtbag left is surging.”

Lander, who represents the clearest bridge between socialists and progressives out of the three Mamdani-endorsed congressional candidates, was the first to sail to victory Tuesday night. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., fell to Lander less than 10 minutes after polls closed, with roughly a third of votes counted in the 10th Congressional District. Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and a staunch supporter of Israel, had lagged in public polling for months, suggesting the energy on the ground was firmly against the incumbent.

Gen Z Hates The US In Record Numbers

Pope Leo warning on AI is just Catholic Church socialism | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 Pope Leo warning on AI is just Catholic Church socialism | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Pope Leo’s warning on AI is just more Catholic Church socialism | Opinion 

By our readers May 31, 2026 5:07 AM 

The dignity of labor is overrated. We can all get a hobby. Getty Images 

Catholic socialism 

Ayn Rand, an advocate for rationality and capitalism, referred to the pope as the “highest authority of the opposite side.” She saw mysticism as more dangerous than communism. In his recent encyclical, Pope Leo demonstrates this. He essentially calls for the economy to be kept inefficient so everyone can have a job to stay active and feel useful. 

Won’t people see through the ruse of unnecessary make-work whose only purpose is to reassure the workers? It’s been said we could cure unemployment by requiring that excavation be done only with teaspoons, but that’s no way to run an economy. 

I have misgivings about artificial intelligence, but the pope’s warnings about “forced inactivity” and “anthropological regression” (whatever that is) are not among them. The dignity of labor is overrated. We can all get a hobby. The Catholic Church is a socialist institution. 

- George Michael Sherry, Fort Worth

Source

Prophecy Watchers: 2/01/25 | Chris Pinto filmmaker of American Jesuits

What is May Day? For the most part, the opposite of capitalism

May Day demonstrators march through downtown Los Angeles last year. Thousands of people took to the streets across the nation that May 1 in rallies calling for immigration reform, workers' rights and police accountability.Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP

Updated May 1, 2024

9:15 AM ET

 


Emma Bowman

May Day, celebrated by workers across the globe as International Labor Day, falls on May 1.

But you'd be forgiven if that's news to you. While the day traces its origins to an American laborers' fight for a shorter work day, the U.S. does not officially recognize International Labor Day.

Like other countries that mark Labor Days on different dates, the U.S. and Canada celebrate their Labor Day in September.

U.S. resistance to celebrate International Labor Day — also called International Workers' Day — in May stems from a resistance to emboldening worldwide working-class unity, historians say.

"The ruling class did not want to have a very active labor force connected internationally," said Peter Linebaugh, author of The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day. "The principle of national patriotism was used against the principle of working-class unity or trade union unity."

That hasn't stopped American workers from commemorating the day, which in recent years has ranged from marching for labor rights to reading literature about Marxism.

"The meaning of that day keeps changing," Linebaugh said.

Before we consider how May Day has evolved in the U.S., let's dive into how it all began.

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Venezuela from the Inside: Politics, People, and Power

Mamdani vows to ‘govern as a democratic socialist’ in inaugural speech

Barry Williams/ New York Daily News Zohran Mamdani is sworn in during his ceremonial inauguration at City Hall on Thursday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)

By Chris Sommerfeldt | csommerfeldt@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News and Téa Kvetenadze | tKvetenadze@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News

PUBLISHED: January 1, 2026 at 4:38 PM EST | UPDATED: January 1, 2026 at 6:43 PM EST


A year ago, Zohran Mamdani was a backbench state assemblyman who had just launched a bid for New York City mayor that many saw as a long shot because of his unabashed left-wing politics.

But on Thursday afternoon, Mamdani was inaugurated as the city’s 112th mayor with a vow to “govern as a democratic socialist,” a sign that he sees his upset election victory as a mandate for his leftist affordability agenda, which has resonated with many New Yorkers reeling from skyrocketing costs of living.

“We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe. I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani, who at 34 is the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century, said in an inaugural address on the steps of City Hall to thunderous applause from thousands of supporters.

“I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”

Mamdani, who’s also the city’s first Muslim mayor, delivered his speech after taking the oath office on a Koran held by his wife, graphic artist Rama Duwaji. The oath was administered by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who, like Mamdani, is a democratic socialist and is seen as a grandfather for the modern American left.

“All of us have heard that Zohran’s opponents have called the agenda that he campaigned on ‘radical, communistic,’ oh, and ‘absolutely unachievable’ — really?” Sanders said before administering the oath. “That’s not what we believe.”

Thursday’s public ceremony came after Mamdani officially was sworn in as mayor at midnight Wednesday during a private ceremony with his family.