Make More Pie

By 7:30 this morning, I had to get out of the house and walk it off, “it” being the Democratic primary wins last night of three Mamdani-backed candidates: Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier (whose full name I did not know in the audio) and Claire Valdez. Chevalier and Valdez are backed by the DSA. Lander is not directly but was Mamdani’s man over Dan Goldman so, same-same-ish.Speaking of Goldman:Mamdani’s opinion on the matter:My response to Mamdani:Do you see why I needed to walk things off? I will remind readers that I have seen Portlanders smash the windows of a Jewish-owned restaurant and spray-paint another with swastikas. That I have seen young people cheer murder in the streets.You can see why I needed to walk things off this morning, and sure, maybe I extrapolate, play out the string, wonder if the city—so hot on the heels of the beautiful collective effervescence bequeathed by the Knicks—is in for some very bad times.But seriously, why are people chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” to their chosen candidate winning a local NYC primary? Could it be, as I tweeted, that theur “chosen candidates' stump speeches slipped in anti-Israel rhetoric with the subtlety of your gross uncle trying to slip his tongue into your mouth?”Make More Pie is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I am not the only one with concerns. My Fifth boys were, per usual, on the tip, yesterday hosting Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam. At one point, Salam speaks about downwardly mobile elites being part of the push behind DSA-backed candidates (a feature the New York Times wrote about last fall). Part of this is that the Democratic party as we once knew is unable to find its ass with both hands (as my late father used to say); does not know how to appeal to its usual or any base. Meanwhile, DSA et al shout about being for the working people, who, well, are just not that into them.Can you finds plenty of what some might see as indicting tweets from, say, Chevalier? Sure. My friend Liz Wolfe cites a few in today’s Reason Round-Up:Chevalier is sort of standard fare in the category of extremely online, unhinged DSA 32-year-olds. She has, in the recent past, referred to former President Joe Biden as a "rapist" and "war criminal" during the 2020 election, referred to the U.S. as a "f*****g disgrace," and described interracial relationships involving white ladies as "fetishizing ugly colonizer women." Now she'll be in Congress, because we apparently have no standards….The whole Mamdani/DSA playbook has been about finding solidly blue areas and outflanking from the left, painting the existing guys as parts of the establishment (frequently using “AIPAC”—the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—as a slur). It’s an open question as to whether these new radicals in Congress will even support Jeffries in his bid for speaker at all.And that brings us to the deeper dynamic I’m worried about, once I get past the frustration that these DSA clowns candidates won at all:This is not a stable coalition. This is a city getting swept up in the Mamdani fever dream; downwardly mobile upper-middle-class elites believing that the DSA pitch is far more persuasive to the average Democrat than it actually is.I take comfort in what I see to be two immutable facts. First, Mamdani appeals to people’s feelings, which almost always fizzle out before they become useful building blocks. DSA is good at forming coalitions, but as for grokking what is actually behind the shortage of available housing in New York City? Not so much. From “Zohran Mamdani, Slumlord” (WSJ Opinion):“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani last month issued a housing plan that calls for building more—what else?—public housing. So it’s startling to hear even some progressive elected officials complain about the appalling conditions at the city’s existing housing projects….“Perhaps the Democratic leaders could file a complaint with the city about this slumlord. Oh wait—the city is the slumlord. And a months-long gas outage isn’t unusual in Nycha building. Tenants regularly endure leaky pipes, mold, rodent infestations and furnace breakdowns. Perhaps Mr. Mamdani considers this “the warmth of collectivism…”See also “Why New York City Has 50,000 ‘Ghost Apartments” (Free Press). Second, we’ve all seen the “Downfall” bunker scene. Any coalition that promises peace and plenty while insinuating you will only be helping the cause by scapegoating certain people will, whether to further amass power or to look for other scapegoats when things don’t work out, turn the knives on each other. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nancyrommelmann.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nancyrommelmann.substack.comReporting schedule willing, I’ll post a video or interview each day I am here…Did I write type those words yesterday morning? I did. And then got preposterously swamped. I’ll be posting Portland Debrief, Day #2 later today (… she types). Until then, I got to Portland on Tuesday and have been down to the ICE headquarters, two miles south of downtown Portland, each day and night since. To say the action is different than in 2020 is an understatement that borders on parody. Which does not mean there is not a story here! Oh, there is. I am keeping most of the dispatches behind the paywall - and if there has ever been a reason to support reporting that is in the bag for no one, it’s the story on the ground - but two quick teaser videos, one from Tuesday evening. Was it fun to hear the name Ronald Reagan invoked by a protester? It sure was.

Pie people, here’s a portion of the latest episode of Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em, where Blocked and Reported co-host Katie Herzog talks about how she quit drinking. We talk about her cancelation for, imo, writing one of the tenderest features (albeit about detransitioners so, no safe ground), her upcoming book, Drink Your Way Sober, the tragic story of Jonathan Joss (who I wrote about in “Men Alone”), and end with a long appreciation for the journalist William Langewiesche, who I’ve written about and gone drinking with and who died this week at age 70. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nancyrommelmann.substack.com/subscribe

If you think journalists sit around talking about the failures of other journalists, you are correct! Perhaps no more than in the past two years, when watching the chattering classes and their publications soft pedal President Biden’s mental and physical decline and/or tell people who grew increasingly alarmed that they were liars, in the bag for Trump, deep fakers, “what are you, a doctor?” etc. etc.I would like to say there is succor for those of us who insisted, in print and on podcasts, that the president was failing and, as a duty to the American people and a kindness to Biden himself, this needed to acknowledged, but there is not. There is some contempt, which I think it deserved. It is interesting to try to figure out why, for instance, Biden senior advisor Mike Donilon agreed, in 2024, to help Biden run his reelection campaign. (Does his asking for, and receiving, $4 million make it any clearer?) With the release this week of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin (which I listened to on audio - Tapper narrates - and recommend), you may already be marinating in some of the details. It’s scummy, and it’s sad.Thompson was reporting on Biden’s failings early and often. Did his fellow pressman herald his doing so? Wait hahahahaha…Drew Holden is another journalist who cited the press’s failings when it came to bringing clear eyes to whatever was going on with Biden. Was it tribalism? Job security? An anybody-but-Trump attitude that had journalists prizing ideology over being frank with citizens? A $4 million payday?In our short discussion, Drew and I cover the above, as well as the sliming of Robert Hur after he wrote Biden was “an elderly man with a poor memory,” the delusions the Biden family have been pushing for decades, and whether anyone is going to apologize to the American people - who knew what they were seeing - for shoving the wrong stories down our throats… and are still shoving. (The timing of announcing Biden’s cancer diagnosis, anyone?)Follow Drew on Twitter https://x.com/DrewHolden360, subscribe to his Substack, Holden Court. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nancyrommelmann.substack.com/subscribe

Hopefully looking somewhat less bedraggled than during last night’s live muffin tutorial, if on a subject less sweet: sociopaths - the charming ones, the murderous ones - and those with other personality disorders that, based on experience and comments in the scroll, many many of us deal with. Some tips, some solace, some links. Questions/comments, fire away - you people are so quiet over here! Related matter:The Sociopath Next Door, by Martha StoutDestination Gacy: A Cross-Country Trip to Shake the Devil’s Hand, by Nancy RommelmannTo the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder, by Nancy Rommelmann“Sacrificing Rebecca: For 14 years, Laurie Recht struggled with her daughter's illness. At least, that's what she wanted people to believe,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Willamette Week)“No Exit Plan: The Lies and Follies of Laura Albert, a.k.a. JT LeRoy,” by Nancy Rommelmann (LA Weekly) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nancyrommelmann.substack.com/subscribe