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mehdi hasan
Lindsey Graham Again Endorses 'Lawless' Third Term Run for Trump
The senator previously called for an illegal "Trump 2028" presidential run after the president's address to Congress in March.
Sep 24, 2025
International leaders and diplomats gasped and were seen shaking their heads as US President Donald Trump gave his address at the United Nations General Assembly—attacking the UN itself, migration, and climate action—but Sen. Lindsey Graham gave the speech an obsequious review on Fox News Tuesday night, going so far as to say Trump's performance made a compelling case for him to run for an illegal third term.
“Trump 2028," Graham (R-SC) told Sean Hannity. "I hope this never ends.”
He repeated Trump's baseless claim that he has ended seven "unendable" wars since taking office in January and praised the president for "standing up in the UN and telling the world the way it is."
"We don’t have to live this way," said Graham, before emphasizing, "I hope he runs again."
Graham's comments represented "Republicans just openly calling for unconstitutional, lawless behavior" from the president, said journalist Mehdi Hasan.
Trump is barred from running for a third term by the 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution, which states: "No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice."
Graham has previously called for the president to run for a third term in 2028, saying on the social media platform X, "Trump 2028!" after praising Trump's address to Congress in March.
The comment was "a joke," Graham later said.
The president has also made comments about attempting to serve a third term, and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a resolution days after Trump was sworn in to amend the Constitution, aiming to clear the way for a 2028 presidential run.
Economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research said the latest comments from Graham—who loudly denounced Trump at the beginning of his political career—suggested that "Trump must have some big-time dirt" on the senator.
"He used to have pretenses of being a serious person," said Baker.
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AOC: Schumer, Jeffries Setting a Bad Example by Not Backing Mamdani
"We use our primaries to settle our differences, and once we have a nominee, we rally behind that nominee," the New York Democrat said as the NYC mayoral election nears.
Sep 04, 2025
Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested Thursday that the top congressional Democrats—and anyone else in the party refusing to support New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani—are setting a troubling precedent.
Like Ocasio-Cortez, both US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are New York Democrats. Unlike the "Squad" member, who endorsed Mamdani—a democratic socialist currently serving in the state Assembly—before he beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the party's June primary, Schumer and Jeffries have continued to withhold support from their own party's nominee.
"We have a Democratic nominee," Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Thursday. "Are we a party that rallies behind our nominee or not?"
The congresswoman pointed to 2020, when she supported former President Joe Biden once he was the nominee, even though "he was not my preferred candidate in the primary," and last year, when she supported Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out of the race against President Donald Trump. She explained that she did so "because I am a Democrat and what we do is that we use our primaries to settle our differences, and once we have a nominee, we rally behind that nominee."
"I am very concerned about the example that is being set by anybody in our party" who isn't now supporting Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez said. "I believe that we must set the example of supporting the party's nominee."
"If an individual doesn't want to support the party's nominee now, it complicates their ability to ask voters to support any nominee later, whether that is mayoral, presidential, what have you," she said. "And so I think, for the good of the party, we must put our differences aside and support our party's nominee."
Asked if she's specifically frustrated with Schumer and Jeffries, she responded: "This isn't about personalities... I think that we're in a moment of a Trump administration, the stakes are high, and I want, of course, to see our party come together and stick together, despite our differences."
Ocasio-Cortez isn't the only high-profile member of Congress vocally supporting Mamdani. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who twice sought the Democratic presidential nomination—also endorsed him before his primary win and is now planning a town hall with him on Saturday. It is part of Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy Tour, which has featured various progressive speakers, including Ocasio-Cortez.
While Schumer and Jeffries continue to withhold their support, they haven't gone so far as some Democrats overtly speaking out against the New York City mayoral candidate—such as Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who said in a recent televised interview that "Zohran Mamdani and every other democratic socialist should create their own party because I don't want that in my party."
Jeffries has met with Mamdani twice and was asked about his lack of endorsement earlier this week. He simply said, "Stay tuned."
Noting that Jeffries and Schumer have so far refused to endorse Mamdani, journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in a Wednesday column for The Guardian, "If you want to understand why the Democrats are polling at their lowest point for more than three decades, look no further than these two uninspiring Democratic leaders in Congress."
After cataloguing how the pair continues to "embarrass themselves, undermine their colleagues, and demoralize their voters," Hasan said that "while younger Democrats like Mamdani and AOC offer energy and charisma, these two lackluster leaders in the House and Senate offer cringe chants and even cringier photo ops."
"It is past time for both Jeffries and Schumer to step down and step aside," he concluded. "This fascist moment, this age of Trump, demands outspoken, unrelenting, and fearless opposition. Whether you are a Democrat, or simply a democrat, we all deserve better."
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'Wow. Just Wow': New Poll Has Mamdani Ahead of Cuomo in NYC Mayoral Primary
"Everyone who is serious about defeating Andrew Cuomo needs to endorse Zohran Mamdani immediately," wrote one Democratic state senator.
Jun 12, 2025
A June survey from Public Policy Polling shows New York City mayoral candidate and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani ahead of opponent and former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the city's Democratic primary draws near. Primary day is June 24 and early voting begins June 14.
Cuomo has been the consistent front-runner in the race, though Mamdani, a state assemblymember who is running on an affordability platform, has risen from long-shot candidate to serious contender.
"All gas, no breaks," wrote Mamdani on X on Wednesday of the poll results.
"When you run a disciplined, grassroots campaign relentlessly focused on an agenda to address the crises in working people's lives, these are the results," Andrew Epstein, spokesperson for Mamdani, told Politico, which was first to report on the results of the poll on Wednesday.
Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of the outlet Zeteo, wrote on X: "Wow. Just wow."
New York Democratic state Sen. Jabari Brisport reacted to reporting on the poll by writing that "everyone who is serious about defeating Andrew Cuomo needs to endorse Zohran Mamdani immediately."
The poll was conducted for the campaign of candidate for city comptroller Justin Brannan, a Democrat, and surveyed 573 likely Democratic primary voters between June 6-7. On June 9, Mamdani posted a video asking New Yorkers to donate to Brannan's campaign.
The relevant question in the poll lists eight Democratic candidates running in the race and asks respondents who they would vote for among them.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said Mamdani, while 31% said they would support Cuomo. The other candidate options listed did not break above 10%, and 11% of respondents said they were not sure.
The poll, however, does not include how the candidates would fare in a ranked-choice voting simulation. New York City uses ranked-choice voting for certain elections, including primary and special elections for mayor. The system allows voters to rank multiple candidates on their ballots.
"As you know, we have had a poll in the field at the same time and our poll showed a race with us maintaining what has now been a consistent double digit lead for more than three months—which is rare for any NYC mayoral race in recent memory," Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told Politico. The poll Azzopardi was speaking of is from Expedition Strategies and showed Cuomo leading Mamdani by 12 points after eight rounds of voting.
In response to reporting on the latest survey that shows Mamdani ahead, some observers cast doubt on the quality of Public Policy Polling's polls.
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