#418 — A Future for Democrats

What It Covers

Congressman Richie Torres discusses the Democratic Party's leftward drift, failures in immigration and governance, the explosion of antisemitism post-October 7, and his vision for a competent, patriotic center-left politics focused on abundance.

Key Questions Answered

• •Immigration mismanagement: Biden waited two and a half years to issue an executive order restricting border migration despite 85% of New Yorkers expressing concerns in December 2023, allowing Republicans to weaponize the issue and contributing directly to Democratic electoral losses.
• •Blue state governance crisis: New York saw the greatest swing toward Trump of any state due to failing Democratic governance. Of the 20 congressional districts receiving the most Inflation Reduction Act investment, 19 are Republican-held because blue states make building infrastructure prohibitively difficult.
• •Abundance framework: Democrats should pursue policies that expand supply of housing, energy, and public goods rather than just increasing spending. Progress measures whether there is more housing supply available, not just more housing budget allocated, making government better, cheaper, and faster.
• •Intersectionality's impact: The framework divides the world into oppressor versus oppressed categories, positioning Israel as oppressor and Hamas as oppressed. This lens deprived a generation of Americans of the ability to empathize with Israelis after the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.