Summary:
The political landscape has shifted from a gentleman’s game to a fierce battleground where insurgent candidates leverage identity politics, victimology, and gaslighting to challenge established figures. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 victory and Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 campaign exemplify this trend, where primary elections become the stage for polarizing strategies that reshape party dynamics and erode centrist influence. This evolution underscores a growing divide in democratic norms and the rise of extreme polarization.
What This Means for You:
- Understanding these tactics can help voters critically evaluate campaign messaging and identify manipulative strategies.
- Engage in local politics to counteract low voter turnout, which often favors extremist candidates.
- Advocate for transparency and accountability to mitigate gaslighting and deceptive political narratives.
- Be wary of increasing polarization and its impact on governance, as it undermines bipartisan solutions.
Original Post:
The old politics was a gentlemen’s game: incumbents reigned, challengers were rare, and primaries were sleepy affairs where the establishment always won.
The new politics is a knife fight in the dark, where the primary is the blade, gaslighting is the smokescreen, and a new breed of carpetbagger uses identity politics and victimology to storm the castle while pretending to be the underdog.
Take Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) in 2018. She was a 28-year-old bartender from the Bronx, primarying 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in NY-14.
The Democratic machine dismissed her as a fringe DSA upstart, with internals showing her at single digits. But through stealth — leveraging social media for small-donor fury and framing Crowley as a “corporate Democrat” — she flipped the script.
Victimology ruled: AOC positioned herself as the voice of the oppressed working class, the Latina underdog against the white male machine. Identity politics sealed it: her campaign tapped into Bronx and Queens’ diverse demographics, turning “bold change” into a rallying cry for the marginalized. She won 57%-43% in a low-turnout primary, then cruised to the general.
The gaslighting pivot? Post-win, the party acted like the upset was inevitable, erasing how they had mocked her months earlier.
Zohran Mamdani in 2025 followed the blueprint.
A DSA-backed state assemblyman from Queens, he primaryed centrists like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams in the New York City mayoral race.
Early polls pegged him at 18-26%, but by sustaining the underdog label — “a Muslim South Asian outsider fighting the elite” — he built a stealth attack.
Victimology was key: Mamdani leaned into narratives of Islamophobia and immigrant struggle, while identity politics mobilized youth (55% under-30) and foreign-born voters (62%).
Gaslighting sustained it: the establishment downplayed his surge as “niche,” until he clinched the primary 56-44% over Cuomo.
Suddenly, the pivot: “Everyone saw this coming.”
He won the general with 50.78%, a new carpetbagger in old clothes — using progressive cred to conquer from within.
This is the new form of carpetbagger politics: not Northern opportunists in the post-Civil War South, but leftist insurgents primarying centrists in their own party, wielding identity and victimhood as weapons.
Democrats’ stealth attack is brilliant — sustain the underdog label to avoid scrutiny, then gaslight the loss as destiny.
It’s not about policy; it’s about power. AOC and Mamdani aren’t anomalies; they’re the model for others like Cori Bush or Jamaal Bowman (before their 2024 losses). The primary is the battlefield, where low turnout favors the activated base, and gaslighting keeps the center asleep until it’s too late.
The republic pays the price: a polarized politics where centrists are purged, extremes rule, and the middle class wonders why nothing works. Balance is gone; every day is a devaluation of norms. If we don’t wake up, the new politics will fiatize democracy itself — unmoored from reality, worth less every cycle.
Extra Information:
Brookings Institution: Identity Politics in America – Explores the rise of identity politics and its impact on U.S. elections.
Pew Research: Political Polarization in the U.S. – Analyzes the growing divide between political extremes.
The Atlantic: How Primary Elections Fuel Polarization – Examines how primary elections contribute to political polarization.
People Also Ask About:
- What is identity politics? Identity politics refers to political positions based on the interests and perspectives of social groups with which people identify, such as race, gender, or religion.
- How do low-turnout primaries affect elections? Low-turnout primaries often favor candidates with highly motivated, extreme bases over moderate voters.
- What is political gaslighting? Political gaslighting is the deliberate manipulation of narratives to distort public perception of events or candidates.
- What is the role of social media in modern campaigns? Social media enables candidates to bypass traditional media, mobilize grassroots support, and control messaging directly.
- Why are centrists losing influence? Centrists are increasingly sidelined due to polarizing strategies that appeal to ideological extremes in primary elections.
Expert Opinion:
“The shift towards identity-based, polarizing strategies in politics represents a fundamental challenge to democratic governance. While these tactics can mobilize specific voter blocs, they risk deepening societal divides and eroding the capacity for bipartisan problem-solving. The future of democracy hinges on restoring trust and fostering inclusive political engagement.”
Key Terms:
- Identity politics in modern elections
- Impact of low-turnout primaries
- Political polarization strategies
- Role of gaslighting in campaigns
- Social media and grassroots mobilization
- Decline of centrist politicians
- Democratic norms and political extremism
Edited by 4idiotz Editorial System
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