#1769 Politics Beyond the Ballot Box: Elections and the Movements that Power Them
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2026
⏱️ 178 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 2/1/2026
Today we examine what's actually working against the Trump regime and the role of this year's elections. Unsurprisingly, his own voter fraud investigation just proved him a liar, Democrats are overperforming expectations in House special elections, and Zohran Mamdani's campaign based on having fun in community needs to be a model for every movement against authoritarianism.
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TOP TAKES
KP 1: Trump Admin's Endless Waste, Fraud, Abuse in Elections Part 1 - The BradCast - Air Date 1-20-26
KP 3: Get Out the Vote with Tom Lopach Part 1 - The Practivist Pod - Air Date 12-4-25
KP 4: Mobilizing the Mamdani Volunteer Army Part 1 - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 1-12-26
KP 6: THAT Is A Mandate (feat. Kat Abughazaleh) Part 1 - The Daily Beans - Air Date 11-5-25
KP 7: The Next Socialist In Congress with Claire Valdez Part 1 - The Majority Report - Air Date 1-22-26
(00:55:41) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the role of community and friendship in fighting fascism
DEEPER DIVES
(01:03:26) SECTION A: IMMIGRATION POLICING
A1: THAT Is A Mandate (feat. Kat Abughazaleh) Part 2 - The Daily Beans - Air Date 11-5-25
A2: Mobilizing the Mamdani Volunteer Army Part 2 - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 1-12-26
(01:24:17) SECTION B: POWER AND ORGANIZING
B1: The Democratic Party's McClellan Problem - Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 12-30-25
B2: Mobilizing the Mamdani Volunteer Army Part 3 - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 1-12-26
B3: The Next Socialist In Congress with Claire Valdez Part 2 - The Majority Report - Air Date 1-22-26
B4: Working Families Party on Mamdani's Win; 2026 Midterms - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 11-17-25
(02:04:54) SECTION C: VOTING RIGHTS
C2: Trump Admin's Endless Waste, Fraud, Abuse in Elections Part 2 - The BradCast - Air Date 1-20-26
C4: Get Out the Vote with Tom Lopach Part 2 - The Practivist Pod - Air Date 12-4-25
(02:32:50) SECTION D: CANDIDANCY
D1: Hardcore Competence with Kat Abughazaleh - Hysteria - Air Date 1-22-26
D3: Mamdani's Momentous Win with Sarah Jaffe - The Curve - Air Date 11-5-25
SHOW IMAGE CREDITS
Description: Photo of one half of a huge crowd of Zohran Mamdani campaign volunteers in a park holding campaign signs and smiling.
Credit: "Zohran Mamdani volunteer canvassers" via Zohran for NYC
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast. Today, we examine what's |
| 0:08.1 | actually working against the Trump regime and the role of this year's elections. Unsurprisingly, |
| 0:13.7 | his own voter fraud investigation just proved Trump a liar. Meanwhile, Democrats are overperforming |
| 0:19.3 | expectations in House special elections, |
| 0:21.7 | and Zora Mamdani's campaign, based on having fun in community, |
| 0:26.2 | needs to be a model for every movement against authoritarianism going forward. |
| 0:30.6 | For those looking for a quick overview, |
| 0:32.5 | the sources providing our top takes in about 55 minutes today includes The Bradcast, |
| 0:39.2 | Takes by Jamel Bowie, |
| 0:45.6 | the Practivist Pod, the Brian Lara Show, the Hartman Report, the Daily Beans, and the Majority Report. |
| 0:49.8 | Then in the additional deeper dives half of the show, there will be more in four sections. |
| 0:59.0 | Section A, immigration policing, followed by Section B, Power and Organizing, Section C, Voting Rights, and Section D, Candidacy. |
| 1:03.2 | But first, a reminder to check out our new show Solved on the Best of Left YouTube channel. |
| 1:06.6 | We're really proud of the show we're making, and you're going to get real value out of it. |
| 1:10.5 | And you checking it out actually helps us find new viewers on YouTube. |
| 1:14.7 | So thanks in advance for all of the views, likes, subscribes, and comments. |
| 1:18.3 | That's all on the Best of Love YouTube channel linked in the show notes. |
| 1:20.0 | And now, on to the show. |
| 1:45.6 | So last week, the day before Judge Carter's ruling in California, the New York Times published an article finding that the administration's review of voter rolls to date has found no evidence of the widespread fraud that they have claimed despite years and at this point decades of claims to the contrary made by Republicans like Donald Trump and his right wing supporters. |
| 1:49.6 | Remember the Trump campaign in 2024 claimed over and over again that the Biden administration |
| 1:56.2 | was purposely encouraging mass numbers of immigrants to cross the border in order to vote illegally |
| 2:02.7 | in our elections, resulting in the second Trump administration prompting states to upload |
... |
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