7 is the one a lot of people on the left will miss is targeted at them. Cynicism is the path to defeat, pragmatism is the path to actual change, and it almost always routes through the status quo, not around it. Mamdani didn't sit around bitching about the DNC, nor did he try to run as a third party. He met voters where where they are, and in NYC that's the Democratic party. Now he looks like a king maker. This took him barely a year, during which time showed that the establishment's power to enforce preferences is actually far more limited than many believe.