{"id":1046574,"date":"2026-09-06T08:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046574\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T08:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:38:27","slug":"a-murder-in-new-york-exposes-the-sickness-of-americas-new-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046574\/","title":{"rendered":"A murder in New York exposes the sickness of America\u2019s new Left"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday afternoon, Erin Piacenti, 32, a junior executive at Bank of America, was strolling home through Times Square in Manhattan on her first day back at the office<\/a> after maternity leave.<\/p>\n

Erin and her husband, Frank, had just celebrated their second wedding anniversary by buying their first home in the leafy commuter town of Chester, New Jersey. Their daughter, Madison, is five months old.<\/p>\n

As she approached West 42nd Street, Erin was approached by Pamela Cisneros, 49, an Ecuadorian American with mental health afflictions. Brandishing two kitchen knives, Cisneros, who had just knifed another pedestrian, stabbed Erin in the abdomen. A short time later, the young mother died in hospital.<\/p>\n

If the murder raised disturbing questions about psychiatric provision in New York, the reaction to it spoke volumes about the moral degradation of the American Left. Almost immediately, in some parts of social media, the killing was all about Israel.<\/p>\n

What? That’s right. Apparently, Erin’s employer Bank of America had recently issued a “buy” recommendation for Israeli banks<\/a> (which is understandable given that the Jewish state’s economy is booming). Gaza activists had thus been trying to boycott the firm. So that explains the killing of a woman with a small baby at home, right? It makes sense to them, I guess.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, in response to the butchery, Lexi Alexander, an Oscar-nominated movie director, posted a picture of Batman,<\/a> America’s best-known vigilante, gazing at the famous bat signal which constitutes his appeal for action.<\/p>\n

In the image, however, the beam of light illuminated the face of Luigi Mangione, that Leftist folk hero who shot United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson dead<\/a> in downtown New York in 2024 because\u2026 well, because capitalism.<\/p>\n

\"Luigi<\/p>\n

Luigi Mangione shot Brian Thompson dead in downtown New York in 2024 – Pamela Smith<\/p>\n

“Israel doesn’t care about the woman who got killed,” Alexander, whose father is Palestinian, posted<\/a>. “They care about the positive rating BofA gave them in the middle of a genocide.”<\/p>\n

We have become familiar with the circus of the Maga movement. Fewer people in Britain are aware, however, that the American Left is starting to resemble its mirror image.<\/p>\n

Last May, a study found that<\/a> 32 per cent of committed Democrats believed that violence was “usually or always justified” for at least one political objective.<\/p>\n

Just days before those results were published, two young Israeli embassy employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who were engaged, had been gunned down by a man who reportedly shouted<\/a> “free Palestine” when arrested.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, the shooter, Elias Rodriguez, had allegedly written a manifesto<\/a> justifying the “morality of armed demonstration”, arguing that perpetrators of “genocide” had “forfeited their humanity”.<\/p>\n

With similarly exquisite timing, in January, another poll<\/a> found that 17 per cent of Democrats agreed that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”. This in turn came in the wake of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If the ascent of Donald Trump was enabled by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, the Democrats are responding to Maga with a self-radicalisation of their own, fuelled by the craziness of social media.<\/p>\n

The Left’s new leaders do not endorse the rising tide of violence, of course. They are, however, radicalising their followers in different ways.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani, the hard-Left firebrand who was elected mayor of the Big Apple in November, is the poster-boy of America’s new Left, attracting 69 per cent favourability ratings<\/a> in New York City.<\/p>\n

Britain was saved by Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of charm and intelligence. Not so Mamdani (whose father was a post-colonial academic at Columbia university). Imagine Magic Grandpa with filmstar looks, a honeyed tongue and a nimble brain. The danger is obvious.<\/p>\n

\"Zohran<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani is the poster-boy of America’s new Left – Barry Williams\/New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Alongside Mamdani are several charismatic figures such as the Democratic nominee in Michigan, epidemiologist Abdul El-Sayed, 41, whose midterms campaign is seen as a test of how far the Overton window has moved Left-wards; and 36-year-old New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who believes that capitalism is “irredeemable”<\/a>. All young, articulate and increasingly militant.<\/p>\n

Mamdani is the most prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which may become the most consequential American Leftist movement you’ve never heard of.<\/p>\n

Once a fringe group, the DSA now has about 120,000 members. It is helping propel a growing number of insurgent candidates into office, including Mamdani and other Senate and congressional candidates.<\/p>\n

This is not simply the radical wing of American liberalism. While viewing the Democratic establishment as part of the hated capitalist apparatus it seeks to replace, it often uses it as a Trojan horse<\/a> by way of entryism.<\/p>\n

Its policies are uncompromising. “We reject an economic order based on private profit,” boasts its website<\/a>, demanding “popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution”.<\/p>\n

If you think those ideas died with the Soviet Union, get this: they also want to “defund” then “abolish” the police entirely, and set prisoners free from jail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can imagine how centrally Palestine hangs in this radical firmament. Take the popular slogan “globalise the Intifada”. Although he has not used the chant himself or endorsed violence, Mamdani repeatedly refused to condemn it<\/a>, even though the Intifadas were Palestinian campaigns of bloodletting.<\/p>\n

So we arrive at that irony that signposts dark things for America. Although the murder of Erin Piacenti was not part of any global Intifada, Very Online progressives appear to wish that it was.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday afternoon, Erin Piacenti, 32, a junior executive at Bank of America, was strolling home through Times…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1046575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8015,10889,7033,82548,418891,11327,418892,5708,401,405,403,125695,62544,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1046574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-american","tag-democratic","tag-democrats","tag-erin","tag-erin-piacenti","tag-left","tag-left-barry-williams","tag-mamdani","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-daily-news","tag-new-yorks","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117223196757745698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}