When most Americans think of New York politics, they picture cigar-chomping, whiskey-drinking bosses in smoky rooms cutting deals for patronage. New York’s greatest political machine, Tammany Hall, closed its doors long ago, but that political culture never really went away.
In the wake of this year’s Democratic primary for New York City mayor, it’s clear that a new machine now dominates Democratic politics: less transactional, less rooted in old-school corruption, more ideological, and more interested in culture wars. It doesn’t, and would never, call itself a machine. On the contrary, it insists that it’s a “movement.” But its function is the same: to consolidate power, enforce rigid ideological conformity, and decide who’s allowed to govern. Welcome to the era of hipster Tammany.
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