Talarico might not be a socialist, but he needs their donors’ money

So Monday night, he was at a swanky event in Manhattan alongside former Sen. Sherrod Brown. Tickets topped out at a cool $27,000 for an evening with the Human Rights Campaign PAC, and a host committee stacked with people from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s deep-pocketed fundraising network, all introduced with a touch of Hollywood gold dust in the form of actor Robert De Niro.

And let’s be honest. Talarico needs the cash.

His contest with Attorney General Ken Paxton is on course to be the most expensive Senate race in history, with forecasts suggesting total spending could top out close to half a billion dollars.

But there is a risk in tapping into the socialist Mamdani’s network.

Talarico has taken great pains to avoid getting caught up with the Democratic Socialists of America, who are dominating the airwaves of his party, by positioning himself as a progressive-leaning Christian legislator. His campaign has even described him as a “proud capitalist” to ward off guilt by association with his party’s hardliners.

Yet there he was with the likes of Alexis Bittar, the jeweler perhaps best known as the filmmaker behind Reclaim the Flag. His documentary is premised on the idea that the Stars and Stripes has become a symbol of exclusion or even oppression.

In a recent interview, a day before most of the nation was preparing to celebrate the semiquincentennial, Bittar offered an alternative view on the 250th celebrations.

“I mean, I have three kids, and they’re little, and they’re growing up in this s***hole,” he told Interview Magazine. “So if we don’t do something now, we’re f***ed.”

Other members of the committee include Shaifali Puri, who is on Mamdani’s committee of legal affairs, and Shruti Ganguly, one of his family friends.

There is a second event Tuesday night in Greenwich Village, for much more modest prices. Perhaps because Talarico is appearing solo, the top suggested contribution is half Monday’s ticket price at a mere $13,500. What a bargain.

It is all a reminder of the contortions that Democrats have to go through if they are to have a chance of winning a statewide contest in Texas for the first time since 1984.

Talarico is not a socialist, but he has to hang out with them in New York. And although he has declared war on “billionaire megadonors and their corrupt political system,” he still needs contributions from Manhattan’s ultra-wealthy elite.

US v UK views of counterterrorism arrests

So what to make of the counterterrorism arrests in Britain and the rapid release of the five suspects? Was it some huge terror plot against RAF Fairford, a military base in England used by the U.S. Air Force? Or were these some kind of thieves on a mission to steal diesel (which has rocketed in price) from nearby farms?

The fact that the five British nationals were released so quickly suggests they are not an ongoing threat to anyone.

But President Donald Trump weighed in with this yesterday: “I will tell you, I would have said, ‘Don’t let them have bail.’”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also offered his thoughts. The action “clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor,” he told reporters.

So you can have a bit of sympathy for Nick Aldworth, a former U.K. counterterrorism national coordinator, who was interviewed on NPR and asked repeatedly why there was such certainty from the U.S. side and such reticence from British officials to offer any conclusions.

He chose his words carefully.

“I think it’s unhelpful, particularly for leaders to speculate about what’s going on, and you know the risk of doing so is is that you end up perhaps calling it wrong. I would be very surprised if your president being able to make such a definitive statement and the outcome that we’re seeing in the U.K. are related to the same events.”

Could it be that five suspected thieves got caught up in the middle of a counterterrorism operation directed at a different threat? And the two events are being muddled?

Our own Tom Rogan also takes a look at this, and the idea of a covert MI5 vs. overt police dichotomy.

The first lady’s seating plan

Did anyone else notice something off about the state dinner with China’s Xi Jinping last week? A letter writer to the British Daily Telegraph did.

“Your photograph of the White House state dinner in honor of Xi Jinping was remarkable for the lack of savoir faire of whoever organized the seating plan,” writes Ursula Wide, of Glapthorn, Northamptonshire.

“Four married couples were put next to each other. This gruesome idea is now far too common. I love my husband dearly, but my heart sinks when I am placed next to him at a formal dinner. We end up talking about the dogs and the grandchildren, which we could easily do at home.”

Someone forward to the first lady’s office! If, that is, they know where it is, now that the East Wing is no more.

Lunchtime reading

Vance takes battleground role as Trump starts midterm push: The VP is more popular (just about) with voters, and he will head to competitive states while the president seems focused on deep-red areas.

Trump’s Venezuela betrayal puts America last: Bari Weiss’s Free Press lays into Trump’s Venezuela policy, pointing out that opposition leader Machado remains in exile, there are no elections scheduled, and corporations are hesitant to invest.