BS BULLETIN:

• Sen. Ted Cruz warned Republicans that a new “red-green alliance” of communists and Islamists is gaining power inside the Democratic Party.
• Cruz pointed specifically to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
• The Texas senator told the GOP convention that Republicans must “stand and defeat the communists” and urged voters to turn out in November.

Ted Cruz delivered one of the Republican midterm convention’s most incendiary warnings Thursday: The Democratic Party isn’t merely moving left.

He says two radical political forces are converging inside it.

“We are witnessing a new and dangerous red-green alliance: communists and Islamists coming together and sweeping over the Democrat Party,” Cruz told the crowd in Dallas.

The Texas senator pointed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as examples of the political movement he believes is reshaping the opposition party.

Cruz’s language was deliberately blunt.

He accused the forces he’s describing of hostility toward Christians, Jews, capitalism and America, and told Republicans that defeating the movement requires showing up at the polls.

“We must stand and defeat the communists,” Cruz declared. “We must stay America.”

The speech came just 54 days before the midterm elections and on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Cruz also invoked the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk one year ago, the attacks of Sept. 11 and the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump while describing what he sees as an escalating culture of political hatred.

The convention crowd waved American flags as speakers marked the 9/11 anniversary and remembered Kirk.

Cruz has been developing his “red-green alliance” argument for weeks.

At a recent appearance in Iowa, he said not every congressional Democrat is a Marxist or Islamist, but argued that Democratic lawmakers are increasingly afraid to challenge the party’s activist left because that is where much of its energy and political power now resides.

He has been especially focused on Mamdani, whom Cruz recently called the “most powerful Democrat in the country.”

Mamdani is a democratic socialist and Muslim. El-Sayed is also Muslim but has rejected Cruz’s characterization of him as an Islamist and has pushed back against claims that his politics are hostile to Jews or capitalism.

Cruz’s appearance also carried another unmistakable political subplot.

The former Trump rival is increasingly discussed as a possible 2028 presidential contender and has recently traveled to Iowa while sounding out potential political support.

Ten years after Cruz was booed at the 2016 Republican convention for refusing to endorse Trump, he took the stage Thursday praising Trump’s presidency and warning Republicans that Trump’s political gains could disappear if they lose the midterms.

His message to the GOP faithful was considerably simpler this time: Turn out — or surrender the country to a Democratic Party he says is becoming unrecognizable.

MY QUICK TAKE

Remember when Democrats assured everybody that calling them “socialists” was just Republican scare tactics?

That sales pitch is getting harder.

Zohran Mamdani is mayor of New York City. Democratic Socialists are knocking off longtime Democratic incumbents. And Cruz isn’t warning about some obscure college-campus club anymore.

He’s pointing at people winning elections.

Now, Cruz’s language is intentionally flamethrower-level politics. Democrats will understandably reject the idea that their party has been “taken over” by communists and Islamists.

But that’s what makes the underlying question more interesting: Who exactly is driving the Democratic Party right now?

Cruz thinks he knows the answer.

And judging from that convention crowd, he isn’t the only Republican eager to make voters ask it.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

• Associated Press — Republican midterm convention provides Vance center-stage moment as party faces midterm risks
• Wall Street Journal — Ted Cruz points to ‘hate’ in the Democratic Party
• New York Post — Cruz names Mamdani ‘most powerful Democrat in the country’
• Iowa Capital Dispatch — Cruz warns of ‘Marxists and Islamists’ at Iowa event
• Roll Call — Republicans make Democrats the focus of first midterm convention