From the right: The Big Bad “Establishment”

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Jamie Harrison “reached his limit” when the “progressive grassroots and Graham Platner fanbase” blamed the “establishment” for his “disastrous” campaign, cheers National Review’s Jim Geraghty. “I’m tired of this lazy ‘establishment’ bull . . . If they’ve won elections, passed legislation, or know how government actually works, they’re ‘establishment,’ ” Harrison vented on X. Geraghty adds: “The term ‘the Establishment’ has “become so elastic it now stretches to cover basically anyone who has held a job.” “The problem is when charisma becomes” the only requirement for a candidate. The sentiment in parts of both parties is “so intense” that “actual, hard-won competence gets treated as the disqualifying trait instead of the whole point of the exercise.”

Foreign desk: AI Won’t Save China

“China’s vaunted AI prowess is concealing deep rot elsewhere in its economy,” flags Ruchir Sharma at the Financial Times. “Forecasters keep expecting China to surpass the US as the world’s leading economy,” but “its growth peaked in 2021,” with its share of global GDP then slipping from 18% to 16.5%. And AI won’t be provide “a lift big enough to overcome other force weighing on China, including its shrinking workforce, rising indebtedness, a broken property market, the revival of a meddlesome regulatory state” and the “exodus of capital and people.” Nor, “given its demographic challenges and heavy debts,” can Beijing “do much to prop up” growth. AI’s “impressive powers may be the answer to many problems, but they can’t reverse the forces driving China’s decline.”

E-commerce beat: Progs’ Foolish ‘Help’

“In their crusade to remake New York’s economy, progressives on the city council are once again taking aim at Amazon,” sighs City Journal’s Adam Lehodey. This time, they want to ban the use of “third-party contractors” by Amazon “and others engaging in ‘last-mile’ deliveries from warehouses to customers.” The law would “disrupt a business model on which millions of working New Yorkers rely” and would “drive an important employer out of New York.” For example, “Amazon’s ‘DAB5’ last-mile facility in Red Hook” and “20 similar facilities across the city were a response to the company’s growing business” which created “hundreds of jobs in the process.” Instead of improving people’s lives, the law has a “better chance of scaring off jobs and driving up costs for New Yorkers.”

From the left: AOC 2018 vs. AOC 2026

At least six Democratic Socialists will join the House majority next year, Ross Barkan predicts at UnHerd; “if Democrats somehow flip the Senate, too, lefties “will be emboldened as never before.” But “the woman who introduced modern democratic socialism to America,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, “may find this outcome more discomfiting than thrilling,” as this new wave of DSA reps will likely take “a more radical path.” Will the former “disruptor” be forced “to choose between fidelity to the Left and her mainstream aspirations?” The “DSA Leftists” will push AOC “to be more pro-Palestine and anti-Israel, and more willing to spar with [Dem House leader Hakeem] Jeffries.” Hah! “The AOC of 2018 would probably be protesting the AOC of 2026.”

Pharma watch: Middlemen Are Driving Up Prices

The pharmaceutical market today “is dominated by a handful of vertically integrated health care conglomerates” that “block patients’ access to more affordable options to boost their own profits,” fumes Robert Zirkelback at The Hill. “Pharmacy benefit managers,” or PBMs, who design formularies (lists of medicines insurance cover), look to “maximize their own profits — not patient savings — leaving Americans to face higher out-of-pocket costs.” Congress “took a first step” by “passing reform legislation,” but the PBMs’ parent companies are already signaling they’ll “exploit very loophole.” Policymakers need to beef up reforms, such as by prohibiting “ ‘gag clauses’ that prevent employers from knowing about lower-cost drug options.” “Whether savings come from generic competition, direct purchase programs or manufacturer assistance, patients — not middlemen — should be the ones benefitting.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board