The Social World

Tag: Mayoral elections

  • Boomer New York’s last bellow

    Boomer New York’s last bellow

    New Yorkers received visits from two ghosts of Christmas past and one ghost of Christmas present at its last 2025 mayoral debate on Wednesday night. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and champion of himself Andrew Cuomo lobbed Grumpy Old Man insults across the stage at each other while Zohran Mamdani stood center stage, fresh and gleaming, deflecting blows and acting with all the confidence of a football team that has a three-touchdown lead at the two-minute warning. The historical turn, potentially tragic, that will lead to the Democratic Socialists taking over America’s largest city, is reaching its conclusion, and there won’t be a final twist.

    Sliwa, who won’t become mayor in this or any other reality, offered passionate proposals to reform the housing-court system and to protect New York’s forgotten animals. If cats and dogs could vote, Sliwa would be a shoo-in. He played the populist card in his opening, saying “it’s us versus them, it’s us versus the insiders and the billionaires. It’s us versus Cuomo, it’s us versus Zohran. We’re not going to be silenced any more, we’re going to fight.”

    Cuomo spent most of the night deflecting attacks on his now-settled sexual harassment allegations, on his mishandling of the MTA in the summer of 2017, and on his disastrous policies in the early days of COVID that led to the deaths of thousands of elderly New Yorkers. He countered by saying that if (when) Mamdani wins, Donald Trump will be running the city. “He has said he will take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he will. He thinks Mamdani is a kid and he’ll knock him on his tuchus.”

    Mamdani said, “My opponents, who spend more time convincing each other to drop out, speak only of the past, because that’s all that they know. I am the only one who speaks to the future of the city.”

    He had a point. At times, the debate was like watching a community-theater production of The Sunshine Boys. One of the moderators even said, at one point, as Sliwa and Cuomo carped at each other over some ancient issue that even they barely understood, “we’re going to stay in this century, guys.”

    The three candidates debated housing issues, transit issues, policing issues, education issues and various finer points of New York policy that matter to me only marginally, because I live in a state with no income tax in a city recently named the most-affordable housing market in the United States. Not my movie. But antisemitism is my movie, so my ears perked up substantially when the candidates started debating the “Jewish question” like this was Berlin in 1931.

    “I will be the Mayor who doesn’t just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them,” said Mamdani, who hundreds of rabbis denounced this week.

    “Not everything is a TikTok video,” said Cuomo. “You’re the savior of the Jewish people? You won’t denounce ‘Globalize the Intifada,” which means “kill Jews.” Sliwa, who apparently has Jewish children, said they view Mamdani “as an arsonist who fanned the flames of antisemitism. You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, a lot of apologizing to do.”

    Mamdani said he has never once “spoken out in favor of global jihad” and said that criticisms of him were, in fact, Islamophobic. “New York deserves a leader who takes antisemitism seriously, not one who weaponizes it to score political points.”

    Mamdani, who has an uncanny ability to wriggle out of tough spots, has run a slick campaign, but he’s also been fortunate in his choice of opponents. Sliwa is a quintessential New York tough-guy character, and might even be a good mayor if given a chance, but he’s also extremely goofy and there’s no way liberal New York will elect a Republican populist mayor in the age of Trump. And Cuomo is perhaps the most flawed candidate in a generation. This attempt to revive his political fortunes, given the disgraces he suffered earlier in the decade, has been a pathetic display of hubris. He touted himself as the candidate of “experience,” which led Mamdani to say,

    “We have all experienced your experience. We have experienced you taking a five million dollar book deal while sending seniors to their death in their nursing homes. The Issue IS your experience.”

    This debate was the last bellow of Boomer New York. The ghosts of Christmas past are vanquished and the Free Palestine Gen-Z TikTok kids are taking over. Winter is coming. To paraphrase Tiny Tim, God help us, everyone.

  • Zohran Mamdani pledges free everything on Fox News

    Zohran Mamdani pledges free everything on Fox News

    Ahead of tomorrow night’s debate with Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, Democratic socialist and future mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani appeared on Fox News this afternoon for the first time.  

    Anyone expecting a clash of cultures, or 15 minutes of pure ideological arguing, would have been disappointed. Fox anchor Martha MacCallum asked tough, pointed questions, but it was a respectful exchange between two New Yorkers who clearly don’t summer in the same ZIP code.  

    That doesn’t mean the interview lacked news value. The most shocking part came before the commercial break, when Mamdani said it was “too early” to give President Trump credit for the Middle East peace deal. When MacCallum asked him to denounce Hamas, he instead invoked the “crimes” of the Israeli military, who he said had killed five Palestinians this week. Hamas has killed more Palestinians that that, MacCallum said, but Mamdani deflected. 

    “I have no issue in critiquing Hamas and the Israeli government because my focus is on universal human rights,” he said. He also refused to retract his call to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu visited New York. Mamdani said he would respect the judgment of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest. Again, when MacCallum pressed him, Mamdani wouldn’t say a crossed word about Hamas. “I don’t really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel other than questions about universal safety,” Mamdani said, having clearly sewn up whatever percentage of the Jewish vote he needs to win.  

    Part two of the exchange, about Mamdani’s plans for the city, was actually the friendlier of the two segments. Mamdani said New York should be “the capital of where working people can afford to live,” and MacCallum agreed with him that the city was too expensive. “You’ve done a lot to bring people’s attention to affordability,” she said. “I appreciate that,” Mamdani said.  

    She didn’t seem too keen on his proposals to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers by 2 percent, or on his proposals to raise corporate taxes, which is out of his power anyway because Albany sets New York tax policy. “What Andrew Cuomo said is that if he had $959 million he’d give it to Elon Musk for tax credits,” Mamdani said. “I’m talking about raising taxes on the wealthiest. When I’ve spoken to Trump voters, they told me it was cost of living that drove them to vote for Donald Trump. What we’re seeing time and time again is a focus on billionaires instead.”  

    That’s Democratic socialism, folks – and Mamdani said he’ll use that increased tax revenue to pay for his controversial program to make city buses free, as well as everything else. “I think everyone would love to have free healthcare and free buses and all these things,” MacCallum said, sounding skeptical.  

    Unappealing to Republicans, and almost everyone else, is Mamdani’s plan to place mentally ill New Yorkers into “peer-led rehabilitation programs,” which is where he said he would have placed the man who murdered a 64-year-old on a subway platform last year. He wants to “end the revolving door” of a “broken system.” When MacCallum asked Mamdani to apologize to police officers, who he’s called racist, “wicked and corrupt,” he looked at the camera and said, “I’ll apologize to police officers right now. I’m looking to work with these officers. They put their lives on the line every single day.” And then he invoked the Central Park Five, Eric Garner and George Floyd, which I’m sure put backers of the blue at ease.  

    Zohran Mamdani didn’t get to his current position by tacking to the center, and his Fox News appearance was pretty consistent with what he’s put out with the rest of the campaign: a mix of left-wing populist economics, which the Democratic party sorely needs, and foreign-policy and criminal-justice positions that wouldn’t be out of place on BlueSky. But he didn’t come across as crazy, weird or unprepared. He’s got his plans – and he’s sticking to them. New York already has its most hilarious mayor of all time in Eric Adams. The Mamdani years might end up being a tragedy, but the comedy is about to end. 

  • Mamdani, the fraud abroad

    Mamdani, the fraud abroad

    On Monday night, New York City golden boy Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, tweeted, after the terrifying gun attack on Park Avenue, “I’m heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting in midtown and I am holding the victims, their families, and the [New York Police Department] officer in critical condition in my thoughts. Grateful for all of our first responders on the ground.” He also sent special condolences to the families of Didarul Islam, the Bangladeshi immigrant and NYPD officer who died in the attack.

    But there’s a reason Mamdani was holding NYC in his thoughts and not giving a press conference on the ground: He’s at his family’s luxury compound in Uganda, where he’s summering after getting married there a couple of weeks ago. You can’t fault him for getting married, or even for getting married in Uganda, where his father is from. But he’s running for mayor of New York City right now! I know that his roster of opponents is almost a literal clown car. Still, Mamdani needs to be in New York, dealing with New York problems.

    The irony is too delicious. An avowedly socialist mayoral candidate, the presumptive heir to Gracie Mansion, is on a luxury vacation – in Africa – when a crazed gunman attacks the headquarters of an investment and financial-management company and the National Football League. Perhaps Mamdani was eating cake when he heard about the attack. But this is pretty on-brand for contemporary Democrats.

    Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also happened to be in Africa, on a ding-dong diplomatic mission, when the city’s fires broke out. She could have canceled the trip because the warning signs were there, but she didn’t. Mamdani’s “holding thoughts” also brings to mind other great moments of clueless rich Democrats in action, such as Nancy Pelosi’s Covid haircut or Gavin Newsom’s dinner at the French Laundry. I almost needed to be defibrillated when our erstwhile mayor in Austin, Steve Adler, a multimillionaire real-estate developer, sent out a Covid stay-home order while he was celebrating his daughter’s wedding in Cabo San Lucas, which he had reached via private jet.

    This raised-pinky behavior in times of crisis is hardly exclusive to Democrats. Remember Ted Cruz bopping off to Mexico as the Texas power grid went down during a deep freeze? He shrugged his shoulders, said, “What me, worry?” and donned a little extra sunscreen. But Cruz’s nonchalance aside, Democrats acting like rich jerks in the face of disaster almost feels like a brand.

    Anyone who thinks that Democrats, any Democrats, other than maybe John Fetterman, stand for regular people isn’t paying attention or is living in fantasyland. It’s a party of consultants, nonprofit scam artists, overpaid defense attorneys, artsy trust funders, and trust-fund TikTok grifters like the ones who pushed Mamdani over the top.

    In many ways, Mamdani is the perfect representation of the modern Democratic Party. He espouses far-left populist rhetoric while enjoying a monsoon wedding under the watchful eyes of an army of paid security guards. His hustle makes the Black Lives Matter mansion buyers look positively amateur. It’s utter fraudulence, a total snow job, only without the snow because it’s a balmy 80 degrees over there.

    Yes, Donald Trump was in Scotland when the shootings happened, and he also played some golf. But he negotiated a historic trade agreement with the European Union in the process and apparently also stopped a war in Southeast Asia. If something bad happens stateside, it’s not uncommon for Trump to be at his own estate, Mar-A-Lago. But that estate is in Florida. If a crisis breaks, Trump can be on the ground in the White House in under two hours.

    Mamdani, on the other hand, is in Africa. He may only return when Gotham deems it’s time to place a crown upon his head. No matter how much tragedy occurs at home, it’s gonna take a lot to drag him away from there.