I don’t live in New York City so I don’t really know what the city needs but the election of its next mayor has been fascinating. A young, Muslim Democratic Socialist is set to be the next mayor of America’s largest city and people are freaking out. Part of the reason he’s going to win is that Democratic retread and accused sexual harasser Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Eric Adams who was pardoned by President Trump were his biggest challengers.
So who were New Yorkers supposed to vote for? The serial sexual harasser? The mayor who was charged by President Biden’s DOJ and then pardoned by President Trump? There’s also the Republican choice Curtis Sliwa who seems like a nice guy but Trump called him a lightweight, he’s not winning the mayoral race in New York and he wears a funny hat all the time.
But back to the democrats for a moment. It feels like the elites on social media and the regular media are lecturing New Yorkers on how dumb they are for voting for the guy who will not stop talking about making New York more affordable for the people who can’t afford it.
Affordability to live in the metro areas is probably the biggest issue of the modern era. It’s such a massive issue that serious concerns about extrajudicial killings in Venezuela, Gestapo like ICE tactics, subverting elections and Trump’s self-dealings have not hurt the Republican party. That’s specifically because the Republican messaging, whether true or not, is nearly always centered around bringing prices down. And of course, they can always point to the lack of affordability in cities across the country that are managed by democratic mayors. Los Angeles is Exhibit A.
The threshold moment for me that sealed Mamdani’s victory was at one of the debates a few months back. The question was which trip each candidate would take first after becoming mayor. That seemed like an odd question until you heard everyone’s answer – which of course was Israel for nearly all candidates except Mamdani. The moment seemed so orchestrated to paint Mamdani into a corner but what they didn’t count on was Mamdani being ultra prepared. Mamdani calmly looked into the camera and said his first trip would be to the neighborhoods to visit his constituents to help bring prices down. I thought it was the moment Mamdani won the race.
I am as ignorant as anyone when it comes to understanding why Americans support Israel given their reprehensible behavior and its lobbyists vice grip on American politics. So for me, a non Jew, non New Yorker not religious person at all – Mamdami’s answer there was authentic, honest, practical and a complete break from Democratic orthodoxy. It was human. Normal.
I was listening to the Scott Galloway podcase today actually and he was speaking about all of the politicians who have started podcasts recently. Scott’s point however was that Democrats must start actually saying things rather than trying desperately to avoid offending anyone or saying something politically correct. Galloway went further by stating that the era of PC culture is over and voters are looking for people who will just be normal while saying normal things. Essentially the opposite of Kamala Harris. And I think this right here is Mamdani’s actual appeal. He’s speaking directly to his voters about things the voters understand while using a context that his voters comprehend. Not hard but very elusive for most democrats who, frankly, never say anything at all.
If you need an example, watch any Kamala Harris interview after maybe the first week of her campaign. She never said anything, barely ever staking a position. She took no risks, to the ultimate detriment of her campaign. And most democrats are exactly like this. For all of Trump’s faults and there are numerous, he’s an authentic liar. Everyone including his biggest followers know he’s lying and they bake it into their support. For all of his lying, Trump probably also tells the truth more than any politician. Just think, the biggest liar is also probably the biggest truth teller. Which of course, is partly Trump’s appeal. What does that say about everyone else? They don’t say anything at all.
Except Mamdami (and Bernie and a few others of course).
At the end of the day, I find it hilariously comical that Bill Ackerman would think that he could lecture the lower and middle classes on the perils of voting for Mamdami as if he could even find the words to articulate a coherent reason why Mamadmi would be a bad mayor for them. Last night on the Abby Phillips show on CNN, Scott Jennings was lamenting the inevitable Mamdami win and David Hogg responded with a banger (full disclosure David Hogg isn’t great either) saying that New Yorkers were tired of guys in studios with Rolexes telling them how to vote.
Yeah, exactly. For my entire adult life, I’ve watched this country slowly become more unaffordable and less ideal for working class people. Everyone agrees that the American Dream is becoming more elusive rather than less. Statistics don’t lie.
Frankly, I think it’s fascinating to watch institutions gang up on candidates like Mamdani, Graham Planter in Maine and even Trump back in 2015 to turn them into boogeymen. The reason you see such fever is simply because these guys are not “as controlled” by their parties. And without that control, the parties lose messaging discipline and there’s always the potential that other upstarts could mirror these strategies and take out even more, reliably, team playing politicians. The result for the parties is chaos – which I love – and brings us closer to having a third (or heavens a fourth!) viable party.
So why not Mamdani? People do realize that Mamdani doesn’t want to be one and done? That he wants to show that his brand of politics can work. So his worst impulses or perhaps Socialism’s worst impulses should be curbed by Mamdani’s desire to deliver for his constituents. And given that Trump is clearly a Socialist with his propensity for the federal government taking stakes in private companies and his heavy-handed use of the government to punish citizens for exercising basic rights, why not give Mamdani a chance?
What’s Mamdani even proposing? Build five publicly owned grocery stores? Did you know that seven states including Alabama, Idaho and Utah only allow the sale of liquor through government owned liquor stores? That’s right. In conservative states such as those (and several liberal states), the state government has a monopoly on liquor sales. Mamdani also promised to make public transportation free in New York City. Did you know that more than 40 major cities in the United States already provide some form of free public transportation? Cities such as Salt Lake City and Kansas City have some free transportation. What else? Lowering the cost of childcare? That’s probably the most important policy for any young family anywhere.
At the end of the day, New York taxes its citizens to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Where does that money go? While Trump spends money at the federal level on Argentina, ballrooms, private jets and more ICE agents, I’d like to see more resources spent on public education, feeding kids and making the city more affordable.
So why not Mamdani? The City survived two terms of Bill De Blasio so I think it will be just fine.
The Reasonable Man Standard 