this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2025
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I mean, that's cool and all, but the N.Y. Times latching on to stuff like that makes it easier for them to try to smear him as a "radical Muslim antisemite" or whatever and bury stories about his economic populism. When push comes to shove, it's the latter that working-class New Yorkers care about and that would get him elected.
I don't think he's wrong to take that position re: Netanyahu, but I think it's possibly a tactical error to let the media bait him into focusing on it instead of hammering on the economic message.
Smear? Fuck that makes me want to vote for him more.
Perhaps, but I think his message from the debate was better: The job is to be mayor of a city, there's no reason the office should have anything at all to do with foreign affairs so long as those affairs stay out of the city.
Like personally I appreciate calling out the atrocity, but it isn't the job of the mayor to be neck deep in that either way.
I think limiting the purview of the mayor should be left to the mayor. If he wants to make his position clear on this he has every right to do that. And maybe some call that spending political capitol for nothing, I say it inspires my support.
I'd say as a person, he can express his thoughts. For him to personally condemn the events is good. For him to say that if the federal government were reasonable, Netanyahu should be arrested.
I think declaring that he would try to use his authority as mayor to pull the NYPD into it against the will of the federal government is a bit more tricky. During a debate when every single last other person pandered to Israel he made the solid point that a Mayor's job is to tend to his city, not foreign affairs. This sort of undermines that point. Admittedly, technically he still would only get involved if Netanyahu came to NYC, but by declaring this so publicly it has had the effect of provoking Netanyahu, who seemed to be inclined to test Mamdani's words by defiantly coming to NYC with Trump if Mamdani were elected.