A new Manhattan Institute poll shows democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani leading rival Andrew Cuomo 46-31 in the race to become New York City’s next mayor, with Republican Curtis Sliwa trailing with 21 percent. The poll roughly aligns with others in recent weeks, putting New York City on the precipice of an unprecedented era.
Many have comforted themselves by saying New York City survived Bill De Blasio’s crime surge and stagnation. Tourism rebounded. The 44% murder spike stabilized under Mayor Eric Adams. Out-migration stopped — population actually grew in 2023 and 2024.
But Mamdani is no De Blasio. His policies are substantially more radical — his vow to gut the NYPD, install city-owned supermarkets, and freeze rent could make the city unlivable in short order, whereas De Blasio’s poor ideas took time to fuel crime and flight. But it’s his discernible animosity toward the United States, evidenced by his radical rhetoric and troubling associations, that makes him a unique threat.
What does it mean to place the safety and security of 8 million U.S. citizens in the hands of someone who hates the nation so thoroughly and instinctively? We are about to find out.
For all of Mamdani’s disconcerting statements and relationships with radicals, the words of his own father are most haunting.
“We need to recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier,” wrote Mahmood Mamdani, a former professor of anthropology, political science and African studies at Columbia University. “Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.”
Of course, it is wrong to automatically saddle the son with the sins of the father — just as it is wrong to assume that Mamdani’s Muslim faith means that he is sympathetic with the cause of Islamic terrorists. But Mamdani has gone out of his way to credit his father with shaping his worldview. In August, he said that he owes his parents everything, “not simply for the person that I am, but the thoughts that I have.”
It is not only fair but necessary to connect these particular dots and press this point. Does Mamdani believe that his father, whom he credits for shaping his thinking, is correct that suicide bombing is unfairly “stigmatized”? It would be difficult to ask a more pertinent question in the most densely populated major city in America. The fact that he’s never been asked to reflect on his father’s disturbing words is a stinging indictment of New York City’s news media.
If only his father’s words were Mamdani’s only ties to Islamic fundamentalist sympathies.
In 2015, Mamdani wrote a Twitter post expressing sympathy for Anwar al-Awlaki, a terrorist cleric linked to 9/11, claiming he’d been radicalized by the FBI.
In a 2017 rap song, he himself praised the “Holy Land Five,” a group convicted of funneling $12 million to Hamas. “My love to the Holy Land Five,” he rapped. “You better look ’em up.” / “Free the Holy Land Five / My guys”
More recently, Mamdani has openly and proudly associated with Hasan Piker, a radical podcaster who said that “America deserved 9/11.”
Only two years ago, he claimed at a Democratic Socialists of America convention that the NYPD’s boot “is laced by the IDF” — conspiratorial lunacy Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson would applaud.
The list goes on.
Many Mamdani defenders are quick to cry “Islamaphobia” when these unsettling facts are raised, and many critics are cowed by this. But instead of denying Islamaphobia, they should simply admit it — indeed, It’s normal to be afraid of the type of radical Islam Mamdani appears so comfortable with. I fear handing over the keys to New York City, where many family members and friends live, to someone whose father advocates for “destigmatizing suicide bombers.” And I’m not ashamed of that.
And while some conservatives relish the prospect of a Mayor Mamdani, keen as they are to exploit the young radical’s rising prominence, I can’t ignore the real and present danger of handing over Gotham to this person. Politics is not the ultimate principle here.
But for some, it is. Those people unwisely goad Sliwa into remaining in the race under the preposterous pretense of “keeping conservatism alive” in New York City or maybe even pulling off an upset, only making the pugnacious Guardian Angel dig his heels in deeper.
REAL LEADERS SPEAK THE TRUTH TO EVIL, NO MATTER WHERE IT COMES FROM
Make no mistake: Cuomo is the least deserving beneficiary of good political fortune. Yet in politics, the adult choice is the one that averts the worst catastrophe. He is a danger in his own right and will deserve unrelenting scrutiny once in office — but he is not, in fact, openly sympathetic to Hamas and 9/11 apologists.
So, conservatives, enough with the Sliwa farce. A vote for him is a vote for a Hamas sympathizer in City Hall. Swallow the bitter Cuomo pill. It’s sure to cause an upset stomach that lingers a while. But it won’t kill you. The same can’t be said about Mamdani.
