vruz
@vruz@mstdn.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago
If anything, Mamdani has run perhaps the most explicitly pro-immigrant and even pro-cosmopolitan campaign in recent memory. Mamdani’s innovation is not simply creative cost-of-living, take-on-the-elites politics. It’s also that he’s demonstrating how to do this without retreating from the defense of immigrants and of pluralism writ large, and without shirking the mission of centralizing Trump’s authoritarian lawlessness as an overarching fact of contemporary American public life. Obviously Mamdani is running in a blue city that’s full of immigrants, so his precise immigration message might not work as well in swing areas. But the point is, if we’re going to talk about Mamdani’s political innovations, we should also discuss this one: He doesn’t allow that there’s a conflict between emphasizing economic populism and taking on Trump’s authoritarianism. Indeed, Mamdani sometimes explicitly connects these things. “I will be a mayor who doesn’t bow down to corporate interests, doesn’t take his orders from billionaires, and sure as hell doesn’t let ICE steal our neighbors from their homes,” Mamdani said recently, emphasizing that last clause in a huge applause line. “There are no kings in America, whether that’s Donald Trump, Andrew Cuomo, or the Republican billionaires who fund both of their campaigns.”
If anything, Mamdani has run perhaps the most explicitly pro-immigrant and even pro-cosmopolitan campaign in recent memory. Mamdani’s innovation is not simply creative cost-of-living, take-on-the-elites politics. It’s also that he’s demonstrating how to do this without retreating from the defense of immigrants and of pluralism writ large, and without shirking the mission of centralizing Trump’s authoritarian lawlessness as an overarching fact of contemporary American public life. Obviously Mamdani is running in a blue city that’s full of immigrants, so his precise immigration message might not work as well in swing areas. But the point is, if we’re going to talk about Mamdani’s political innovations, we should also discuss this one: He doesn’t allow that there’s a conflict between emphasizing economic populism and taking on Trump’s authoritarianism. Indeed, Mamdani sometimes explicitly connects these things. “I will be a mayor who doesn’t bow down to corporate interests, doesn’t take his orders from billionaires, and sure as hell doesn’t let ICE steal our neighbors from their homes,” Mamdani said recently, emphasizing that last clause in a huge applause line. “There are no kings in America, whether that’s Donald Trump, Andrew Cuomo, or the Republican billionaires who fund both of their campaigns.”
If anything, Mamdani has run perhaps the most explicitly pro-immigrant and even pro-cosmopolitan campaign in recent memory. Mamdani’s innovation is not simply creative cost-of-living, take-on-the-elites politics. It’s also that he’s demonstrating how to do this without retreating from the defense of immigrants and of pluralism writ large, and without shirking the mission of centralizing Trump’s authoritarian lawlessness as an overarching fact of contemporary American public life. Obviously Mamdani is running in a blue city that’s full of immigrants, so his precise immigration message might not work as well in swing areas. But the point is, if we’re going to talk about Mamdani’s political innovations, we should also discuss this one: He doesn’t allow that there’s a conflict between emphasizing economic populism and taking on Trump’s authoritarianism. Indeed, Mamdani sometimes explicitly connects these things. “I will be a mayor who doesn’t bow down to corporate interests, doesn’t take his orders from billionaires, and sure as hell doesn’t let ICE steal our neighbors from their homes,” Mamdani said recently, emphasizing that last clause in a huge applause line. “There are no kings in America, whether that’s Donald Trump, Andrew Cuomo, or the Republican billionaires who fund both of their campaigns.”
Ben Royce 🇺🇦
@benroyce@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
Ben Royce 🇺🇦
@benroyce@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
Glyn Moody
@glynmoody@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
Glyn Moody
@glynmoody@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 months ago
Leftist Lawyer
@LeftistLawyer@kolektiva.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
Leftist Lawyer
@LeftistLawyer@kolektiva.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
vruz
@vruz@mstdn.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
Democratic Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary victory in New York City has prompted an elite panic, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen: Billionaires are desperately seeking a general-election candidate to stop him, former Barack Obama aides are publicly melting down, corporate moguls are threatening a capital strike, and CNBC has become a television forum for nervous breakdowns. Meanwhile, Democratic elites who’ve spent a decade punching left are suddenly trying to align themselves with and take credit for Mamdani’s brand (though not necessarily his agenda). On the surface, this freak-out can seem as if it’s about policy. Mamdani’s proposals for free buses, universal free child care, faster small-business licensing, higher taxes on the rich, some publicly owned grocery stores, a higher minimum wage, and rent freezes are indeed shocking to oligarchs conditioned to getting everything they want. When you’re so accustomed to privilege, the most minimally humane policies for others can seem like oppression — and Mamdani’s agenda probably feels that way to New York’s billionaires, CEOs, and neoliberals.
Democratic Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary victory in New York City has prompted an elite panic, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen: Billionaires are desperately seeking a general-election candidate to stop him, former Barack Obama aides are publicly melting down, corporate moguls are threatening a capital strike, and CNBC has become a television forum for nervous breakdowns. Meanwhile, Democratic elites who’ve spent a decade punching left are suddenly trying to align themselves with and take credit for Mamdani’s brand (though not necessarily his agenda). On the surface, this freak-out can seem as if it’s about policy. Mamdani’s proposals for free buses, universal free child care, faster small-business licensing, higher taxes on the rich, some publicly owned grocery stores, a higher minimum wage, and rent freezes are indeed shocking to oligarchs conditioned to getting everything they want. When you’re so accustomed to privilege, the most minimally humane policies for others can seem like oppression — and Mamdani’s agenda probably feels that way to New York’s billionaires, CEOs, and neoliberals.
Democratic Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary victory in New York City has prompted an elite panic, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen: Billionaires are desperately seeking a general-election candidate to stop him, former Barack Obama aides are publicly melting down, corporate moguls are threatening a capital strike, and CNBC has become a television forum for nervous breakdowns. Meanwhile, Democratic elites who’ve spent a decade punching left are suddenly trying to align themselves with and take credit for Mamdani’s brand (though not necessarily his agenda). On the surface, this freak-out can seem as if it’s about policy. Mamdani’s proposals for free buses, universal free child care, faster small-business licensing, higher taxes on the rich, some publicly owned grocery stores, a higher minimum wage, and rent freezes are indeed shocking to oligarchs conditioned to getting everything they want. When you’re so accustomed to privilege, the most minimally humane policies for others can seem like oppression — and Mamdani’s agenda probably feels that way to New York’s billionaires, CEOs, and neoliberals.
Julien Deswaef :tw:
maco
Julien Deswaef :tw: and 1 other boosted
William Lindsey :toad:
@wdlindsy@toad.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
William Lindsey :toad:
@wdlindsy@toad.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
William Lindsey :toad:
@wdlindsy@toad.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
William Lindsey :toad:
@wdlindsy@toad.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
William Lindsey :toad:
@wdlindsy@toad.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 months ago
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