New York Swept Up In Mamdanimania!
Note to dude who canceled his Wonk subscription with note 'Mamdani is an anti-Semite': Fuck off till you run out of road.
Wonkette Hero of the Year Zohran Mamdani was sworn in yesterday as mayor of New York City, and it was either a great new day for one of America’s greatest cities, or a harbinger of doom for America, certainly the most frightening sign that the nation is about to collapse since whatever Fox News said was the scariest thing before yesterday.
In his inaugural address, Mamdani unrepentantly embraced diversity and leftwing populism, calling for tax increases on the rich and for giving all New Yorkers an equal share in the city’s government. He vowed to “govern expansively and audaciously” by emphasizing the needs of the many, not the financial elite. It was a hell of a speech, so take the time to watch it if you missed it live.
Mamdani was ceremonially sworn in by his political hero, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), although he took his official oath of office just after midnight Thursday morning, at the New York City Hall subway station. New York Attorney General Letitia James administered that first oath. In both cases, Mamdani was sworn in on two copies of the Quran, one historic copy loaned by the New York Public Library, and another that belonged to his father. (Wingnuts griped about that too, because according to the law they made up in their heads, only oaths on the Bible are legal.)
The event was full of symbolism: Mamdani arrived not in a limo, but in a motorcade of taxicabs, a nod to his hunger strike with cabbies in 2021. The PA announcer was Bernie Wagenblast, familiar to millions of New Yorkers and visitors even if they didn’t recognize her name, because she’s the trans person whose recorded voice says, “Please stand away from the platform edge” and every other announcement on the New York subway system. And singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus sang the old union / women’s rights song “Bread and Roses.”
Mamdani delivered a damn good speech, invoking solidarity with the working class, saying he stood with not only the tens of thousands who turned out for the huge block party in lower Manhattan, but also with
construction workers in steel-toed boots and halal cart vendors whose knees ache from working all day.
I stand alongside neighbors who carry a plate of food to the elderly couple down the hall, those in a rush who still lift strangers’ strollers up subway stairs, and every person who makes the choice day after day, even when it feels impossible, to call our city home.
I’m a sucker for lines like that one about the people helping lift up strollers, damn it. And yeah, this was almost certainly the first time an inauguration speech mentioned halal cart vendors. It was beautiful.
Mamdani also reached out to those who didn’t vote for him, promising he would govern for all New Yorkers, but not by backing off his pledge to focus on making New York affordable for all New Yorkers. “I was elected as a Democratic Socialist,” he said, “and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist.’
Again and again, he returned to the theme of how government should work to make people’s lives better, rejecting the rhetoric that the private sector should be running things for big profits, and vowing that New York belongs to its people, and should do all it can to help them thrive.
Together, we will tell a new story of our city.
This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the one percent. Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.
It will be a tale of 8 and a half million cities, each of them a New Yorker with hopes and fears, each a universe, each of them woven together.
The whole speech was inspirational, and aspirational, as fuck, emphasizing unity and diversity, rejecting the idea that governing has to be a zero-sum game where those who have always been on top will control everything. (They will get by just fine even if their taxes go up some.)
Mamdani upset some Never Trump righties like former congressman Joe Walsh with the line “We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it.” Walsh singled out the middle sentence, because it was scarier in isolation. We’ll just remind him that Mamdani is talking more about nobody having to go it alone, about working together to achieve things, not about forcing everyone to move to collective farms and sing about tractors.
After the ceremony, Mamdani went to work, visiting a rent stabilized building where he announced three first-day executive orders aimed at improving housing and making it affordable. The first creates a new Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, aimed at making sure tenants’ rights aren’t ignored by landlords and that violations get resolved quickly. The other two create new task forces, one aimed at reviewing city-owned properties that can be developed as affordable housing, and the other one devoted to identifying and eliminating city regulations and permitting processes that get in the way of building new housing.
So hey, pretty damn good start! No doubt he’ll hold off on banning Christianity and motherhood till next week, just to surprise people.
Also, for another New Year’s treat, check out this Wall Street Journal interview (gift link) with Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, who should never be in a position of power but is also a crazy old coot uncle with a lot of sharp observations about Andrew Cuomo being a damn jerk and how paranoid Republicans did a lot to culture-war Mamdani right into office, because by demonizing Muslims, they guaranteed that even Muslim New Yorkers who might disagree with Mamdani on the issues would vote for him.
Sliwa says his supporters should “absolutely” give Mamdani a chance, because “He won a majority. He has a mandate. The Masters of the Universe, the billionaires, did everything they could to make sure he wasn’t the mayor. It didn’t work. He’s a great organizer.” As for Cuomo, Sliwa says:
If Cuomo had been elected, all we would have gotten is more of the old corruption of the Cuomo days, the fear, the fright that you don’t cross Cuomo or there’s retaliation, vendetta. I don’t know who would do a better job. All I know is Zohran clearly beat him twice, and I mean clearly beat him. He’s entitled to run New York. […]
The messages were so negative. People want to feel that you’re the happy warrior. I was the happy warrior. Clearly, Zohran was the happy warrior. Cuomo was like the Grim Reaper.
We think Mamdani should keep that crazy old sweetheart in the tent pissing out. Make him ambassador to cats.
[CNN / Al-Jazeera / AMNY transcript / CBS News / WJS (gift link)]
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Oh, and for that former subscriber who noped out because of Mamdani's alleged hatred of Jews, another blockquote:
"To live in New York, to love New York, is to know that we are the stewards of something without equal in our world. Where else can you hear the sound of the steelpan, savor the smell of sancocho, and pay $9 for coffee on the same block? Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?"
>>“I was elected as a Democratic Socialist,” he said, “and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist.’<<
Oh lord, this is going to bring Fox News to new levels of apoplexy. And I LIVE for it.