He's literally an apologist for antisemitic and islamist violence, and when the inevitable mob violence against Jewish people happens - I hope you'll at least have the decency to be ashamed of yourself instead of just shrugging and asking, "What could anyone have done?"
I wish you had asked him about his history of disturbing comments on the Israel/Palestine situation ("globalize the intifadeh" and so on). A tactful way to approach that issue might have been something like, "There are more Jews in New York City than in any other city in the United States. Do you feel a need to build bridges to that community, to reassure them that you're not against them or against Israel, and if so, how are you going to do that?"
Being "against Jews in New York City" and being "Against Israel" are 2 wildly different things. He has shown multiple times he is against antisemitism, met with Haredi Jewish leaders, produced campaign litterature in Yiddish, etc.
On the other hand, he is against Israel's war in Gaza on the basis of Universal Human Rights, and that no atrocity gives you the right to conquer and kill tens of thousands of people.
In other words, he’s completely unqualified but he “can learn”? At whose expense do we want to give him that learning experience? Maybe he should go be on the board of his coop or something first; start small. Baby steps.
I believe his defense of “globalize the intifada” is disingenuous. And if he is sincere that he believes it is simply advocating struggle it reveals a stunning degree of tone deafness to hundreds of thousands of Jews in this city. His city that he wants to lead.
I heard the chief executive of UJA- Federation say (about 2 weeks ago) that he would welcome a discussion with Mamdani. You’d think Mamdani’s people would have approached him after if not before the election. Clearly, not at the top of his list.
Thanks for the summary! When you have a bad foundational worldview, it's going to be very difficult to be successful, however broadly you want to define it. This applies to both progressives and less-progressive politicians in NYC. Bloomberg blew up the NYC budget, and every mayor after him did the same.
NYC can be such a better city. I won't say Mamdani will make it considerably worse, but there is no way he's going to make it holistically better with the type of views he has.
NYC should cut 75% of Education (DOE), Social Services (DSS/HRA), sell their hospitals, double the police force, and eliminate the Department of Homeless Services. You'd still be spending more than any budget in the last 20 years.
The mayor appoints 300 commissioners, deputy commissioners, etc, who run the day to day operations of the city, Adams used as a patronage pool, the 300 hire thousands of others, will he seek out the “best and the brightest”? Will his team internally vie for power? The city has to cut about 10B, the BBB cuts that Adams will pass along to him. As you are well aware the gulf between campaigning and governing is vast, and, plenty of folk want to drag him down …the day after the election he has to begin staffing up with “the best and the brightest” too many have their doubts about his leadership creds.
He's literally an apologist for antisemitic and islamist violence, and when the inevitable mob violence against Jewish people happens - I hope you'll at least have the decency to be ashamed of yourself instead of just shrugging and asking, "What could anyone have done?"
So his clear calls for the extermination of a race and his long term dedication through college and since then to that goal is not worth mentioning.
I wish you had asked him about his history of disturbing comments on the Israel/Palestine situation ("globalize the intifadeh" and so on). A tactful way to approach that issue might have been something like, "There are more Jews in New York City than in any other city in the United States. Do you feel a need to build bridges to that community, to reassure them that you're not against them or against Israel, and if so, how are you going to do that?"
Being "against Jews in New York City" and being "Against Israel" are 2 wildly different things. He has shown multiple times he is against antisemitism, met with Haredi Jewish leaders, produced campaign litterature in Yiddish, etc.
On the other hand, he is against Israel's war in Gaza on the basis of Universal Human Rights, and that no atrocity gives you the right to conquer and kill tens of thousands of people.
Why ask him about something he did not say?
In other words, he’s completely unqualified but he “can learn”? At whose expense do we want to give him that learning experience? Maybe he should go be on the board of his coop or something first; start small. Baby steps.
I believe his defense of “globalize the intifada” is disingenuous. And if he is sincere that he believes it is simply advocating struggle it reveals a stunning degree of tone deafness to hundreds of thousands of Jews in this city. His city that he wants to lead.
I heard the chief executive of UJA- Federation say (about 2 weeks ago) that he would welcome a discussion with Mamdani. You’d think Mamdani’s people would have approached him after if not before the election. Clearly, not at the top of his list.
He dog-whistles martyrdom to his extremist followers. There is no other explanation.
Nope, he is just against apartied and genocide as all people should be.
Mamdani talked about Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo during the campaign? I didn't think NYC voters cared about those atrocities.
Actually, based on his revanchist statements, he is pro-genocide of the Jewish people.
Thanks for the summary! When you have a bad foundational worldview, it's going to be very difficult to be successful, however broadly you want to define it. This applies to both progressives and less-progressive politicians in NYC. Bloomberg blew up the NYC budget, and every mayor after him did the same.
NYC can be such a better city. I won't say Mamdani will make it considerably worse, but there is no way he's going to make it holistically better with the type of views he has.
NYC should cut 75% of Education (DOE), Social Services (DSS/HRA), sell their hospitals, double the police force, and eliminate the Department of Homeless Services. You'd still be spending more than any budget in the last 20 years.
The mayor appoints 300 commissioners, deputy commissioners, etc, who run the day to day operations of the city, Adams used as a patronage pool, the 300 hire thousands of others, will he seek out the “best and the brightest”? Will his team internally vie for power? The city has to cut about 10B, the BBB cuts that Adams will pass along to him. As you are well aware the gulf between campaigning and governing is vast, and, plenty of folk want to drag him down …the day after the election he has to begin staffing up with “the best and the brightest” too many have their doubts about his leadership creds.