Please, No More ‘Mani’ to Mamdani
It is with great interest that I continue observing the conduct of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — luckily, from a safe distance.
His promise to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is traveling to attend the UN assembly in September, is only the latest of his gargantuan endeavors gone wrong.
And who would have thought that it would go wrong, considering that the job of a mayor is to oversee garbage trucks, housing, policing, schools, and city services — not geopolitics.
Who would have also thought that none of this was ever really possible because New York City mayors do not have jurisdiction over such matters so whatever “legal team tasked with the task” was doing remains as elusive as Schrödinger cat’s whereabouts.
But this cheap populism, aimed at Gen Z voters, self-loathing Jews from the New York Times, and charlatans like Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, is not what truly impresses me.
What impresses me is Mamdani’s unparalleled ability to ask for money using all available means: the neatly scripted videos with professional lighting and cameras; the carefully arranged facial expressions conveying whatever emotion his advisers decided was required that day; the constant attempt to create the feeling that Mamdani is “one of you,” despite his rather comfortable background.
It is fascinating. Almost as fascinating as his wife, Rama Duwaji’s, conduct.
When I saw the circulating offer for a retreat priced at several thousand dollars in Corsica, where participants could learn more about Mary as a “Palestinian woman who gave birth under occupation,” I thought: well, this family will clearly never end up begging on the streets.
Yet if we put aside all the jabs and sarcasm, the real question becomes: what is this man actually doing in office?
I am well aware of how partisan American society has become, so I am not going to quote one poll or one article from The New York Times or the New York Post and pretend it represents universal truth. But I will leave you with some food for thought.
In April 2026, Marist, a respected public opinion research organization, found that among Democrats, 63% approved of how Mamdani was doing his job, compared with only 25% of Republicans. Among Republicans, 63% disapproved.
So far, this is entirely expected. Among Democrats, Mamdani largely plays the anti-Trump and anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian card, while Republicans view him as a communist.
What drew my attention was the non-party-affiliated crowd.
Among those not enrolled in any party, only 27% approved of his performance, while 41% disapproved and 31% were unsure.
The logical question is why such a large share of non-partisan New Yorkers is either dissatisfied or undecided. I do not have access to these voters, but those who do may want to find out. There is a good chance that this is where the real performance assessment is hiding.
At the end of the day New York City, like any other city, needs a person who would be overseeing garbage trucks, public safety, housing, transport, sanitation, and the daily functioning of one of the most complicated cities in the world — not auditioning to become a foreign-policy influencer with a clear sympathy for terrorist groups like Hamas.
Until then, take my friendly advice: stop giving Mamdani your “mani.”
