Why Indian-origin Zohran Mamdani cannot become president of the United States of America

Time of India

2 days ago

Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, center right, appears on stage with his family including his mother, Mira Nair, left, his wife, Rama Duwaji, and father, Mahmood Mamdani, right, at his primary election party, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
What do Zohran Mamdani, Elon Musk, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have in common? At first glance, not much – unless you count their uncanny ability to grab America's attention. Yet all three have thrown a spotlight back on one of the country's most peculiar constitutional quirks: who gets to become President.
In recent days, Zohran Mamdani has made liberals go Obama delulu – that social phenomenon where every promising liberal leader is imagined as the second coming of Barack Obama.
After all, here is Zohran Mamdani: socialist state assemblyman, TikTok darling, heir to Mahmood Mamdani's intellectual insurgency, and, in the fevered imaginations of brunch-table liberals, the Barack Obama of the algorithm age.
But let's drop the lo-fi reels, rent freeze montages, and pastel infographics for a moment. Because one truth slices through the aesthetic fog:
Zohran Mamdani can never, under any circumstance, become President of the United States.
The Socialist Stain
Yes, his democratic socialism would terrify suburban independents. Bernie Sanders couldn't sell 'socialism' to half the country even with decades of Senate credibility and a grandpa charm. Mamdani's policy slate of free buses, rent freezes, and city-run grocery stores would collapse under Rust Belt scepticism. Americans prefer their socialists fictional, like Robin Hood, or dead, like Eugene Debs.
The Muslim Factor
Yes, his Shia Muslim identity would make him an easy target.
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Undo
No Muslim has ever been a major party nominee. Islamophobia may have retreated from polite conversation, but it remains embedded in the American political bloodstream. His unapologetic religious identity and vocal Palestinian solidarity would birth attack ads before he even declared candidacy.
The Brown Immigrant Identity
Yes, his brown skin and immigrant story unsettle America's notions of 'presidential.' Obama succeeded because his biography soothed white anxieties: Hawaii, Columbia, Harvard, Christian faith, family-man demeanour. Mamdani's biography is messier: born in Kampala to Indian-Ugandan parents, raised in the intellectual forge of Mahmood Mamdani and
Mira Nair
, with no assimilationist pretence.
For many voters, that is too many hyphens, too many continents, too many unsettling reminders that whiteness is not destiny but design.
But None Of This Matters
Because all these political and cultural hurdles are rendered irrelevant by a single, immovable legal reality: Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution
'No person except a natural-born Citizen… shall be eligible to the Office of President.'
That's it. That's the end.
Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda in 1991 to non-American parents.
He became a US citizen only through naturalisation in 2018.
In constitutional law, that is checkmate.
What Does 'Natural-Born' Actually Mean?
It means citizenship at birth without naturalisation. Born on US soil? Eligible. Born abroad to American parents? Eligible. Born abroad to non-American parents and later naturalised? Never eligible.
It's why Elon Musk, despite his billions, memes, rockets, and political sway, can never be President.
It's why Arnold Schwarzenegger, despite governing California and marrying into the Kennedy dynasty, could never run for President.
And it is why Zohran Mamdani, no matter how viral his campaign reels become, can never stand before the Capitol with a hand on the Bible.
Are There Loopholes?
Only one: amend the Constitution. Congress has tried. In 2003, Senator Orrin Hatch proposed the 'Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment' to let naturalised citizens run. It failed. Every such attempt has failed. The Founders wrote this clause to keep 'ambitious foreigners' out of the presidency.
Two and a half centuries later, it remains unbending.
The Final Frame
Zohran Mamdani may yet become Mayor of New York, where vibe is policy and charisma is budget. He may enter Congress, where his Urdu-poetry-infused TikToks on housing justice will collect millions of views. He may even become a national progressive icon. But President?
Never. Not because he is socialist. Not because he is Muslim. Not because he is brown. But because he wasn't born in America.
The Constitution does not care about ideology, faith, or skin colour here. It cares only about place of birth. Because Article II is the one text no filter can soften, no algorithm can rewrite, no insurgent movement can overthrow. His revolution may be vertical, captioned, colour-graded in Mira Nair hues.
But it will never be inaugurated.