‘Nepo baby' Zohran Mamdani is still a breath of fresh air
If Zohran Mamdani's 'luxury beliefs' turn out to be even half as effective as those of fellow 'nepo baby' Franklin Delano Roosevelt's — social security, minimum wage, and that pie-in-the-sky idea of a 40-hour workweek — he will be a great mayor.
Sandy Huckleberry
Jamaica Plain
Globe Opinion writer Carine Hajjar's analysis of Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York mayoral primary fails on several counts.
First of all, her accounts of being harassed on the New York City subway presumably happened under current or prior administrations. None of them are socialist. How Mamdani will handle subway crime is unknown at this point. Bernie Sanders, a strong supporter of Mamdani, is hardly a self-soothing progressive. He is a genuine populist, and presumably so is Mamdani, who cites Boston's Mayor Michelle Wu as a role model.
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As for calling him a nepo baby, where does that come from? His father is a professor and his mother is a film director. So what? Is no one with a college degree allowed to be a populist?
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Michael Keating
Cambridge
In her recent column, columnist Carine Hajjar turns her sights on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor. She paints a picture of a city beset by dangerous, mentally ill, unhoused people, and insinuates that 'nepo baby' Mamdani doesn't have the best interests of New York's most vulnerable, particularly women, at heart. She cynically pits various groups against each other to advocate for more policing.
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Ironically, she fails to acknowledge that the aforesaid crimes and misdemeanors are happening on the watch of 'tough on crime' Mayor Eric Adams. Similarly, while bemoaning the experiences of harassment faced by women, she makes no mention of Andrew Cuomo's well-known history of harassing his female staffers and employees. Cuomo, a former New York governor, conceded New York City's Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani on Wednesday.
Hajjar suggests that Mamdani's ideas for advances in mental health care and community violence prevention are pointless — dangerous, even. Yet we know from our experience here in Boston that these types of innovative community violence prevention efforts do, in fact, work. It is just such initiatives, put in place by Mayor Michelle Wu, that have helped crime rates in our city
Katie Sutton
Hingham
New Yorkers rejected the Democratic status quo
While no one can predict how successful Zohran Mamdani will eventually be, there is little doubt that his victory was due to an overwhelming desire on the part of New Yorkers to believe in, to quote from his victory speech, 'the power of the politics of the future: one of partnership and sincerity.'
Bruce Goldberg
Newburyport
Mamdani only promises more chaos
Carine Hajjar states that the current NYC policies — such as neglect of the mentally ill and the homeless, and the deliberate nonenforcement of misdemeanor crimes, have made everyday life more miserable and dysfunctional in the city.
Mamdani promises more of the same, only less law enforcement in the interest of public safety and even more neglect. How would that lead to better personal security, cleaner neighborhoods, and an improved quality of life?
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Yahoo
an hour ago
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PolitiFact declares Zohran Mamdani is not a communist in fact-check of Trump
The fact-checking website PolitiFact defended Democratic New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani from President Donald Trump's claims he was a "communist" last week, saying the rejoinder was false. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, effectively clinched the Democratic nomination for the 2025 mayoral race in New York last week in an upset over establishment favorite Andrew Cuomo and other candidates. Trump lashed out at Mamdani on Truth Social, calling him a "100% Communist Lunatic," adding, "We've had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous." PolitiFact, after quoting other conservative and Republican figures also labeling the far-left candidate a communist, decried what it called a "red scare tactic that has existed in U.S. politics for decades" in a post on Thursday. "New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's platform proposes free buses and day care, rent control and city-owned grocery stores to make city living more affordable," PolitiFact wrote. "Mamdani's platform is not akin to communism, a system of government which calls for government takeover of private property and control of industry." Mamdani's Political Earthquake Rocks Democrats, Dividing Party On Path Forward It went on to quote several experts who said Mamdani's appeal lay in his efforts to combat affordability problems in New York, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Read On The Fox News App "Mamdani is NOT a communist," wrote Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University professor of international studies, in an email to PolitiFact. "Communism involves a centrally planned economy, with no market forces. Prices and quantities are set by a central government authority. There is no democratic political competition, and instead a single party rules the country. He is not calling for any of this." "Many western democracies — from France to Canada — have policies such as free or heavily subsidized child care and public transit," Oxana Shevel, a Tufts University associate professor of comparative politics," told PolitiFact. "Under a communist agenda, the government would own everything and entirely control prices, not only rent control or operating some supermarkets. And under communism, there are no political parties other than the communist party," the fact-check argued. Dem Socialist's Nyc Primary Upset Signals 'Generational' Shift In Democratic Party, Strategists Say It concluded the claim by Trump was "false." Notably, it fell short of being declared "Pants on Fire," the notorious designation the fact-checking website has for political and media claims it deems so outlandish that calling it "False" doesn't adequately condemn it. Examples of Trump's remarks that earned the designation including suggesting Ukraine had "started" the war with Russia and claiming Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia had "MS-13" tattooed on his knuckles. Trump has been fact-checked by PolitiFact more than 1,000 times. His declarations have been deemed "False" or "Pants on Fire" 57% of the time. The White House and Mamdani's campaign didn't immediately respond to requests for article source: PolitiFact declares Zohran Mamdani is not a communist in fact-check of Trump
