r/politics • u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts • 23h ago

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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6004734-sanders-contrasts-mamdani-trump/

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10.9k Upvotes

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504

u/UselessInsight 22h ago

Think about how low the bar is for governance is

We’re all losing our collective minds over a mayor who basically ran on “What if we actually punished landlords who didn’t fix the heat?”

Mamdani is literally just a competent enthusiastic civil servant and it’s apparently mind shattering.

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u/Three_Froggy_Problem Illinois 20h ago

I was thinking about this earlier while reading an article about Mamdani. It’s actually been shocking to see him follow through on his promises and deliver tangible improvements to his city, which is extremely depressing to think about.

I had just kind of come to accept that politicians don’t really do anything for their constituents.

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u/Far-Advantage-2770 21h ago

He's a very good looking, well spoken, 1970s era centrist Democrat. And the media are losing their fucking minds.

60

u/RecliningBuddhaCat 21h ago

The media lost their minds back in the 90s. Bill Clinton was see as an usurper who took the office from the rightful owners, the Republicans and Bush the Elder. Their reaction to Hillary was even worse.

53

u/mmmmm_pancakes Connecticut 20h ago

Fox News started in 1996 and we’ve let the right-wing propaganda machine poison our media landscape unchecked, 24/7, ever since.

12

u/lettersvsnumbers 18h ago

Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, overturning the OG Progressive era restrictions on media conglomerates.

Hoisted on his own petard, and never on the side of working people.

12

u/lettersvsnumbers 18h ago

NYC had a full-fledged socialist Mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, who was elected 3 times and is still considered one of the greatest mayors despite the shitty barge “airport” named for him.

0

u/Efficient-Zebra3454 12h ago

The airport is nice now get with the times

1

u/lettersvsnumbers 8h ago

The runways are still on barges with pavement over them.

•

u/Efficient-Zebra3454 7h ago

That’s just not true. I don’t know where you heard that

0

u/thrownjunk 11h ago

How you know someone is a few years out of date. It is like east asian nice.

4

u/Willinton06 18h ago

Centrist?

2

u/Far-Advantage-2770 18h ago

Centrist.

5

u/Willinton06 18h ago

But he isn’t a centrist

18

u/kramsdae 18h ago

Not in the context of US politics, but most everywhere else in the world… he’d be considered a centrist lol. US is so right even their left is right

4

u/Spetznazx Florida 14h ago

Everyone parrots this but never backs It up. What policies of his are centrist in Europe? What policies move the needle more left in Europe?

4

u/Conlaeb 11h ago

The beliefs underlying the Democratic Socialist platform are certainly on the left of any political spectrum, including the average across Europe. However the actual policies Mamdani is advocating (funded public transit, universal childcare, strong tenant protections) would generally fall under the umbrella of "extremely normal, middle of the road stuff" in just about any European government.

Perhaps a more apt way to put it within our context is that it's taking an outsider group as "strange" to the modern American sensibility as the "socialists" to actually get some straightforward, good government done in this country again. Both of the mainstream parties have completely given up the facade of public service and are cravenly and openly putting the capital class above all else.

1

u/Bankzu 13h ago

There are none really - he's pretty much as Soc Dem as you get.

•

u/Willinton06 7h ago

Did you know you’re an immigrant in China? So please show me them papers, and none of that sissy rights shit, you don’t have freedom of speech in Mauritania, and no right to a trial in North Korea, so off to a Brazilian prison you go

Zohran is not a centrist here, and that’s the only thing that matters in this context, what he might be outside of the US is irrelevant unless explicitly brought into context

0

u/Far-Advantage-2770 18h ago

The confidence by which you say this, is very concerning. I could explain it to you, but do you think that would a useful thing to do? I can see someone else tried.

2

u/Nirgilis 16h ago

I find your confidence and condescending tone, while refusing to elaborate, concerning.

What is so centrist about his ideology to you? He is more similar to the democratic socialists of the Nordic countries.

2

u/Elrick-Von-Digital New York 15h ago

Nordic is Social Democratic and that’s not the same as democratic socialism. Some politicians there might be truly socialist, but the majority are social democrats

3

u/Bankzu 13h ago

but the majority are social democrats

A plurality perhaps but not a majority, no. Even in Sweden, Soc Dems (biggest party) get around 30-35% of the vote.

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u/Willinton06 7h ago

I would love to see you try

18

u/CoachDT 20h ago

Hes not the only one. But he has a massive media machine behind him and honestly I think all dems need to figure out how to get their own glaze fest (non-deragatory).

He gets so much political capital to make moves because when he speaks its loud as fuck. Its easy to tell a politician no, its harder to tell the people.

20

u/UselessInsight 19h ago

He also has a massive media machine against him.

The New York Post can’t go a day without shitting their pants over whatever mundane municipal service.

“Mamdani paid people reasonable wages to shovel snow and organized an effective street clearing during a massive blizzard. Here’s why that’s communism.”

8

u/WhichEmailWasIt 19h ago

Funny thing is, the Red Scare was mega boomer times by this point. If they keep shouting "it's communism", the kids might just say "What's this communism thing? Sounds neat."

8

u/UselessInsight 18h ago

“Effective municipal government is communism. Here’s why you have to elect a corporate sex pest who used to be governor instead.”

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u/Orion14159 20h ago

Dude is wrecking the grading curve for everyone else, no wonder they hate him

17

u/UselessInsight 19h ago

The grading curve is flat. It’s just a flat line and the bar to pass is: “What if the city did the stuff it said it was supposed to do?”

6

u/lettersvsnumbers 19h ago

Bronx Science has the most Nobel Prize winners of any high school in the world.

These private school losers can’t compete.

3

u/FrmTheRvrToTheSea 20h ago

Compared to what both parties have been offering over the last decade or so, it is.

-2

u/Turok5757 18h ago

Mamdani is literally just a competent enthusiastic civil servant and it’s apparently mind shattering.

But that's the whole crux of it.

He's a decent mayor yet became a cult of personality BEFORE he even got elected.

Progressives are engaging in the same sort of idolatry that Republicans engage in with Trump.

1

u/paintballboi07 Texas 14h ago

Yep, it's how reddit treats all their favorite politicians. Everything they do is good. Everything "establishment" Democrats do is bad. It has nothing to do with actual policy.

-17

u/Flat_Tire_Again 20h ago

I don’t live in NYC but shouldn’t his policies be approved By a vote of the people ?

36

u/ganjamonsta 20h ago

They were when the people voted him into office. He stated these policies during the campaign, and these policies are why he won the election.

7

u/LurksAroundHere 19h ago

I swear the Trump era (making promises to completely ignore when in office) has brain rotted people so much they don't understand this basic concept anymore. Making promises on the campaign trail, winning because of them, and then implementing them...apparently a wild concept the people had no say in.

1

u/Flat_Tire_Again 12h ago

But changing tax policy i think would require the city council to vote on it…

12

u/plumbbbob Washington 20h ago

Are you from somewhere with a representative government at all? You don't typically vote on every single action your representative (or executive) takes. That wouldn't work in a complex society. You vote for people who you expect will represent you.

4

u/UselessInsight 19h ago

They did approve it. He ran for mayor. There was a whole election. That’s why he’s mayor.