{"id":44975,"date":"2025-11-08T12:46:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T20:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44975"},"modified":"2025-11-08T12:46:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T20:46:28","slug":"elite-media-to-mamdani-drop-everything-that-made-you-successful-and-act-more-like-a-generic-democrat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/08\/elite-media-to-mamdani-drop-everything-that-made-you-successful-and-act-more-like-a-generic-democrat\/","title":{"rendered":"Elite media to Mamdani: Drop everything that made you successful and act more like a generic Democrat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Mayor-Elect<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Posted in Politics and Movements: US<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the NYT editorial board to CNN panels, Zohran Mamdani is hearing unsolicited advice\u2013\u2013and veiled threats\u2013\u2013from US corporate media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Adam Johnson<\/a><\/strong> November 7, 2025 (Therealnews.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at the Unisphere on November 05, 2025 in the Queens borough of New York City. Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unable to stop Zohran Mamdani\u2019s momentum after he won New York\u2019s mayoral Democratic primary last June\u2013\u2013fueled by a message of populist policies and social justice, and unperturbed by nonstop bad faith attacks by pro-Israel bullies\u2013\u2013centrist and liberal media has adopted a different, more subtle tone in their effort to \u201cmoderate\u201d the Mayor-elect: using the trappings of pragmatism and technocracy to whittle down the redistributive policies and class-driven language that defined his campaign. Rather than govern as he campaigned, as a crusading outsider socialist standing for tenants, Gaza, and workers, they insist it\u2019s time for Mamdani to Grow Up, put on his big boy pants, purge his circle of Democratic Socialists, and hire Serious People motivated by Serious Solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This makes sense. After all, traditional media attacks on Mamdani fell universally flat for months on end. Nothing seemed to stick, in part due to the fact that Mamdani seems to genuinely be a choir boy whose greatest transgressions are saying objectively true, but critical, statements about Israel and referring to his parent\u2019s cousin at his \u201cAuntie\u201d\u2013\u2013two things, it turns out, 90% of the world does. So a new tactic has emerged, one of attempted co-option, supposedly good faith advice<\/a>, phone calls from powerful and famous Democratic luminaries<\/a>, backroom meetings with \u201cbusiness leaders<\/a>,\u201d and the parallel implied threats of pushback if he doesn\u2019t go along with The Way Things Are. This piece isn\u2019t meant to be a commentary on whether this approach has been, or will be, successful (the jury is very much out on that). But it is worth documenting the way this particular mode of ideological disciplining works, and how it manifests in our media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those engaging in this process of moderation would not, of course, put it in these sinister terms. They would say they were simply seeking to guide a young, naive political novice through the myriad headwinds of \u201cthe second hardest job in America.\u201d And in some cases this may be true. But for an elite media apparatus that, itself, can create these headwinds whenever it wishes<\/em>, this posture serves as both warning and threat. It\u2019s the process of establishing acceptable ideological boundaries\u2013\u2013the crossing of which, everyone understands, will result in negative coverage and editorial scolding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the obligatory \u201cto be sure\u201d paragraph: I am not saying that there aren\u2019t genuine limitations to what mayors can accomplish and real technocratic hurdles. Mayors cannot deficit spend; they require party and state support to achieve much of anything; the police manage their security and thus loom tremendous, undemocratic power over them. New York City has over 300,000 employees, all with discrete and oftentimes conflicting interests. But these complexities are very often used as cover for the nontechnocratic, ideological work of pushing politicians into taking more capital-friendly positions and priorities. This article will be a discussion of that process: of the bad faith nuance-trolling and how the narrowing of the horizon of the possible, before the ink even dries on the ballots, is less about good-faith concerns over limitations and logistics and very much about trying to turn Mamdani into Pete Buttigieg 2.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Complexities are very often used as cover for the nontechnocratic, ideological work of pushing politicians into taking more capital-friendly positions and priorities.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

First and most prominently was the New York Times<\/em>\u2019 post-election editorial. The Times<\/em> editorial board, which infamously published a cowardly anti-endorsement of Mamdani<\/a> before the June Democratic primary (after saying they would not run endorsements anymore less than a year earlier<\/a>), now takes on the tone of a principal calling Mamdani into their office for a stern talking-to. They\u2019re not mad, they\u2019re not going to attack him, they\u2019re just disappointed and Deeply Concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Times<\/em> board sets the tone early, leading off with the patronizing and false premise that Mamdani ran a \u201csocial-media-driven campaign.\u201d The Mamdani campaign, it\u2019s worth noting, knocked on an unprecedented 3 million doors<\/a>, 1 million more than the 2 million actual votes cast, fueled by a DSA volunteer core that the Times<\/em> later, of course, recommends Mamdani throw under the bus. This is followed by framing their advice as Mamdani lowering his progressive expectations. \u201cFor Mr. Mamdani to be effective, he will need to grapple with the recent history of big-city civic leaders promising bold, progressive change. They have mostly delivered disappointment, including in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore., as well as in New York City itself under Bill de Blasio,\u201d they begin. It doesn\u2019t matter that several of the relevant mayors listed are not progressive in any meaningful sense and all of them, save perhaps Johnson in Chicago, have adopted every Tough on Crime policy the Times<\/em> goes on to recommend. It\u2019s a vibe, not an intellectually honest assessment on the limits of left-wing politics. Those cities are left-coded, and that\u2019s all that matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, the Times<\/em> lists six ways Mamdani \u201ccan improve life in New York by marrying his admirable ambition to pragmatism and compromise.\u201d The Times<\/em> advises he abandon his pledge for free buses, saying this plan \u201cwould leave the system without the revenue it needs to pay for speed improvements,\u201d and that \u201cfree buses could also reduce the sense of security for riders, turning buses into homeless shelters.\u201d Somewhat bizarrely, they ignore Mamdani\u2019s other major campaign pledge, freezing rent for rent stabilized units, then praise his willingness to incentivize more private development by undoing supposedly burdensome fire regulations. The editorial then runs down a list of campaign promises he must abandon or \u201ccompromise\u201d on: free childcare (\u201cHe is unlikely to achieve this goal in full, given its costs and the lack of an obvious revenue source.\u201d) and alternatives to policing (which they insist should only be done \u201cwhen feasible,\u201d whatever that means). And they push Mamdani to make nice with Big Business (both Mamdani and business leaders \u201cshould recognize that they have a common interest in the city\u2019s well-being and in preserving its status as a hub of business and finance\u201d). The Times<\/em> then finishes with the obligatory ideological tsk tsk-ing over DSA, anti-police politics and, of course, Israel: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But the reasons that many New Yorkers are skeptical of him also deserve to be taken seriously. He had almost no management experience before his campaign, and extreme rhetoric was his normal mode of communication until recently. He called the New York Police Department \u201ca major threat to public safety.\u201d He initially refused to condemn Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. To this day, he proudly identifies with the Democratic Socialists of America, whose platform supports open borders, voting access for noncitizens and a weaker U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He can win at least some of his skeptics over by getting results as mayor. He should start by building a leadership team light on democratic socialists and heavy on officials with records of accomplishment and proven management skills.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In short: aim for small wins that do not offend capital, make peace with Big Business, purge your ranks of anyone with progressive or socialist ideological commitments, be nice to the police and its powerful union, and continue to engage in conspicuous gestures of moderation on Israel like \u201ccondemning Hamas\u201d (with no parallel demand he, or anyone, \u201ccondemn\u201d the entity that has killed 20,000 children and committed genocide). Put another way: shed everything that made your campaign interesting and exciting and instead just be a slightly more liberal version of Eric Adams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Put another way: shed everything that made your campaign interesting and exciting and instead just be a slightly more liberal version of Eric Adams. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Washington Post<\/em> editorial board would scold<\/a> Mamdani along similar lines, albeit more openly ideological\u2013\u2013a result of their Bezos-driven, overt turn to the right<\/a>. After lamenting Mamdani\u2019s radical politics and what they say about The State of Things, the Post<\/em> writes that \u201cthe best outcome would be for Mamdani to take a cautiously incremental approach and try pilot programs for his most radical ideas instead of immediately imposing them on the entire city. It seems that there are enough voters to put him in power \u2014 but if New Yorkers begin to flee in droves, it could force him to moderate.\u201d This is a popular line from oligarchs and their media organs but you don\u2019t usually see it spelled out like this\u2013\u2013an explicit threat of a capital strike in a paper owned by the world\u2019s second-richest person. But this is certainly what\u2019s going on: moderate or New York\u2019s wealthy will use their tremendous leverage to make governing more that much more difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t to say slimy and racist attacks from other liberal quarters are not still ongoing. ADL chief and MSNBC mainstay Jonathan Greenblatt announced a \u201cMamdani monitor\u201d Wednesday that\u2019s basically a Canary Mission for just the Mamdani administration (and no other mayor, congressperson, or elected, much less the current White House, which is drowning in antisemites<\/a>). This \u201cmonitor,\u201d which will surveil and attempt to dig up dirt on any Mamdani hires, has been widely condemned by everyone from former Human Rights Watch Director Ken Roth<\/a> to Patrick Gaspard<\/a> of the Center for American Progress as selective and racially motivated. It\u2019s yet another disciplinary mechanism designed to keep Mamdani in line, albeit more stick than carrot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ADL chief and MSNBC mainstay Jonathan Greenblatt announced a \u201cMamdani monitor\u201d Wednesday that\u2019s basically a Canary Mission for just the Mamdani administration (and no other mayor, congressperson, or elected, much less the current White House, which is drowning in antisemites<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Politico, a reliable conduit of elite opinion, painted a picture<\/a> of a \u201cdivided\u201d city and a \u201cnarrow victory\u201d that would force Mamdani to moderate his policies and message. Reporter Joe Anuta leans heavily into editorializing, writing that Mamdani\u2019s \u201cvictory over moderate Democrat Andrew Cuomo was fueled by record turnout and deep enthusiasm among progressives. But it also exposed raw divides over religion, ideology and identity that will define his first days in office.\u201d It\u2019s unclear what elections don\u2019t expose similar divisions but one is meant to takeaway the vague impression that it\u2019s incumbent upon Mamdani to win over the people who loathe him, regardless of how valid or invalid their reasons\u2013\u2013a requirement, of course, never imposed on moderate politicians when they win elected office. What follows is a series of vague threats from the extremely wealthy and their lobbyists, unsubstantiated claims of antisemitism, and rambling sour grapes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs he faces the dual challenge of reassuring his critics and proving that his movement can run the nation\u2019s largest city. The degree of antipathy toward his fledgling administration complicates that dual pursuit. In practical terms, repairing relations with blocs of the city wary of his leadership will require the devotion of significant political capital \u2014 energy that could otherwise go toward delivering on his main policy planks.\u201d Translation: moderate on taxing the rich and Israel or we\u2019ll make governing that much more difficult.\u00a0
CNN\u2019s Van Jones, who\u00a0works with a mentor program funded by pro-Israel donors<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0used \u201cdead Gaza baby\u201d as punchline on Bill Maher three weeks ago<\/a>, expressed a simular attitude towards Mamdani after his victory speech Tuesday night, which he apparently believed contained too much DSA red meat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CNN's Van Jones was not a fan of Zohran Mamdani's angry, far-left, rage-filled victory speech:

"I think he missed an opportunity. I think the Mamdani that we saw in the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/aM2AlcgM1U<\/a><\/p>— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>