Mamdani’s status as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and his Muslim background are behind many of the conservative media attacks.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this spring whether he was a communist, Mamdani said, “No, I am not.” Webster’s defines socialism as a political theory where the community or government owns and controls the production and distribution of goods. Communism, advanced by revolutionary Karl Marx, is considered a step beyond, where private property and capitalism no longer exist.
Many of Mamdani’s critics make no distinction. “Commie takeover in the Big Apple,” one Fox News onscreen headline read. “They elected a communist,” World Net Daily wrote. “Communist, not socialist,” Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview last month. “Communist. He’s far worse than a socialist.”
Some Jewish groups have expressed skepticism about Mamdani, who has supported Palestinian rights and criticized Israel’s attack in Gaza as genocide. But he has denounced Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and said he will work to combat antisemitism.
Republicans have a clear interest in seeing more American Jews — traditionally a group that leans toward Democrats — switch over. But that doesn’t account for some of the hostility seen in the media.
The National Review said Mamdani’s win meant “it’s open season on New York Jews.” Megyn Kelly said the tenets of Islam are inconsistent with American values and Muslims should not be elected mayors or governors. Podcaster Michael Savage called him a “Marxist jihadist sympathizer.” Influencer Laura Loomer predicted Mamdani would encourage Muslims to commit political assassinations to acquire power and silence critics.
Mamdani’s staff did not return messages from The Associated Press. In the waning days of his campaign, he spoke out against some of the religious-based attacks on him.
“I thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face or racist, baseless attacks all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,” he said. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.”
Making Mamdani the leader of his party in consumers’ eyes
Some of the attacks reflect a common theme in politics and the media — not unique to Mamdani — to associate all members of a political party with the beliefs of one who could be depicted as on the fringe. The Daily Signal wrote after his election that Mamdani “is now the putative leader of his party.”
The Victory Girls conservative blog used an illustration of the incoming mayor in a military uniform. “The socialists are coming, and Mamdani is just the beginning,” the blog wrote. “If we ignore them, we will all be in big trouble.”
“He’s the new AOC in the sense that they have found someone who is relatively unknown that they get to define and hold up as the example of what it means to be a Democrat,” said Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America.
Carusone said he’s not sure if Mamdani will become a villain of the conservative media on the level of a Clinton or Pelosi, but he can understand the urgency.
“If you don’t check him now,” Carusone said, “he’s going to capture the young people.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.socia l
Houthi court in Yemen hands down death sentences to 17 people accused of spying
CAIRO (AP) — A Houthi-controlled court in Yemen’s capital convicted 17 people of spying for foreign governments and sentenced them to death in the latest development in a yearslong Houthi crackdown on local staff from foreign agencies.
The Specialized Criminal Court in Sanaa handed down the verdict on Saturday, according to the Houthi-run SABA news agency.
The people convicted were part of “espionage cells within a spy network affiliated with the American, Israeli and Saudi intelligence,” said the court, which handed down a death sentence by firing squad in public.
The court also sentenced a man and a woman to 10 years in prison, while another defendant was acquitted.
Saturday’s verdict can be appealed, said Abdulbasit Ghazi, a lawyer representing some of the defendants who were convicted.
The defendants were accused of “spying with foreign countries in a state of enmity with Yemen during the 2024-2025 period,” SABA reported.
