New York City needs a leader, not a therapist |
Projection is one of the oldest defenses in psychology. When people cannot face fear, anger, or envy, they project those feelings onto others. The anxious manager blames a toxic team. The insecure student insists everyone is judging her. It brings relief, but no growth. Increasingly, our politics works the same way.
Now that Zohran Mamdani has won election as New York's next mayor and prepares to take office, that mindset is shaping what New Yorkers expect from him. Politics has taken on the tone of therapy, and voters are responding as patients.
Mamdani is highly skilled at this. His tone is calm, his gestures deliberate, his cadence reassuring. He does not confront — he comforts. He tells voters what many therapy clients want to hear: Your feelings are valid, and someone else is to blame. The message shifts by audience, but the effect is consistent. People feel understood. Resentment begins to sound like moral clarity.
This style works because it taps into something happening across the country. Leaders are speaking the language of therapy. Hardship is framed as harm. Disagreement is framed as injury.........