The astonishing racism in NYC’s mayoral race

As New York City’s mayoral election unfolds, it’s clear that public figures are feeling more and more emboldened to make openly racist statements against candidate Zohran Mamdani. | Yuki Iwamura/Getty Images

Throughout Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York City mayor, he’s faced a barrage of attacks that have only gotten worse since he handily won the Democratic primary two weeks ago. And this isn’t just happening at the local level; New York City’s mayoral race has drawn attention from across the country, and politicians and pundits have been fearmongering about Mamdani from afar.

Here’s just a sampling:

On X, US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) shared a photo of the Statue of Liberty dressed in a burqa shortly after Mamdani’s victory, saying, “This hits hard.” US Rep. Brandon Gill, of Texas, criticized Mamdani for eating with his hands, saying, “Civilized people in America don’t eat like this.” US Rep. Andy Ogles, of Tennessee, who referred to the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor as “Zohran ‘little Muhammad’ Mamdani,” called for Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported. And shortly after Mamdani’s primary win, David Frum, an Atlantic staff writer, posted on X, “Well, at least we can retire that faded and false line, ‘antisemitism has no place in New York City.’”

It’s also not just conservatives. In an interview on CNN, US Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said, “I don’t associate myself with what [Mamdani] has said about the Jewish people,” without expanding on what, exactly, Mamdani has said. (While Mamdani has criticized Zionism and the Israeli government, he has not said anything negative about Jewish people.) Kirsten Gillibrand, New York’s Democratic senator, falsely claimed that Mamdani had made “references to global jihad” in a radio interview. She later apologized to Mamdani, according to her team, “for mischaracterizing Mamdani’s record and for her tone.”

Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry is, of course, not a new feature of American politics. But how emboldened public figures clearly feel to make such brazen and openly racist statements seems to have reached a fever pitch. Since when, for example, is it acceptable to call on deporting American citizens? Here are three reasons why the racism against Mamdani in particular has been so extreme:

1) Trumpism........

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