Mamdani’s Rich Voters Are the Good Ones, You See

Once again, the Republicans who respond to the incentives on social media to be a jackass have made Democrats’ lives easier. Even as mainstream elements of the opposition party grapple with the millstone that New York City’s primary voters have affixed to their necks, the GOP’s most theatrical elements have called the mayoral nominee “little muhammad” and suggested that he should be “denaturalized” and “deported.” It’s ugly and condemnable, even if the legacy press seems to welcome the reprieve from the introspection that Zohran Mamdani’s nomination briefly imposed on them.

After all, this is the sort of racial hostility that the center-left media rely on. They cannot see the degree to which Mamdani’s campaign tapped into and harnessed Democrats’ own racial hostilities. How else would you describe the candidate’s promise to shift the city’s property-tax burden onto “homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods”?

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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Once again, the Republicans who respond to the incentives on social media to be a jackass have made Democrats’ lives easier. Even as mainstream elements of the opposition party grapple with the millstone that New York City’s primary voters have affixed to their necks, the GOP’s most theatrical elements have called the mayoral nominee “little muhammad” and suggested that he should be “denaturalized” and “deported.” It’s ugly and condemnable, even if the legacy press seems to welcome the reprieve from the introspection that Zohran Mamdani’s nomination briefly imposed on them.

After all, this is the sort of racial hostility that the center-left media rely on. They cannot see the degree to which Mamdani’s campaign tapped into and harnessed Democrats’ own racial hostilities. How else would you describe the candidate’s promise to shift the city’s property-tax burden onto “homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods”?

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.