New York City is poised to elect a bona fide socialist, in the form of Zohran Mamdani, and on today’s edition of The Editors, Charlie looks at Mamdani’s Thursday debate performance and calls it “meaningless.”
“I think the debate was interesting, but I . . . think it was meaningless because Mamdani is going to be the next mayor of New York City,” Charlie says. “I feel, watching this whole election, as I felt at points during 2015 and 2016 and then again in 2022-23, watching the Republican primary. I’ve seen over and over again, conservatives or moderate Democrats who don’t like Mamdani pointing at him and saying, ‘He’s not answering the question. He’s dodging. He’s vague. His knowledge is skin deep. He is callow. He’s a vibes candidate’ or whatever. And I just don’t think that it matters. I don’t think there is anything that Cuomo or Sliwa or anyone else who was in the race and has now dropped out could have said to change the outcome here.”
New Yorkers seem to be looking for a change, and, “The word affordability is magical. It overshadows everything else and obviates everything else. And the debate last night was reflective of this. This is over.”
Charlie says he “got it wrong. It took me a while to understand this. I did not believe that he would be chosen as the candidate. And I did not believe that if he was chosen as the candidate, he would be the mayor. But I failed to understand that this is not being driven by the quality of answers during a debate or the coherence of policy positions or an understanding of history. This is being driven by a generalized frustration that he is, for some reason, really good at absorbing and channeling. And New Yorkers are going to have to find out whether or not he can do that in a useful and practical way over the next few years.”
The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.