Thoughts on the Mamdami thing?

Let’s see if a visit to the Whitehouse with some cheesing and kowtowing to Trump results in keeping the masked gestapo out of New York City.

It could actually help - Trump essentially likes winners and strong men who treat him with the deference he feels he deserves, so it doesn’t surprise me that he took to Mamdami.

I can see me 3D-chessing myself into being embarrassed about this post in 6 months (or two weeks in 2025 time).

It’s important for Mamdami to do well as a possible blueprint and because the American left has so little going on in the mainstream.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:59 pm Thoughts on the Mamdami thing?

Let’s see if a visit to the Whitehouse with some cheesing and kowtowing to Trump results in keeping the masked gestapo out of New York City.

It could actually help - Trump essentially likes winners and strong men who treat him with the deference he feels he deserves, so it doesn’t surprise me that he took to Mamdami.

I can see me 3D-chessing myself into being embarrassed about this post in 6 months (or two weeks in 2025 time).

It’s important for Mamdami to do well as a possible blueprint and because the American left has so little going on in the mainstream.

I mean he shook his hand but he also said that Trump was a fascist on camera. Trump seemed charmed. Weird.

losthighway wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 10:03 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:59 pm Thoughts on the Mamdami thing?

Let’s see if a visit to the Whitehouse with some cheesing and kowtowing to Trump results in keeping the masked gestapo out of New York City.

It could actually help - Trump essentially likes winners and strong men who treat him with the deference he feels he deserves, so it doesn’t surprise me that he took to Mamdami.

I can see me 3D-chessing myself into being embarrassed about this post in 6 months (or two weeks in 2025 time).

It’s important for Mamdami to do well as a possible blueprint and because the American left has so little going on in the mainstream.

I mean he shook his hand but he also said that Trump was a fascist on camera. Trump seemed charmed. Weird.

Trump likes being acknowledged by winners. He also probably doesn't give a fuck.

This is just a historic level type of moment captured in time.



To bad he's not a local. Or maybe someone will remake the presidential election law.

Lu Zwei wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 9:03 am This is just a historic level type of moment captured in time.

To bad he's not a local. Or maybe someone will remake the presidential election law.

Republicans wanted to amend to make Schwarzenegger eligible. Bet they're happy now they didn't do that.

enframed wrote:

losthighway wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 10:03 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 8:59 pm Thoughts on the Mamdami thing?

Let’s see if a visit to the Whitehouse with some cheesing and kowtowing to Trump results in keeping the masked gestapo out of New York City.

It could actually help - Trump essentially likes winners and strong men who treat him with the deference he feels he deserves, so it doesn’t surprise me that he took to Mamdami.

I can see me 3D-chessing myself into being embarrassed about this post in 6 months (or two weeks in 2025 time).

It’s important for Mamdami to do well as a possible blueprint and because the American left has so little going on in the mainstream.

I mean he shook his hand but he also said that Trump was a fascist on camera. Trump seemed charmed. Weird.

Trump likes being acknowledged by winners. He also probably doesn't give a fuck.

Exactly.

Buuuuuuuut... Mamdani is also up against some long odds here.

The governor is currently talking to him about the free-buses thing. Nice that he says this stuff, but as I've feared, he has not really spelled out how he will have the power or plan to implement it. Raising corporate tax (his main proposal) will not fund it from a practical standpoint. Transit unions also oppose the idea, as it makes their job way more dangerous when every homeless dude sleeps on the bus. It almost reminds me a little of Trump's too-good-to-be-true empty promises to working people. But that's what gets you elected nowadays. Not that I think he'll remotely be like some leftist Trump; he seems like a decent guy, but a naive one.

It's also kinda funny b/c New Yorkers often don't bother paying the bus fare anyway. Here's a city website from April, 2025 "Since the pandemic, the bus system has also experienced high rates of fare evasion with the MTA estimating that over 40% of riders do not pay."

Mamdani is also vocal about tearing apart some of the city's few green spaces, like community gardens, for "affordable" housing. That also sounds nice and all, maybe worth the sacrifice, right?

But what most non-New Yorkers don't realize is that "affordable" housing is often not low-income housing and certainly never "public" housing. They are not the same thing! You can make low six figures, win the housing lottery, and still live in what's termed "affordable" housing in NYC. I know a commercial photographer and a programmer who do just that.

It'd be one thing to give up much-needed and beloved community spaces to construct housing explicitly and exclusively for poor people. But that's not what he's proposing, exactly. Only a percentage of a given building is for poor or even working-class people.

That's dangerously close to the rhetoric Giuliani, Bloomberg, and De Blasio all used to give real estate deals to developers who built hideous Dubai-like towers and threw a handful of cheaper units into the mix. Many of the Lower East Side and East Village's green spaces were cleared by Rudy in the 1990s using similar logic. De Blasio did it in Long Island City. It did not solve the housing crisis here at all, but the real estate industry sure got a boner from it.

We will see, I suppose.

It was hilarious looking at the pre meeting comments on some left leaning Youtube Channels...

The expectation of this was a total fucking disaster and it was the opposite. But Trump doesn't look well, he's starting to age, really quickly.

Gramsci wrote: It was hilarious looking at the pre meeting comments on some left leaning Youtube Channels...

The expectation of this was a total fucking disaster and it was the opposite. But Trump doesn't look well, he's starting to age, really quickly.

Frankly, it seemed like a meeting between two spectacle-happy populists. A couple of unnerving observations in NYT:

New York Times wrote: Mr. Trump said he was surprised to learn that Mr. Mamdani wanted more buildings to be developed in New York.

As I said above, I don't like where Mamdani's line of thinking is going at all here, to be honest. It's basically the continued selling of the city to big real estate developers w/luxury on their mind under the pretenses of throwing a modest bone to "affordable" (again, not low income) housing. Giuliani, Bloomberg, and De Blasio used similar logic to promote overdevelopment.

This was also kinda fucked up:

New York Times wrote: Things took a turn for the surreal when Mr. Trump stepped in to defend Mr. Mamdani from hard-edge questions being flung at him by the conservative media in the room.

One such type grilled Mr. Mamdani about why he had flown on a plane to Washington instead of taking a train, noting the latter would have been “greener.”

“If he flew, that’s a lot quicker,” Mr. Trump said. He then turned to his guest, adding, “I’ll stick up for you.”

Seriously though, why would he consider flying? It's two hours and 45 minutes from NYC to DC on the fastest express train. That does seem kind of wasteful to fly...

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 4:05 pm
Seriously though, why would he consider flying? It's two hours and 45 minutes from NYC to DC on the fastest express train. That does seem kind of wasteful to fly...

This is such a bullshit line of reasoning, again placing on the individual the responsibility of reducing pollution. One can be pro environmental causes and get on a plane. Pretty sure some of us here do it.

We don't have to travel around the world for holiday. If we really cared, we'd never leave our own city.

This "argument" needs to stop.

Yes but how do the libs feel?