"Zohran Mamdani was forged in the era of Donald Trump. He came to socialism through watching Bernie Sanders run for the US presidency in 2016, in the contest that ultimately gave us Trump I. Last November, a few days after the election of Trump II, he asked voters why they'd backed that guy. The conversations prepared Mamdani in his battle for New York, and the film of them reveals so much about the politics of this era that it repays watching."
"Analysts have often put the two side by side, only to utter banalities about how they are both good on TikTok or that giveaway from pundits striving to earn their keep populist. Yet the comparison carries far higher stakes. Both New Yorkers, they embody opposite sides of the metropolis: Manhattan versus its suburbs ; towers versus the streets. They also represent alternative paths for the US."
Zohran Mamdani emerged politically during the era of Donald Trump and embraced socialism after watching Bernie Sanders's 2016 campaign. Days after the election of Trump II he asked voters why they had backed that candidate, and those conversations shaped his New York campaign. Film of those encounters shows an unknown candidate on Bronx street corners listening to people whose lives are narrowed by rising costs. Many constituents have never spoken to power and view politicians as failures. Those frustrations helped propel Trump and also helped make Mamdani mayor of the United States' largest city. Mamdani and Trump are both New Yorkers who embody opposite parts of the metropolis—Manhattan versus the suburbs, towers versus the streets—and they represent divergent political futures: one of ethnonationalism and ruthless economics, the other prioritizing immigrants and an affordable city attentive to black and brown working-class needs.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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