On the Eve of The Mamdani Administration

Some Serious Thoughts On the Eve of The Mamdani Administration

I had a fun story ready to go for this issue, based on an imagined transcript I might one day find from a State of the Union-type speech Zohran gives 100-days into office. It has a joke about renaming MSG to Qatar Airways Arena (”Nobody misses it”) and successfully barring Phish from “assaulting their fans’ ears there every New Years Eve.” And, of course, a clever line urging the new occupants of the citywide encampment movement to use the bathrooms at work due to the unforeseen sewage issues related to under-$8 hallal.

But the truth is, I’m not feeling very fun right now. 

Mamdani’s rise and inevitable win tomorrow has me feeling quite nervous, ungrounded, and frustrated. So much so that I’m willing to forego a joke about neo-nazis instantly taking control of Zohran’s free-and-fast bus routes in order to traffic fentanyl to Staten Island, and unwittingly doing a phenomenal job running the MTA. (”And to the skinheads of this great city I say: “Keep. It. Up!”). 

So, what specifically has me so down? Is it Zohran’s anti-Israel politics being characterized as merely pro-Palestinian activism? Is it his conflation of massive private equity landlords with mom-and-pop landlords just trying to get by on the building they’ve invested their life and savings into? Or, is it how anybody with a serious platform– including Joe Freekin’ Rogan!– are unable to say a bad word about Mamdani without qualifying their critique with something like “he obviously seems like a cool guy.”

Yes, yes, and yes. But, wait, there’s more!

If you had told me on October 24th, 2023, 17-days after you-know-what, that one of the anti-Zionist demonstrators on the megaphone at this rally would be the mayor in two years, I would have expected the Jewish community to organize politically and use every financial, political, and media resource available to them to either create an effective campaign against him or find a candidate that could beat him. But now, a few hours from election day, it appears that all we’re capable of is sending anxious emails to our own shul listservs and sharing strongly worded tweets.

During that ultra-sensitive period following the initial shock of October 7th, I remember walking into a kosher restaurant and observing how Jews of every denomination shared the same feeling of being infused back into Jewish history. It didn’t matter if you went to shul once a year, one a week, once a day, or never. We were united in our vulnerability. Fast-forward just a little bit and we are not only unable to come together and stop Mamdani, we’re unable to agree on what he is and isn’t. Which to me means that the Jews of this city don’t really share a common story or belief about who we are.

I’m confident in my conviction that whether Zohran is truly antisemitic or not, he makes space for those who are truly antisemitic to feel validated, welcome, and more likely to act on their beliefs. And I’m not entirely sure how you can argue with that. But, more heartbreaking than anything else, it appears to me that at least 45% of New York Jews have prioritized… well, something else…. over their own dignity, albeit their safety. Of course, it’s those very Jews who say that Zohran is an antisemite who suddenly don’t have a monopoly on what that term means, while the Jews who say that he isn’t an antisemite get to speak for all of us.

The astonishing lack of leadership is also a cause for concern. I imagine a city in which the Lubavitcher Rebbe was still alive (let’s leave that debate for another newsletter), and could be the voice of reason representing the most authentic Jewish perspective on the matter.  However, in his absence, nobody has filled that role. Nobody has even come close. Certain Reform rabbis have stepped forward on X, but it hasn’t made a difference. Satmar decided to go the other way here. Meanwhile, the orthodox community has made itself so insular that when they step out of their bubble to speak nobody is even listening. 

However Mamdani feels about Jews, he appears to be a masterful politician who has perfectly read the prevailing mood of the city. His refusal to budge on his Israel stance isn’t a bug of his candidacy, it’s a feature. It shows integrity, bravery, and authenticity against outdated elite interests, and I predict that even if his views on the issue were to one day evolve, his brand is too tied to anti-Zionism to ever shift publicly. Which brings me to my greatest fear.

Frankly, I could live with the anti-Zionist stuff. At my most optimistic, I can see a scenario where it just won’t matter in the short term. He’s not running for mayor of Tel Aviv, blah, blah, blah, blah. What worries me more is an unaffordable city exacerbated by counterproductive socialist policy combined with a mayor entrenched in a brand of soft antisemitism. Because as long as people are happy and doing well, antisemitism can’t thrive.

As soon as Zohran hits a roadblock with what he can accomplish politically, where will he turn? Distraction, rhetoric, and grandstanding to show that it isn’t him that’s inept, and it isn’t his ideas that are ineffective. When faced with failure in governance, he’ll turn to the one thing he truly is great at: Exploiting the underlying fears of New Yorkers and shifting responsibility elsewhere… usually to one place in particular. He’ll become more overtly antisemitic to prove his authenticity, and NYC– less affordable than ever– may indeed follow.

(I also had a joke about moving The Liberty to play in New Jersey because of “modesty concerns,” but we’ll leave that for another time).

*Disclaimer: No, I do not live in New York City. But I live VERY close and work there.

*Disclaimer #2: If Cuomo wins, please disregard this email.

While I prefer to hear Americans discussing Israeli politics and not the other way around, the hosts of For Heaven’s Sake nail this one and informed a lot of my piece above. Typically, the co-hosts spend a majority of the show expressing how deeply they agree with one another, and spend the rest of it thanking one another for the opportunity to be so publicly in agreement. And this was no different. Check out this episode and the other shows on Ark Media– a radio station for aging Jews. Listen on Spotify. Watch on YouTube.

Watching Task is really an exercise in abandoning your principles and having a fucking blast doing it. I initially ran a boycott on this show, because it stars Mark Ruffalo– an outspoken critic of Israel who wore a pin to this year’s Emmy’s depicting the blood-soaked hands of Ramallah terrorists who killed IDF soldiers. But, baby, as soon as that man enters the screen you forget all about it. He’s unbelievable. And the show? Fantastic. Best I’ve seen in a long time. So turn it on, bask in the glow of betrayal, and find out what happens when an FBI agent who lost his faith tracks down the crew of a robbery went wrong. HBO, 1-hour.

This song has me daaaaancing. Apparently 121-million people have heard it before me, but I just discovered it. This one by RAYE, too.

What is this?!

Michael Weber is a writer and power broker who connects socialist politicians with the leadership of Satmar. If you received this email, you signed up for his newsletter at some point. If you'd like to unsubscribe, you must first find somebody else to replace you. Share a link to subscribe!