Zohran Mamdani’s Islamaphobia story debunked, family scrutinized 

Zohran Mamdani is less than a week away from his likely victory in the New York City mayoral race, in which he is widely expected to defeat challengers Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa. That means it’s long past time to scrutinize the kind of mayor Mamdani may be — and make no mistake, despite his pleasing and friendly demeanor, this is a man with a very, very radical agenda, and extremist views. 

Some criticism of Mamdani has focused on his identity: He is a Ugandan immigrant, and a Muslim. And leans very heavily into his Muslim identity; in fact, he recently suggested that combatting Islamophobia in New York City was a very serious concern of his, and he even suggested that a relative of his, an aunt, had stopped riding the subway after 9/11 because she feared Islamophobia. Take a listen. 

When some commentators pointed out that Mamdani has no such aunt, he clarified that he was referring to some other relative, a cousin of his father.  

Personally, I don’t think that’s a very important difference, whether it was an aunt or a second cousin. And obviously, I agree with Mamdani that no one should feel bullied or unsafe for being Muslim, or for being Christian, or Jewish, or black, or gay, or Asian, or Hispanic, or for any other reason. Other people should be treated well.  

I do, however, think it’s a bit tone deaf to imply, perhaps indirectly, that what was so bad about 9/11 was how it made Mamdani’s father’s cousin feel. He has every right to tell this anecdote, and I don’t have enough information to second-guess it, though I will point out that President George W. Bush went out of his way to encourage the nation not to blame 9/11 on peaceful Muslims or Muslim Americans, who felt the loss on 9/11 just as keenly as the rest of us. 

If there’s a resentment felt by Americans toward Muslims, that resentment should be countered. It should be discouraged. It should be confronted. Of course, some who give power to that resentment are people like Zohran’s father, Mahmood Mamdani.  

Mahmood Mamdani was twice exiled by his native Uganda, and was taken in by, where else, the United States of America. Yet here’s how he feels about the U.S. This clip went viral on X, for good reason:  

“The U.S. put Indians in reservations. … They herded American Indians into separate territories. For the Nazis, this was the inspiration. Hitler realized two things: One, that genocide was do-able, it is possible to do genocide. That’s what Hitler realized. The second thing Hitler realized is that you don’t have to have a common citizenship. You can differentiate between people. The Nuremberg laws were patterned after American laws. …. The U.S invented the model.” 

So Zohran Mamdani’s father believes that one of America’s most beloved leaders, Abraham Lincoln, was the inspiration for Adolph Hitler’s brutal genocide. Does Zohran share his father’s views? Does he harbor this level of contempt for his adoptive country? 

I’d like to know. Maybe New York voters would as well. 

In any case, there is no denying that Zohran Mamdani is a radical and an extremist. I’m not talking about his religious beliefs. I’m talking about his support for socialism. His support for abolishing the police. His support for increasing the tax rate to 52 percent — half your income, more than half, should be confiscated by the government, in his view. 

That’s real extremism. No pretending otherwise. 

Robby Soave is co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising” and a senior editor for Reason Magazine. This column is an edited transcription of his daily commentary.