Zohran Mamdani, before taking the reins as the Democratic nominee for mayor in America’s most bustling city, held some rather unsettling ideologies. His history of Twitter declarations in 2020 reveal his call for radical action such as defunding the police, legalizing prostitution in the name of ‘queer liberation’, and labeling the New York Police Department as inherently racist. Additionally, Mamdani had made clear his distaste for the Christopher Columbus statue, recommending its removal, and openly advocated for boycott of and divestment from Israel.
Mamdani burst into the political scene in 2020, securing a seat in the State Assembly, his political platform was noticeably radical and offered a fresh spin on extremist views as opposed to simply advocating socialist grocery stores and billionaire bans. He was not alone in his ideological leftward shift, with members of his party and large fractions of social media taking a similar stance. This move elicited a reaction from mainstream Democrats who viewed Mamdani’s nomination with a mixture of disbelief and apprehension.
It would be simple for some to dismiss Mamdani’s tweets as a product of 2020, a year plagued by controversies and societal pressures. Yes, the then incumbent President Trump was contesting for reelection, and the COVID-19 lockdowns had an undeniable impact on societal values and structure. The tragic death of George Floyd, under deeply disturbing circumstances, not only felt inhumane and grievous, but also triggered an upsurge of emotions and reactions.
The vortex of events in 2020 might offer a valid reason for the societal madness that ensued, but it can’t entirely exonerate or justify Mamdani’s position, nor provide a comprehensive explanation for the extreme leftward shift witnessed that year. During the height of these actions, Mamdani turned to Twitter to convey truncated versions of the Communist Manifesto principles, arguing for the necessity of a communist mayor for New York City.
2020 saw Mamdani actively participating in the demolition of statues, openly denigrating a statue of Christopher Columbus with an offensive gesture in the process. As a part of a broader movement against colonialism, he donned the mantle of his Ugandan nationality and openly celebrated it. However, Mamdani’s most outrageous declarations were those rooted in ‘intersectionality’, a term that hard-found relevance in 2020.
Intersectionality became a tool for academics to unify left-wing activists and served as a firm platform for Mamdani to make bizarre connections between ‘queer liberation’ and anti-Israel sentiments. He disseminated statements such as ‘no one’s free until we’re all free’, and ‘queer liberation means defund the police’. He didn’t hold back, expressing outright that the NYPD represented a significant threat to public safety due to its alleged racist and anti-queer nature.
Exacerbating his extreme positions, Mamdani consistently engaged in pushing the boundaries of social constructs around sexual orientation and gender identity. His repetitive usage of the term ‘queer’ served to widen its utilization to encompass not only homosexual couples but also transgender sex workers. His incessant insistence on identifying men as women once they professed as such further underpins his alignment with a radical interpretation of gender ideology.
His firm alignment with gender ideology, detestation for NYPD, Christopher Columbus, and unswerving dedication to anticolonialism hardly seemed like a balanced collection of opinions to create unity in NYC. However, back in 2020, his stance sounded almost mainstream. The mass acceptance of his ideologies possibly reflects the unusual circumstances of the year 2020, and made them appear normal, albeit only momentarily.
A possible justification for this radicalism traces back to how people generally responded and conversed in 2020. The discourse then had manifested symptoms of virulent left-wing radicalism that often lacked reason or moderation. This ripple of radicalism transcended Mamdani and penetrated other Democrats and liberal organizations from 2019 to 2023. Kamala Harris, the former Vice President, seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, expressed her support for taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries for transgender illegal immigrants in prison.
This extreme idea, ludicrous as it might be, wasn’t solely Harris’ brainchild. She merely reciprocated to an inquiry from the American Civil Liberties Union which asked about it. Surprisingly, it was seen as an emblem of ‘civil liberties’. In an attempt to erase sex differences, everyone left of center, including former President Joe Biden, endorsed the term ‘LatinX’ as an alternative to the gender-laden words Latino and Latina.
Government agencies and medical journals participated in this play of words by substituting ‘pregnant women’ and ‘mothers’ for ‘pregnant people’ and ‘birthing persons’. ‘Chest feeding’ became an acceptable term to replace ‘breast feeding’. Simultaneously, Democrats began their events with ‘land acknowledgements’, and Rhode Island initiated a name change due to historically ignorant woke reasons.
Amidst the ‘racial reckoning’ following George Floyd’s death, corporations went along with Joe Biden’s baseless statement that linked opposition to abortion with white supremacist ideology. Major newspapers took this a step further, broadcasting wild conspiracy theories. Simultaneously, Biden explicitly characterized Georgia’s election law, which actually augmented turnout, particularly among black individuals, as modern-day Jim Crow.
How did everything become so wild, then? The causative factors: the Trump Presidency, COVID-19, lockdowns, George Floyd’s death, and an ever-more extreme ideological shift among political figures such as Biden, Harris, and Mamdani. In an environment riddled with fear, mistrust, and outrage, it’s no surprise that Mamdani established such a radical political worldview.
One prominent voice in this echo chamber of extremism is Robin DiAngelo, who, shockingly, became a respected figure in reputable circles with her work on White Fragility, required alongside the teachings of Ibram X. Kendi by employers and universities. Election denier Stacey Abrams also became a media darling and a Democrats’ hero. The excesses of this period cannot be solely attributed to the external events like Trump’s election, the pandemic lockdowns, or Floyd’s untimely death.
An additional element contributing to this extreme trend was censorship based on a distorted understanding of ‘misinformation’ and ‘harm’. Beginning with the uproar over Sen. Tom Cotton’s op-ed in the New York Times, which led to a bizarre claim that its publication put Black staff members ‘in danger’, this twisted notion served to suppress and marginalize right-of-center views. It succeeded in moving the perceived center toward the left, only making the far-Left ideologies seem more palatable.
Fortunately, this wave of absurdity seems to have reached its peak with Zohran Mamdani’s election as the Democratic nominee for mayor. Mamdani’s statements and actions reflect a collision of several factors: fears fueled by the spread of COVID-19, frustration from the lockdowns, anger following the brutal death of George Floyd, and hostility towards Trump’s administration. In retrospect, given this cacophony, it’s unsurprising that his radical worldview found a platform.