Since the MAGA hordes first learned about the existence of NYC Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani last week, they’ve been losing their minds — tripping over themselves to lob racist and Islamophobic attacks at the candidate and fearmonger about “communism.”
It’s, in part, of a piece with the now-familiar Republican tendency to paint any up-and-coming Democrats, regardless of their actual politics, as radical leftist revolutionaries. The rancid obsession with Mamdani brings to mind the treatment of AOC and other members of “the squad,” who have been demonized since they first entered Congress years ago. It’s one way to keep MAGA’s faux populist promises from having to go toe-to-toe with policies that might actually help working-class Americans.
The strategy is also, of course, partially rooted in the racism and xenophobia at the heart of the MAGA movement. President Trump’s supporters online have been attempting to cast the Democratic socialist and New York state lawmaker as some sort of radical, anti-American outsider who wants to do communism. That’s a far cry from the neighborly candidate New Yorkers saw in recent months, who ran in the primaries on a campaign narrowly focused on affordability and was rewarded with surging popularity.
Trump ran for the White House this second time on a campaign of political retribution, first and foremost. Many of his first actions upon reentering the White House involved installing his cronies at the highest levels of the federal government and the Justice Department to do just that. Ed Martin, the guy he installed as interim acting head of the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office — before he was moved to a different role within the DOJ when the deadline for serving in an acting capacity ran out and Senate Republicans were wary of confirming him — spent a good deal of his time in office threatening to open investigations into elected Democrats.
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has also made a habit out of antagonizing, scuffling with and even arresting elected Democrats trying to do oversight on ICE’s activities and/or detention centers. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was handcuffed when he tried to ask a question at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference amid the National Guard’s deployment in LA. Similar situations have unfolded with New York City’s comptroller (and then mayoral candidate) Brad Lander and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ).
That’s all to say, it was a matter of when, not if, Trump and Noem would latch onto far-right lawmakers’ and MAGA conspiracy theorists’ racist meltdowns about Mamdani. Yesterday, Trump said “we’ll have to arrest him” in response to questions about Mamdani’s vow to maintain New York City’s sanctuary status. He also falsely questioned Mamdani’s citizenship — the candidate has lived in the U.S. since he was seven and became a naturalized citizen in 2018 — and nodded in the direction of deporting him.
“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” Trump said. “We’re going to look at everything.”
And during an at-times unhinged meeting of Trump’s Homeland Security Advisory Council today, Mamdani came up again. According to NOTUS, members of the council include NYC’s disgraced and disbarred mayor Rudy Giuliani and David Chesnoff, a Trump adviser and lawyer who defended Corey Lewandowski against sexual misconduct allegations. Both Guiliani and Chesnoff brought up Mamdani’s religion (he is Muslim) to try to suggest that Mamdani was anti-American. Noem seized on the Islamophobic moment to suggest she might look into ways to go after the Democratic nominee. Per NOTUS:
That comment appeared to catch Noem’s attention. Noem, whose department oversees the increasingly militarized deportation raids frequently led by masked people who hide their names and badges, said she’s looking for creative ways to expand her power.
“The Department of Homeland Security has authorities that have never been utilized before … and I’m going to need some good minds on how to use those authorities,” she said.
Dr. Oz Helps Whip Votes
It’s a headline for the ages. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was apparently enlisted today to help President Trump sway House Republicans who have concerns about voting for the draconian cuts to Medicaid, the very health care service that Oz purportedly oversees. Per Politico:
They’re especially concerned how their communities could access a limited pot of $50 billion for rural hospitals in the legislation. Oz specifically talked about how districts in states like Pennsylvania and other areas that are not specifically rural could obtain money from the fund, according to two people with direct knowledge.
The House, as of Wednesday evening, is stuck in a perpetual rules vote while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tries to get all the “nos” in his conference to “yes” and while they wait for members caught in weather delays to arrive for a vote on the megabill. My colleague Emine Yücel has more here.
176-Year-Old Abortion Ban Struck Down
While it was expected given the liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the state’s high court officially struck down an archaic 1849 abortion ban in the state that, like in many states across the country, came back on the books in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
It’s a ruling that Wisconsin voters have been awaiting ever since the state elected a liberal majority in 2023. Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who won her seat in 2023, ran a campaign closely focused on protecting reproductive rights in the state. The AP has more here.
In Case You Missed It
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Mike Johnson Reminds House GOP That Legislating Isn’t That Important Right Now
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Senate Republicans Pass Medicaid Slashing Megabill
What We Are Reading
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According to the maga masses Mamdani can’t be kicked out fast enough. He’s a threat to their self assurance that only they, and their cult leader, are qualified to rule. Any opportunity for a brown Muslim to be mayor of our largest city must be eliminated.
If Trump told Noem to get down on all fours and bark like a dog, she get down in a heartbeat. Then if he called her a bad dog, she’d shoot herself.
Not the only reason she’d get down on all fours.
Here’s a cat. And my favorite example of machine translated ad copy. And a product that he wants:
Edit: Noem isn’t partially inspired by xenophobia and racism. That’s all she is inspired by. That’s all that’s there. No watermelon dreams for her.
This fucking country, man, I don’t know.