Not 100% sure what he meant but I interpreted it to mean that he was talking about the need for the existence of Israel as a Jewish state (“State” as in “nation”) as a fallback for Jews fleeing antisemitism. But to me personally I still don’t like the idea that any nation (ok, maybe with the exception of the Vatican) should officially be a nation for one specific religion or ethnicity. People often forget that over 1/4 of Israeli citizens are not Jewish, and if Israel is officially a “Jewish State” then what does that mean for them? Nothing good.
One of the big things that Mamdani got so much criticism for was this exchange during the debate:
What the heck is supposed to be so terrible and offensive about that answer?!
Yeah, I absolutely don’t think anyone needs to enable the delusion that a nation state based on maintaining ethnic and religious purity of blood is a good thing.
But the fact that he’s saying that US new yorkers voting for an American in the primaries of a mayoral race is evidence of the need for a Jewish state is gross to me. Like he thinks that Jews of New York should have control over the rest of the city… Because he doesn’t like the ethnicity of the candidate then all other races should be purged from somewhere at least. Lowkey that is kind of what he implies.
People get flagged for antisemitism if they even accidentally imply that any Jewish people want to rule areas of the US in order to avoid assimilation and concentrate resources yet then assholes like this go and tell on themselves.
He ran in the Republican primary unopposed. The GOP isn’t even trying to get anyone elected in that office. Eric Adams is still out there running as an Independent, but I can’t imagine he will get many votes. If Cuomo does decide to run as an Independent, I see Adams getting under 5%. MAGA won’t know who to vote for, either. Adams has made deals with Trump, but he’s also black, so MAGA voters will be really reluctant to vote for him. I guess they’ll vote for Sliwa, but I can’t imagine they’ll be excited about it. Mamdani’s biggest threat is voter complacency.
They’re scared because a leftist Muslim is likely going to be mayor. Obviously, right wing media isn’t going to be happy about that, but the rest of mainstream media is basically Reagan conservative, so they don’t like this either. When was the last time New York City had a progressive mayor? Have they ever had a progressive mayor? I don’t even know, but if they did, I’m guessing it was well over 50 years ago.
Now, I don’t know who this Podhoretz guy is, but if he hasn’t been screaming in the streets about the fascists running the US right now, he probably doesn’t actually understand what a threat to Judaism looks like.
It’s deeply disappointing that so much of the Democratic establishment endorsed that guy considering his history.
Biden himself said that Cuomo should resign as governor in 2021, then just a few years later folks like Bill Clinton are giving strong endorsements. According to an article in Politico more than 40% of Cuomo’s top endorsements are by elected officials who condemned him and demanded his resignation 4 years ago.
The meltdowns are getting pretty dang weird, though (which makes them even funnier):
It’s so nonsensical on so many levels, I assumed it was a joke, but I honestly can’t tell. I don’t know how right-wing he is, but he does seem pretty Islamophobic, so… (The focus on Zohran’s wife, who has stayed very private, unconnected to politics, and who is an artist, makes it especially weird. I guess it has to be a woman enacting his fetish fantasy? I dunno.)
Point of order, CNN. “Businesses” don’t have feelings. Businesspeople might, but businesspeople are often wrong and usually put self-interest over what’s right for the group of people who actually make up a business.
