One of the least surprising things ever was National “Public” Radio rushing in to promote radical leftist New York City mayor candidate Zohran Mamdani. Inside their leftist bubble, critiques of Mamdani are “unsubstantiated.”

NPR co-host Leila Fadel (rhymes with coddle!) insisted “even though Mamdani tried hard to keep affordability at the center of his campaign, others tried to define his identity with unsubstantiated claims that he would promote Islamic law, that he supports terrorism and that he's an antisemite.” Online, the headline was about Mamdani "tackling hate head-on."

NPR gave Mamdani nine minutes to promote himself on the July 1 Morning Edition. The larger interview (36 minutes) is on YouTube. 

The "tough part" of the nine minutes was Fadel suggesting "it sounds great to have free child care and free buses and groceries that you can afford. But a lot of what you're promising is out of the mayor's hand." She asked several questions about how he could deliver, but not about whether it's actually "free" or whether it would cause problems. She also helped him to explain his views on whether billionaires should be allowed to exist. 

But the real promotion came when Fadel -- "a proud Muslim and Arab American, who said her identity is a big part what she brings to her work" -- turned to "racist anti-Muslim attacks."

FADEL: You know, the thing that was very clear in the weeks before, and the days after the primary, was this barrage of racist, anti-Muslim attacks on you, equating you to a terrorist, saying you're a danger to the safety of Americans, especially Jewish Americans. And I'm going to repeat some of the attacks, not because I think they're OK to say, but I want listeners to understand what's being said. And it's not just from the right wing and Republicans in office. It's also from other influential figures. Debra Messing of Will & Grace posted online that you sided with terrorists and you celebrated 9/11. You were nine when that happened. Republican Representative Nancy Mace posted a picture of you in your Eid outfit and wrote, after 9/11, we said, never forget. I think we sadly have forgotten. Republican Representative Andy Ogles called you Little Muhammad and said you need to be deported and is calling for your denaturalization. Were you prepared for this level of bigotry?

MAMDANI: It's unsurprising, and yet it's still deeply saddening. As many Muslims in this country know, to exist in public life is to have to deal with this kind of slander at a different scale. And it's part of why so many have thought that the safest place to live is in the shadows. And so much of my hope for this campaign was to bring the margins of our city into the mainstream. It's been very difficult to see just how much of this hatred has been normalized. And as you've said, it's not just Republican congresspeople, it's an actress of a show that I used to watch as a kid.

And I think that ultimately my responsibility is to show that our vision for this city, it's a vision that is universal. It's a vision that wants to recognize the belonging of each and every New Yorker. And it's in stark contrast to this exclusionary vision that we see from so many, one that seeks to distract people from an inability to take care of working people by designating the enemies as the other. One of the most difficult parts of this, however, have been that the threats that have been made on my life and on people that I love are ones that fundamentally transform how you can live. And...

FADEL: So it's changed how you can live?

MAMDANI: It has. It has. The fact that I now have to have security at all times. It's a different way of engaging with the world. But my responsibility is to showcase that this is but a drop in the bucket of how people actually feel in this city. You know, just a few days after I received a number of death threats and someone who said that he was going to blow up my car -- which was news to me because I don't own a car -- I walked the length of Manhattan to speak to New Yorkers, and I did it because I think that the way that we defeat this bigotry is by showcasing just how small of a minority it actually represents.

NPR and Fadel cried "unsubstantiated" without engaging with any substance. Pro-Israel sites and Israeli newspapers have lined up evidence of Mamdani's controversial views. Let's start with Mamdani granting a three-HOUR interview to Muslim radical Hasan Piker, who said America is a "top dog" of terrorism that deserved 9/11.Guilt by association? Now consider that NPR's Tom Dreisbach recently posted a story titled "Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists."

Mamdani refused to condemn the term "globalize the Intifada," which is linked to violent attacks on Jews. Mamdani hates Israel and set up his campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine at Bowdoin College in the 2010s and, as a state assemblyman, introduced a controversial bill to strip the nonprofit status of organizations with any links to Israeli settlements. His opponents will make this an issue, even if NPR won't address it. 

PS: Fadel looks pretty charmed by this "charming socialist." 

Was going to pull a clip of Mamdani’s new interview with NPR, but I think these images tell the story just fine. pic.twitter.com/mlhQAOVP2F

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 1, 2025