Friday’s weekly news recap featuring PBS News Hour host Amna Nawaz, Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart, and New York Times columnist David Brooks preferred to talk about the conservative reaction—or more accurately, Nawaz’s cherry-picked conservative reactions—to socialist Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral primary win than Mamdani’s actual positions and history.
Nawaz began, “Mamdani’s 33 years-old, he’s a self-described democratic socialist, and his win, we should point out, has fueled a hateful response from some on the right. There’s a major MAGA voice named Charlie Kirk, who posted this: ‘24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.’
She also highlighted, “Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles actually called for Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, as a naturalized U.S. citizen, to be denaturalized and deported. Jonathan, what does Mamdani’s win tell us about Democrats and their message, if anything, and what does the response tell us about Republicans and theirs?”
Mamdani should not have his citizenship revoked, and Republicans should not help him develop a reputation as a persecuted victim who uses that status to avoid talking about his actual beliefs. Republicans must be able to, however, simply tell the truth about him. The truth is Mamdani pals around with 9/11 sympathizers, seeks to “globalize the intifada,” and posted on his own Twitter account that New York City needed a communist mayor.
Of course PBS wasn’t interested in any of that, as Capehart agreed with Nawaz, “Well, the response, I’ll start with the Republican response. It’s shameful, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting. It also tells me that Republicans are deathly afraid of their prospects in the 2026 midterm elections. Especially if they are going after a guy who simply won the primary in a municipal election.”
Capehart noticeably avoided any endorsement of Mamdani’s views, but also tried to suggest New York City isn’t all that liberal:
The other thing folks need to understand, the reputation of New York City is of a liberal bastion, but—and it’s a city where there is a six-to-one Democratic registration advantage over Republicans. And yet this city that has a reputation of being a liberal bastion, elected Rudy Giuliani twice and Mike Bloomberg three times, the first time as a Republican, the next two times as an independent. And so, what I take from Mamdani’s win, above all else, is he went out there and asked New Yorkers for their votes. He did not do a Rose Garden strategy. He asked people for their votes, and he gave them something to vote for, and that’s something Democrats should emulate. Ask people for their votes.
Bloomberg left office over a decade ago, but Nawaz moved on and asked Brooks the same question, “What do you make of Mamdani’s win and the response we’ve seen so far?”
Brooks was more succinct, “Yeah, people hate the establishment these days, and the Republicans have found a way to tap into that, and now Mamdani has found a way for Democrats. And so if moderate Democrats who don't think the party should go democratic socialist want to win, they should be as bold as he was, as much vision, as vibrant as he was. He ran a great campaign, and the problem with the more mainstream Democrats is they’re looking old and tepid these days, so be more like Mamdani without the socialism.”
Mamdani is more of a Marxist than a jihadi, and while Republicans should be clear about that, the media should report on Mamdani’s actual history because behind the smiley-faced promises of free bus rides is a guy who clearly does not know how economics works or who history’s bad guys are.
Here is a transcript for the June 27 show:
PBS News Hour
6/27/2025
7:52 AM ET
AMNA NAWAZ: Mamdani’s 33 years-old, he’s a self-described democratic socialist, and his win, we should point out, has fueled a hateful response from some on the right. There’s a major MAGA voice named Charlie Kirk, who posted this: “24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.”
Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles actually called for Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, as a naturalized U.S. citizen, to be denaturalized and deported. Jonathan, what does Mamdani’s win tell us about Democrats and their message, if anything, and what does the response tell us about Republicans and theirs?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, the response, I’ll start with the Republican response. It’s shameful, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting. It also tells me that Republicans are deathly afraid of their prospects in the 2026 midterm elections. Especially if they are going after a guy who simply won the primary in a municipal election. The other thing folks need to understand, the reputation of New York City is of a liberal bastion, but—and it’s a city where there is a six-to-one Democratic registration advantage over Republicans. And yet this city that has a reputation of being a liberal bastion, elected Rudy Giuliani twice and Mike Bloomberg three times, the first time as a Republican, the next two times as an independent. And so, what I take from Mamdani’s win, above all else, is he went out there and asked New Yorkers for their votes. He did not do a Rose Garden strategy. He asked people for their votes, and he gave them something to vote for, and that’s something Democrats should emulate. Ask people for their votes.
NAWAZ: What do you make of Mamdani’s win and the response we’ve seen so far?
DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, people hate the establishment these days and the Republicans have found a way to tap into that, and now Mamdandi has found a way for Democrats. And so if moderate Democrats who don't think the party should go democratic socialist want to win, they should be as bold as he was, as much vision, as vibrant as he was. He ran a great campaign, and the problem with the more mainstream Democrats is they’re looking old and tepid these days, so be more like Mamdani without the socialism.