Source: In These Times
by Alberto Toscano
“On the night Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election, he delivered a rousing victory speech that made explicit the connection between his economic agenda and the national fight against authoritarianism. Calling out President Donald Trump, Mamdani declared, ‘If there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.’ Several weeks later — after that despot had threatened to besiege New York City with immigration raids and strip its federal funding, should Mamdani win—the mayor-elect stood beside Trump during a surreal White House press briefing. When a reporter pressed Mamdani on whether he still considered the president a fascist, the jovial, clearly charmed Trump interjected, ’You can just say yes. … It’s easier than explaining it’. The response was disarmingly nonchalant, coming from the head of an administration that has gone to great lengths to crush opposition to fascism elsewhere.” (12/22/25)