Early Monday, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani convened the press for an announcement. A civilian not privy to Mamdani’s advance schedule might have thought that the mayor would inform the public about the latest subway horror: the noontime Saturday killing of 26-year-old Darrel Rodriguez, commuting home from his job as a Midtown security guard, shot by a disguised, hooded, and masked gunman who, despite ubiquitous Manhattan cameras, has evaded a police manhunt for at least two days. (He is still on the run.) Instead, reporters who attended and members of the public who joined on YouTube to see the mayor were in for a spectacle: a grinning Mamdani bounding up to a podium to campaign-style music, against a backdrop of ebullient toddlers bouncing on an indoor jungle gym. “Good morning, my fellow New Yorkers,” he said to adults cheering and waving bright placards. “Today is an extraordinarily exciting day.”
