He\u2019s a real prima-dani.<\/p>\n
Social media-savvy Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> is developing a reputation IRL as \u201cthin-skinned\u201d and hyper-sensitive to public criticism, despite hyping himself online as a smiling and unflappable politician, scores of insiders spilled to The Post.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, Hizzoner huffily badgers critics who dare question him publicly, harbors petty grudges against prominent pols and often only responds to texts when he\u2019s miffed about bad press, according to interviews with more than a dozen elected officials, consultants and other politicos.<\/p>\n \u201cI see more and more he cannot handle criticism, but mainly from elected officials who he thinks he can push around,\u201d one political consultant said.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani is \u201cthin-skinned\u201d and obsesses over criticism behind the scenes, more than a dozen insiders told The Post. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor personally reaches out when electeds criticizes him publicly. If they speak, then he cares. He cares because he doesn\u2019t want bad press. It shows a sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n The insiders who spoke with The Post about Mamdani asked to remain anonymous to avoid crossing a touchy mayor with whom they must deal over matters of governance and politics.<\/p>\n His reputed simmering irritation recently boiled over after city Jewish leaders called on him to \u201cstop fanning the flames of hatred\u201d<\/a> against Israel in the wake of an alleged antisemitic stabbing attack on the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n Sources said the mayor personally called at least one elected official who attended the news conference, complaining about being told to tone down his rhetoric \u2014 and upset that their exhortation was connected to his video branding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a \u201cwar criminal,\u201d <\/a>which was posted days before the attack.<\/p>\n The controversial two-minute clip, delivered direct-to-camera by a sober Mamdani sitting at a desk in front of the US and New York City flags, garnered an incredible 100 million views across social media platforms. <\/p>\n Moshe Grunhaus is seen on the ground after being stabbed in an alleged antisemitic hate crime in Manhattan. Mamdani was irritated with an elected official who attended a press conference from Jewish leaders calling on him to tone down his anti-Israel rhetoric after the attack. Facebook\/Lidia Lander<\/p>\n His mastery of social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, where he now, respectively, has 3.5 million and 11.9 million followers, largely fueled Mamdani\u2019s meteoric rise during 2025 from little-known state lawmaker to the Big Apple\u2019s next mayor \u2014 and, thus, a standard bearer for the nationally ascendant Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n He bombarded New Yorkers\u2019 feeds with slick, entertaining videos in which he affably pressed his campaign\u2019s core message of affordability, such as when he highlighted \u201chalalflation\u201d<\/a> at the city\u2019s street food carts.<\/p>\n After taking office in January, Mamdani maintained his image-conscious ways by pouring $53 million into a new \u201cOffice of Mass Engagement,\u201d<\/a> an expansion of his already massive communications team<\/a> that critics argue is a propaganda organ for City Hall.<\/p>\n Mamdani branded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a \u201cwar criminal\u201d in a video posted days before the Upper West Side stabbing. X\/@NYCMayor<\/p>\n He also regularly drops new videos, from an arguably ill-advised clip filmed outside billionaire hedge fund titan Ken Griffin\u2019s $200 million condo<\/a> to hype the DSA \u201ctax the rich\u201d agenda to a 13-minute documentary<\/a> this week about tenants organizing against their do-nothing landlord.<\/p>\n Protecting the DSA movement\u2019s burgeoning political power appears to be the source of much Mamdani touchiness, insiders said.<\/p>\n Another Democratic operative said Mamdani is \u201ctough on staff,\u201d often holding late-night meetings in Gracie Mansion with his DSA comrades.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s slick social media videos helped propel him into office, but have caused him some problems \u2014 such as when he targeted billionaire Ken Griffin. X\/SaraEisen<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the first DSA (mayor) so they have to show he can manage the city, and any time someone puts a dent in that it hurts their cause,\u201d a government insider said.<\/p>\n But sources revealed that Mamdani also obsesses over even the potential for bad media coverage, such as when Queens Borough President Donovan Richards in July slammed the DSA as \u201cwhite supremacy\u201d<\/a> in an X post.<\/p>\n Sources said Mamdani tried to nip a negative story in the bud by having a staffer reach out to Richards\u2019 office to take down the post. Richards left the post up, leading to a Post story highlighting the rift between Mamdani\u2019s largely lily-white DSA comrades and minority lawmakers such as the borough president.<\/p>\n Queens Borough President Donovan Richards\u2019 recent swipe against the DSA prompted a failed attempt by Mamdani to nip bad coverage in the bud. The story made the July 21 cover of The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s so thin-skinned and reads everything,\u201d one City Council member said.<\/p>\n \u201cHis security blanket is his phone and the dopamine from how many likes he gets on a post,\u201d a Democratic operative scoffed. \u201cSeems to keep him going.\u201d<\/p>\n Posts that harshed Mamdani\u2019s mellow also included City Councilwoman Virginia Maloney (D-Manhattan) rebutting the mayor\u2019s claim<\/a> that a budget proposal by lawmakers cut services with a lashing, \u201cI know math is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Maloney\u2019s sarcastic post on X apparently drew Mamdani\u2019s ire, and he reached out to her, sources said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat Virginia Maloney tweet really got under their skin,\u201d a source said amid the spat.<\/p>\n He likewise reached out to elected officials who slammed him over a proposed nearly 10% property tax increase, insiders said.<\/p>\n Mamdani was blocked from speaking at Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad\u2019s funeral in Queens last week \u2014 leaving the mayor fuming mad. Calvary Assembly of God<\/p>\n As The Post reported last week, Mamdani fumed in silence<\/a> as he was snubbed from eulogizing Army Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad at her funeral in Queens last Friday.<\/p>\n One Democratic insider said Mamdani treats those who cross him with a \u201ccold demeanor,\u201d terse in responses and not his usual smiling self. That\u2019s a contrast to his usual smiley and affable public manner, even to foes like his unexpected texting bud<\/a> President Trump and in the face of boos, like the ones he received during an anti-crime event <\/a>on Staten Island this week.<\/p>\n Multiple sources said they discovered that one sure-fire way to get Mamdani\u2019s and his team\u2019s attention \u2014 and a reply \u2014 will be negative news coverage or a critical social media post.<\/p>\n \u201cThey only respond when it\u2019s a crisis for them and reaches crisis levels in the press, but before that they don\u2019t return calls, texts or emails,\u201d a Democratic operative said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has been known to hold grudges against whoever challenges him or his positions for even some of the smallest of slights, and those people get sent to the back of the line unless he needs something.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani kept smiling as he was booed relentlessly during an NYPD event on Staten Island this week.<\/p>\n Some insiders did credit the youthful Mamdani, 34, for being engaged in backroom dealings and acknowledging his limits. The mayor carries himself with \u201chumility,\u201d a union source said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asks lots of questions. Seeks to understand the issues he\u2019s lacking familiarity with,\u201d the source said. <\/p>\n \u201cHe does more listening than talking. That\u2019s uncommon in the political realm.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The mayor often doesn\u2019t respond to texts for days, unless he\u2019s irritated about bad press, several insiders griped. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s senior spokeswoman Dora Pekec said in a statement: \u201cThe mayor\u2019s focus has and always will be how best to deliver for New Yorkers and he sees our city and state elected officials as valuable partners in building a safer and more affordable city.\u201d<\/p>\n City Hall officials conducting damage control isn\u2019t new, but insiders said Mamdani is quickly showing himself to be even more sensitive to media coverage than his notoriously whiny<\/a> groundhog-killing predecessor Bill de Blasio.<\/a><\/p>\n Mamdani should focus on the job, rather than a \u201cfirst-term council member tweeting\u201d about him, snarked Fabien Levy, former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 chief mouthpiece.<\/p>\n \u201cThis administration is more on Twitter, Instagram or TikTok than probably any other politician in the county, but to steal an Eric Adams-ism: it\u2019s not what\u2019s in the tweets, it\u2019s what\u2019s in the streets,\u201d Levy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s a real prima-dani. Social media-savvy Mayor Zohran Mamdani is developing a reputation IRL as \u201cthin-skinned\u201d and hyper-sensitive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9894,302,1091,81,68,57,9,11,10,4015,58,82],"class_list":["post-315801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bill-de-blasio","tag-city-hall","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america","tag-eric-adams","tag-exclusive","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-social-media","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}