New York City\u2019s incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani, hasn\u2019t taken office yet. But he\u2019s already the new avatar of evil for conservative media figures.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been called \u201cdownright sinister\u201d and \u201cincompatible with America.\u201d His labels include commie, Marxist, jihadist sympathizer and \u201cseething leftist.\u201d Fox News\u2019 Laura Ingraham warned her viewers<\/a> not to be fooled by \u201csmiling socialists who rule like Soviet tyrants.\u201d<\/p>\n A New York Post post-election cover that depicted Mamdani<\/a> holding aloft the Soviet Union\u2019s hammer and sickle symbol sold out on newsstands by noon and was offered on e-Bay for $75. By the end of the day, the Post was selling baby onesies and commemorative plates emblazoned with the cover.<\/p>\n Already, conservative outlets see Mamdani joining Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton as someone guaranteed to make their audiences\u2019 blood boil. And by doing so, they can help Republicans in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very clear that he\u2019s going to be the No. 1 target of right-wing media for the foreseeable future, well into 2026,\u201d said Howard Polskin, publisher of the Righting<\/a>, a newsletter that follows conservative media. \u201cHe\u2019s colorful, controversial and not afraid of a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n The new bogeyman for conservative media<\/p>\n The head of an outlet that Polskin regularly monitors, the Daily Signal, said Mamdani is likely seen as a threat because his appeal to working-class Americans who feel left behind by the economy is similar to that of President Donald Trump, although they have different ideas about how to handle that.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember years ago there was Nancy Pelosi who was the bogeyman for Republicans,\u201d said Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of the Daily Signal. \u201cI think Mamdani is probably going to be the new person. I think that\u2019s why you see a lot of emphasis on him in conservative media.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Washington Examiner, editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon saw ominous signs in Mamdani\u2019s election night victory speech. \u201cHe was downright sinister, glorying not just in his achievement but in having laid low his vanquished enemies and stuck it to others besides. He took off his smiling campaign mask and revealed his venomous self,\u201d Gurdon wrote.<\/p>\n Newsmax\u2019s Rob Schmitt called Mamdani<\/a> the \u201cmayor for the foreign-born. We have flooded the country with diversity, and diversity delivered us Zohran.\u201d In an interview, Schmitt said he wasn\u2019t quite ready to anoint Mamdani as a deliberate target for the conservative media.<\/p>\n \u201cA go-to bogeyman makes it sound like it\u2019s manufactured,\u201d he told The Associated Press, \u201cwhereas we are just appropriately concerned about people that are spewing or trying to push an ideology that is destined to not work.\u201d<\/p>\n The Post recognized Mamdani as a target of interest well before the election. Between Oct. 27 and Nov. 5, he was the subject of seven of the tabloid\u2019s covers. One, headlined \u201cMam-Child,\u201d depicted Mamdani in a little boy\u2019s overalls to illustrate a column warning that the city wasn\u2019t a toy to hand to a \u201cbaby like Zohran.\u201d Another front page blared \u201cNot Zo Fast\u201d to herald a tightening race in the polls. Election Day\u2019s lead headline was \u201cTrump to New York: Keep the Commie Out.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani reached out to the White House post-election for a meeting with Trump and the president said Sunday<\/a> that \u201cwe\u2019ll work something out.\u201d<\/p>\n A socialist or a communist?<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s status as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and his Muslim background are behind many of the conservative media attacks.<\/p>\n Asked on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d this spring whether he was a communist, Mamdani said, \u201cNo, I am not.\u201d Webster\u2019s defines socialism as a political theory where the community or government owns and controls the production and distribution of goods. Communism, advanced by revolutionary Karl Marx, is considered a step beyond, where private property and capitalism no longer exist.<\/p>\n Many of Mamdani\u2019s critics make no distinction. \u201cCommie takeover in the Big Apple,\u201d one Fox News onscreen headline<\/a> read. \u201cThey elected a communist,\u201d World Net Daily wrote. \u201cCommunist, not socialist,\u201d Trump said<\/a> in a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview last month. \u201cCommunist. He\u2019s far worse than a socialist.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Jewish groups have expressed skepticism<\/a> about Mamdani, who has supported Palestinian rights and criticized Israel\u2019s attack in Gaza as genocide. But he has denounced Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and said he will work to combat antisemitism.<\/p>\n Republicans have a clear interest in seeing more American Jews \u2014 traditionally a group that leans toward Democrats \u2014 switch over. But that doesn\u2019t account for some of the hostility seen in the media.<\/p>\n The National Review said Mamdani\u2019s win meant \u201cit\u2019s open season on New York Jews<\/a>.\u201d Megyn Kelly said the tenets of Islam are inconsistent with American values<\/a> and Muslims should not be elected mayors or governors. Podcaster Michael Savage called him a \u201cMarxist jihadist sympathizer.\u201d<\/a> Influencer Laura Loomer predicted Mamdani would encourage Muslims to commit political assassinations<\/a> to acquire power and silence critics.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s staff did not return messages from The Associated Press. In the waning days of his campaign, he spoke out<\/a> against some of the religious-based attacks on him.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face or racist, baseless attacks all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,\u201d he said. \u201cI was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Making Mamdani the leader of his party in consumers\u2019 eyes<\/p>\n Some of the attacks reflect a common theme in politics and the media \u2014 not unique to Mamdani \u2014 to associate all members of a political party with the beliefs of one who could be depicted as on the fringe. The Daily Signal wrote after his election that Mamdani \u201cis now the putative leader of his party<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Victory Girls conservative blog used an illustration of the incoming mayor in a military uniform. \u201cThe socialists are coming, and Mamdani is just the beginning,\u201d the blog wrote. \u201cIf we ignore them, we will all be in big trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the new AOC in the sense that they have found someone who is relatively unknown that they get to define and hold up as the example of what it means to be a Democrat,\u201d said Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America.<\/p>\n Carusone said he\u2019s not sure if Mamdani will become a villain of the conservative media on the level of a Clinton or Pelosi, but he can understand the urgency.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t check him now,\u201d Carusone said, \u201che\u2019s going to capture the young people.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http:\/\/x.com\/dbauder<\/a> and https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/dbauder.bsky.socia<\/a> l<\/p>\n