I'd say his "I could shoot a man on 5th Avenue" comment was sincere, too, and turns out, it's true. He could literally shoot a stranger on TV and his people would cheer.
He wouldn't have to, though. Any one of his lackeys would gladly do it for them, and we know they'd be pardoned and probably offered a seat in his cabinet.
I think I officially qualify as a "real New Yorker" now (as silly as that idea always was to me), and I dunno- I like Mamdani, certainly the best out of the major candidates, but part of me feels like it's all pretty hopeless. There's plenty of beauty to NY, but I can't help but feel more and more like the city is a bit of a lost cause, and has been for a while. Largely due to its leadership, granted, but at this point, what can really be done to help things? It's a glorified amusement park in a lot of ways- it feels like there's such a concentrated effort to cover up the pain and struggle and homelessness with more of that shiny tourism sheen. As someone who's been on both sides of it, the whole "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work your ass off to barely scrape by" thing is just tired and defeating anymore. I applaud so many NYers for being able to find the joy in the little things, and it's lovely seeing so many cultures that aren't beholden to the uber-American ideal of "you must consume and have as many possessions as possible". But the pain and the corruption- not to mention the growing passivity- runs deep, and at this point, I don't really know what can be done to stop it. Mamdani has some great ideas, but I don't know how feasible they really are in the long run. He's a hit with the younger crowd, but I haven't met a whole lot of older folks who like him. And just because of how far gone a lot of things are here, I think even the best, most well-intentioned mayor just wouldn't be able to meet most of their promises.
But I digress. Isn't that politics in general? And few of the city's struggles are unique to just NY, even if they are on a larger scale here. I'd like to hope that we could elect someone like Mamdani and that he'd be given a fair chance to really make some change, but it's exactly the article above that has me worried. NY certainly prioritizes the business aspect over the living aspect.
One thing's for sure- "This town needs an enema!"
