After celebrating his win in the Democratic Party primary for the mayor of New York City back in June, ABC’s The View welcomed far-left, anti-Semitic, communist candidate Zohran Mamdani to Wednesday’s edition of the show with open arms. The cast fawned for Mamdani and they cooed about his “meteoric rise.” They repeatedly teed him up to knock down his detractors and treated his controversies with kid gloves at they allowed him to bloviate his way around them.
When introducing him, moderator Whoopi Goldberg boasted that Mamdani “has been a political lightning rod after pulling off a stunning victory” in the primary, and about how his “social progressive message is resonating beyond the borders of New York.”
Having come out as a big fan of his following his victory in June, co-host Sunny Hostin was given the honor of slow pitching the first question:
At 33 you are a rising star in the Democratic Party. You are the front-runner to become the next mayor of New York City this November. My question is, did you see this coming, and what do you credit this meteoric rise to?
Mamdani turned up the charm as he answered, quipping that “it really is a Joy to be here,” while giving a nod to co-host Joy Behar. “Just named dropped you,” quipped co-host Sara Haines as the rest laughed.
Haines got to ask the next question, requesting him to speak about Mayor Eric Adams, who recently dropped out of the race. “Assemblyman, over the weekend, one of your opponents, embattled mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race. And while Adams didn't name check you he did appear to make veiled swipes,” she prefaced before playing a soundbite. “What is your response to that and why do you think he's decided to drop out now?”
The next series of questions came from Behar, who set up a line of President Trump strawmen for Mamdani to knock down (Click “expand”):
BEHAR: Let's quickly tick through all the things that Trump said about you, and let’s get that out of the way. Number one, he's attacking you as a communist. Are you?
MAMDANI: No, I'm a democratic socialist. That means I believe in dignity for all people.
BEHAR: It means more than that. You're not a communist I agree with that.
MAMDANI: No, I'm not a communist.
(…)
BEHAR: Okay. So you're like sort of like a Scandinavian type of politician, I would say.
MAMDANI: A little more brown, but, yes.
BEHAR: Okay. Okay. He's rooting for your opponent Andrew Cuomo. Why do you think that is?
MAMDANI: You know, he is looking to clear the field for Andrew Cuomo because he knows that Andrew Cuomo would clear the field for trump's agenda.
(…)
BEHAR: Number three, he says that he'll withhold -- this really is something – Trump says that he will withhold federal funding for New York City if you win. Can he do that, number one, and my question is, is that going to stop people from voting for you?
MAMDANI: You know, this is just one of the many threats that Donald Trump makes. Every day he wakes up he makes another threat.
(…)
BEHAR: Here’s my last one. He wants to use cities like New York as military training grounds. Can you stop him?
To Behar’s question about Trump threatening to withhold funds, Goldberg accused Trump of “tampering” with the votes. “I’m just saying,” Goldberg argued to those who point out that she made a serious accusation without evidence.
The first mildly critical question came from co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin who wanted to know why Mamdani’s fellow Democrats in the state weren’t lining up to endorse him: “Even members of your own party like leader Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, both New Yorkers, have been reluctant to endorse you; Kamala Harris gave what I would call is a tepid endorsement. Why do you think members of your own party have been hesitant to embrace you?”
Following a commercial break, Haines came in with a question pressing Mamdani on his “inflammatory statements” against Israel “like calling Israel an apartheid state and questions its right to exist as a Jewish state.” She also noted how he was “evasive with a reporter about condemning Hamas,” but didn't mention his use of "globalize the intifada." “Given New York has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, why should voters who see this as a moral red line trust your clarity and judgment?” she wondered.
He claimed those were just “misconceptions” about him.
Goldberg finally got a chance to ask some questions of her own. In this instance she demanded to know how he planned to go after companies like Amazon and Google for supposedly not paying their taxes in the city:
On day one, why aren't you going to big corporations like Amazon and Google and making sure that they pay what could really help the city raise up and get us where we need to be? Because I need to hear somebody say, because it's the thing nobody says! They say, ‘oh, we're going to make people pay’ but they're not clear!
Following yet another commercial break, Mamdani got his toughest question in the whole interview from Farah Griffin, who grilled him on his past anti-police comments:
Back in 2020 you called for defunding the police, something you've since walked back. You also called the NYPD racist, anti-queer and a threat to public safety in 2020, but now agree they deserve an apology. You initially refused to denounce highly charged rhetoric related to Israel, then later said you would discourage its use. How can New Yorkers trust you and not be concerned that consultants are getting in your ear to get you elected, but you are still hold all of those positions?
After he danced around awhile and tried to make excuses for his defund the police position, Farah Griffin pressed further by wondering: “Can I ask have you formally apologized to the NYPD?” To which Mamdani did not say ‘yes,’ but rather, “These are conversations that I'm having individually with officers.”
