On Friday, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a speech from City Hall, which was billed as "Marking America's 250th Birthday", but was actually a nearly 14 minute long trashing of America, as he accused "the powerful" of supremacy, claimed only a few are allowed freedom, said America is where "not all are created equal", trashed our treatment of immigrants and blasted ICE. But if you watched CNN's Erica Hill's coverage on CNN News Central, you were told the speech has some thinking about a Mamdani presidency.
Hill introduced a clip from the speech, making sure to point out "He delivered that speech from the desk used by George Washington when he was President," as if he wouldn't make Washington roll over in his grave. She talked about it glowingly, noting, "He certainly touched on immigration, touched on what he sees as American exceptionalism, and perhaps his view for the future."
She then handed off to CNN Correspondent Gloria Pazmino, who again mentioned the desk, then played another clip from the speech, before actually raising the possibility of a future Mamdani run for the White House.
MAMDANI CLIP: We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one where children go to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more. We see monopolies that dominate every industry, and oligarchs who buy elections. We see masked agents terrorizing our streets, eating food cooked by our undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans.
PAZMINO: I think it does make some people wonder, is Mamdani thinking about the future, perhaps a presidential future? But as you know, as a non-natural born American citizen, he cannot run for the White House. And he's been asked the question if he would support a Constitutional Amendment to make that a possible reality. He told ABC News earlier this week that he believes the Constitution is just fine as it is.
It's disturbing to think Mamdani's nasty cartoon of America actually appeals to CNN journalists. Two hours later Hill began another segment on Mamdani, with another, even more vile and disturbing clip from his speech.
MAMDANI CLIP: The powerful have always known their answer. America, in their view, is an arena of supremacy where only a select few are allowed freedom. Where not all are created equal. America, if you ask them, becomes less the more people it welcomes. America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for merely being allowed to visit.
Hill then welcomed Mamdani adviser Morris Katz, and instead of pressing him on the outrageous contents of that clip, asked him why the Mayor wanted to give the speech. His answer was full of irony.
KATZ: What we see is there's no longer an excuse to turn people against each other. And that's so much of the rhetoric we see coming out of the Republican party today. And what the Mayor is showing is a different kind of politics, where instead of turning people on their neighbors, we take on bad landlords and we deliver for working people.
Apparently, Hill didn't view Mamdani's description of "the powerful" as supremacists, racists and bigots, as divisive! This allowed Katz to claim that it's Republican rhetoric that is turning people against each other, with no follow-up question.
Instead she seemed fascinated by what Mamdani had to say.
HILL: Mayor Mamdani talked this morning, about American exceptionalism, and he talked about what he saw as an irony in it, saying, the story of America has so often been written by those who were told that they were anything but exceptional.
Hill would soon set up Katz to claim that Republicans are not patriotic, but rather it's the Democrats that should claim the patriotism mantle.
HILL: There are Democrats who have lamented the fact that they feel the party has in some ways ceded patriotism to the GOP. Is this a moment that you see that offers an opportunity to take that back? Is this an attempt to do so, to reframe patriotism?
KATZ: Yes, I think absolutely. I think we should also hold Republicans accountable for in no way being patriots.
So patriotism isn't "love of country." Patriotism should be reframed as pushing a leftist agenda. Rather than challenge Katz, Hill moved on to who the leader of the Democrat party is now.
Mamdani's speech was a vicious attack on America, as divisive as it was unpatriotic, yet Hill's segments featured praise for it, trashing of Republicans, and a possible Mamdani run for the presidency. This is CNN!
