The liberal media has been having a field day attacking former New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo as anti-Muslim for his response to a statement made during an interview Thursday morning on WABC Radio's "Sid & Friends In The Morning." Cuomo chuckled when host Sid Rosenberg claimed that if there was another 9/11, Zohran Mamdani, who is the Democrat candidate for mayor, and a Muslim, would "be cheering."
Of course there are legitimate reasons for Cuomo's chuckle, which most of the media rather not touch.
Cuomo had just told Rosenberg, "People's lives are at stake, G-d forbid another 9/11. Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?" To which Rosenberg responded, "Yeah, you know I could. He'd be cheering." Cuomo then chuckled and said, "That's another problem." On Friday, Mamdani held a presser, where he ripped Cuomo. On Friday's CNN News Central, co-host Brianna Keilar brought on leftist Muslim comedian and talk show host Dean Obeidallah to discuss the whole issue. Did anyone chuckle when he compared Trump to Osama bin Laden?
The best she could do was to ask her guest, "When you look at Mamdani's approach, do you have any constructive criticism for how he is approaching this?" How probing! And guess how Obeidallah responded. "Except that I'd like him to come on my radio show, I have no other criticism of him." Of course he doesn't.
Keilar didn't challenge Obeidallah with troubling facts. In a recent Fox News interview, Mamdani refused to say that Hamas must disarm and give up control of Gaza, as is called for under the Trump peace deal. She never mentioned that Mamdani has pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he steps foot in New York City. She never mentioned that he recently posed for a smiley picture with Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, calling him a “leader and pillar” of the Muslim community in Brooklyn and across the country", according to the New York Post. Keilar also never mentioned Mamdani's relationship (and smiley pictures) with radical streamer Hasan Piker, who has said that America deserved 9/11.
Apparently realizing just how intellectually vacant that answer came across to viewers, she followed up, admitting that there are some New Yorkers who "just want to make sure that Mamdani is very clear when it comes to violence as it relates to anti-Israel sentiment." Obeidallah pointed to the significant Jewish support Mamdani is receiving, and then went on to lump together anti-Semitism with "anti-Muslim bigotry, anti-gay hate, anti-Hispanic hatred and anti-black hatred," stating that there is no room for any of it.
That ignores that according to the NYPD, 54% of all hate crimes in 2024 in New York City were against Jews, and that rose to 62% during the first quarter of this year. Neither Keiler nor her guest brought any of that up, of course.
About an hour later on CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt, the issue of Cuomo's giggle received more of a balanced approach. Hunt explained: "Critics are saying that moment that he had in that interview...was Islamophobic. On the other hand, Zohran Mamdani...the phrase 'globalize the intifada has been an issue in his campaign...And the point Cuomo is trying to make there [at a Friday presser] is he [Mamdani] has associates who have made comments like that one about 9/11." [America deserved it.]
After CNN contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro did everything she could to pump up Mamdani and tear down Cuomo, CNN's Brad Todd weighed in.
After pointing out some of Mamdani's past comments on Hamas, Todd fired back, "New York is home to the second largest number of Jews anywhere but Israel...It's also a global city where the United Nations is. The New York Mayor weighs in on these matters...Mamdani, if he doesn't want to be dogged by this, he should make very clear that he sides with the people of Israel against terrorists. He sides with Jewish New Yorkers with their view points of global affairs. And if he doesn't, is that not fair game?" Yes it is. And so is all of what Brianna Keilar failed to tell her viewers. Do you think she simply didn't know about any of it? Guess again.
