Trump, Mamdani and the portrait of the United States | Opinion

Last week Donald Trump celebrated the first anniversary of his second electoral victory in the United States with all the heavy artillery of his movement. That is, a set of threats, memes, a rambling song claiming the results achieved – “promise made, promise kept” -, attacks on his political opponents and apocalyptic messages. One of these was launched by Steve Bannon, former advisor to the Republican magnate and ideologue of his political framework. “If we don’t win, this country will go into a civil war. Do you see how radical they are? Do you see how they hate America and American citizens?” The populist strategist’s words, uttered at an ultra-conservative event, have not the slightest basis in reality, but they have a clear purpose. They intend to pay for the permanent campaign in which Trump is immersed and which is fueled by exploiting feelings of conflict and anger on social networks.

Bannon, who pleaded guilty last February to fraud to avoid prison, went further by warning, without providing any evidence, of the risks of a decline in Trumpism. “God is my witness that if we lose the midterm elections and we lose the year 2028, some in this room will go to prison, including me,” he said. In recent days, the elections in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and the support for the law that will change the electoral districts in California have given the first jolt to Republican power. Trump himself responded as he usually does whenever he feels angry about something: look for enemies. “This is how it starts!” he wrote in an enigmatic message posted on his platform, Truth. What starts? It is not yet clear, beyond the hunt.

The first culprit is Zohran Mamdani, elected mayor of New York, who has demonstrated that the most populous city in the country, headquarters of Wall Street, global financial capital and birthplace of the president, lives turning its back on the MAGA gospel. (Make America Great Again). Mamdani is a Ugandan-born Muslim and socialist who obtained American citizenship seven years ago. A cocktail which, in addition to the anger of the White House, has favored an avalanche of hoaxes on both sides of the Atlantic. For starters, the intentional confusion between Muslims and Islamists has resurfaced. Senator Ted Cruz went fishing last week for a message published by Mamdani in 2020, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”, an aphorism used by Karl Marx to accuse the young politician of being a “jihadist communist”.

Trump wasn’t far behind. The president, who called to support Andrew Cuomo in local elections and threatened to leave the city with minimal federal funds, also dared to intimidate New York’s Jewish community. “Any Jewish person who votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven, self-proclaimed Jew-hater, is a stupid person!” he blurted out. A representative from Tennessee, Andy Ogles, took the poisoning even further on Bannon’s show. “Mamdani lied on his N-400 naturalization form about his ties to extremism. You can’t get U.S. citizenship and do that. We have two weeks to save New York City: deport Mamdani and start the investigation immediately,” he launched.

The reality is that Mamdani has the same rights as Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary leading this term’s anti-immigration crusade, or Pete Hegseth, the head of the Pentagon. The story of the future mayor of New York more faithfully portrays the current complexity of the United States than the Republican administration, which reflects a monochromatic country hit by the crisis. In fact, both campaigns used slogans with similar semantic fields. Making America accessible again in Trump’s case, e For a New York you can afford in Mamdani. Similar to the antipodes.