Mamdanimania!

 Stop!  People, what's that sound?  Heads, exploding.

In ordinary political terms, there's nothing surprising about Zohran Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primary Tuesday.  His main opponents were a disgraced former governor who had to quit in the face of multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and a disgraced mayor who should have quit after being indicted for corruption.  He's a fresh face in the style of AOC, Maxwell Frost and Jasmine Crockett, and he appealed even to people who struggled to pronounce his name.  New Yorkers have learned to look beyond "foreign soundin' names" because it's not Arkansas.

As the news filters into The Heartland, the groundswell of panic and rage threatens to drown out the celebrations of "the greatest military operation of all time" or whatever the sycophants are required to call Trump's half-assed attack on Iran.  (Imagine D Day if FDR had gone on the radio and said, "Everyone should get out of Normandy!")  Mamdani is an admitted socialist who wants to tax the rich and give to the poor free day care, free public transport and access to fresh food without traveling miles to Gristedes.  (I single out Gristedes because the owner has already threatened to close his stores, but the others are just as bad in keeping poor neighborhoods underserved.)  Worse, in some eyes, he's a Muslim who supports the right of the Palestinians to keep on living.  Outrageous.  This must not happen, no matter what New Yorkers want.

"I love how the right is trying to scare us by saying the United States is turning into one of those European countries with great mass transit and free healthcare," wrote the legendary Mrs. Betty Bowers.  It's not that bad yet, he hasn't said anything about free hospitals and the subways will never be showplaces.  But socialism creeps up on you and the billionaires who would have to pay a few millions began impersonating Mike the Headless Chicken even before the votes were counted.  Mike Bloomberg, Daniel Loeb, Bill Ackman and other rich guys appear to have settled on Eric Adams as their savior, though that could change as Cuomo has said he'll run as an independent. 

Today Mamdani picked up the support of two big unions that were backing Cuomo, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and 32BJ SEIU, which represents building service workers, a sign that they believe he can win no matter what Bill Clinton and Kirsten Gillibrand think.  Of course, the farther right you look, the more hyperbole you step in.  Todd Starnes, formerly of Fox News and now revolving in a limited orbit around Neptune, was typical:  "The nation's largest city is on the verge of a disaster of Biblical proportions...Thanks to mass immigration every American city will eventually be governed by Muslim socialists."  His advice:  flee.  Andy Ogles, who represents a tumor-shaped chunk of central Tennessee, wants Mamdani stripped of citizenship and deported because eight years ago he recorded a rap song which name-checked a Texas group later convicted of supporting Hamas.  (Ogles was investigated for campaign finance irregularities, which went away when he introduced a "Give Trump a third term" resolution and impeachment charges against Kamala Harris.)  The New York Young Republican Club concurs about the deportation -- why run any sort of lie-filled, fear-mongering campaign when you can bundle the opposition off to Rwanda (or Putin's solution, prison)?  Tsar of all the Borders Tom Homan says he will "double down and triple down" ICEstapo raids in the city to punish everyone who looks foreign, which is about two-thirds of the population.  Just in case anyone still thinks Trump's terror roundups have anything to do with law enforcement.

Never in the field of human endeavor has one assemblyman frightened so many people who badly need to be frightened.  For a start.