By this time you must have encountered countless commentaries on the irrepressible victory of Zohran Mamdani in New York's mayoral race, ranging from doting tributes to freaking out Islamophobic and socialismphobic diatribes. So, why write another piece on it? Because this piece is not about him per se. It is about this moment, which is much bigger than you, I, or him. In fact, if I were him, I would try to steer clear of writings like these because they are meant to be sobering and pressure-inducing. But then he is not me. He has shown he and his supporters can handle anything.

The regular readers of this space will remember that I hardly mentioned him in my works until the race was on. One reason is aging. While this David versus Goliath fight would have excited me to no end only until a decade ago, nothing political seems to excite me anymore. Then there is the issue of heartbreaks. From Tony Blair, who once called Jesus a socialist before defecting to the other side, to Barack Obama, we have seen many individuals promising miracles and then failing badly. The heart goes out to the men and women who went out of their way in support of these leaders only to witness their promises result in what the late Mark Fisher called "the slow cancellation of the future".

But how to interpret this moment? Should we believe in what the media is selling? That it is a repudiation of Trump? Or ask why the media is selling that narrative? Is it because it is easy or it is because it is right? I think it is the former coupled with lobbyist-addled, craven desire for agenda setting. Trump and Mamdani and his platform are two approaches to solving the same problem. Of........

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