Trump made this the new political test – Mamdani just showed the left how to ace it

New York: Two weeks before the New York City mayoral election, Zohran Mamdani made an appearance on Flagrant, an edgy, anti-woke podcast hosted by comedian Andrew Schulz. Riffing and smiling through the hour-long conversation, Mamdani hit his talking points about affordability and housing with ease. When the hosts teased him about his inability to bench press 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms), he didn’t flinch.

“Next year, 136,” Mamdani, 34, said as Schulz broke into laughter at his reference to an extra 500 grams. “Promises I can keep.”

Zohran Mamdani appears on the Flagrant podcast, with comedian Andrew Schulz.Credit: YouTube

The men’s playful banter on Flagrant, which drew 1.9 million views, might not have seemed political, but in fact it was a subtextual kind of litmus test, birthed from a new media landscape, with very real political consequences.

That test, put in simple terms, is this: can you hang with the boys?

A year ago, US President Donald Trump seemed to hold his own when he, too, appeared on Flagrant, as well as on shows hosted by big names like Theo Von and Joe Rogan. The approach helped him draw young men away from the Democrats by a wide margin, into a winning coalition.

Mamdani forged a similar path through this nebulous online territory, where authenticity is a currency impossible to counterfeit.

It appears to have won him a foothold with young men over his opponents, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa. A CNN exit poll showed Mamdani dominating the category, earning 65 per cent of the votes by men aged 18 to 29.

Over the course of his campaign, Mamdani made more than 30 appearances across the digital wilderness of podcasts, livestreams, and YouTube shows that have come to be the primary delivery mechanism of news and current events for Americans under age 30 – and which Democrats have historically avoided.

“Places where people are used to hot takes and not politicians – to show that Zohran was the kind of candidate who could talk about housing and Arsenal in the same breath” senior Mamdani campaign adviser Zara Rahim, who helped shape the new media strategy, said.

No podcast was deemed off limits. Mamdani had even agreed to appear on Rogan’s podcast, but scheduling conflicts got in the way, according to a spokesperson for the campaign.

Senator Bernie Sanders, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appear on stage during a rally in New York. Credit: AP

Venturing into the heart of masculinist online media was once considered more of a liability. When Senator Bernie Sanders appeared on Rogan’s podcast in 2020, it reinforced for some his often derided “Bernie Bro” appeal, and many liberals were aghast when Sanders did not denounce Rogan’s endorsement of him.

One presidential election cycle later, former vice president Kamala Harris faced criticism for not appearing on Rogan’s show. The decision became a hotly debated flashpoint in the post-mortems about the Democratic Party’s struggles to reach young men and engage them in online spaces.

The fixes, proposed by party strategists, have hinged on minting a “Joe Rogan of the left” or building large-language models to study the vocal patterns of male speakers. Democrats have also prodded donors to chip in tens of millions of dollars to fund progressive-leaning creators and content incubators.

Some prominent Democrats, like former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and representative Ro Khanna of California, have tiptoed into this fraught terrain. Governor Gavin Newsom of California has gone as far as to start his own podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom, centred on tough conversations with conservative personalities.

Comedian Andrew Schulz, right, with Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Oracle Red Bull Racing before the F1 Grand Prix of United States at in Texas last month.Credit: Getty Images

Playing across the political spectrum, Mamdani dropped in on the centre-left – chatting with Sam Seder on The Majority Report – the centre right – on FYPod with Tim Miller – and beyond, to the nihilistic, and sometimes crass and clubby boys zones staked out by the “bros” on the Flagrant podcast.

He also appeared on women-led shows, like I’ve Had It, hosted by Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, and Katie Couric’s podcast.

“He’s figured out a way to banter with the boys and not punch down,” Charlie Sabgir, the research and strategy lead for non-partisan group Young Men Research Project, said of Mamdani.

Back in early April, Mamdani showed leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker around his home neighbourhood of Astoria, Queens. Sitting down at Yemeni coffee shops and popping by Bangladeshi restaurants, the two discussed the candidate’s then-fledgling campaign for the better part of three hours while tens of thousands of Piker’s viewers tuned in.

Zohran Mamdani speaks after winning the mayoral election in New York.Credit: AP

“Zohran’s a good hang,” Piker said in an interview. “He’s just a dude, and it’s good to be a dude sometimes.”

He added: “And I think you can see that even when he talks with people who are his ideological opposites.”

Mamdani also made an impression on James Harris, a co-host of the menswear podcast Throwing Fits, with whom Mamdani recorded an episode after his first mayoral debate in June.

“It felt like this guy is who he is, this is what he believes in,” Harris said, reflecting on Mamdani’s tendency to return to his talking points. “But he also wants to have a fun conversation and is down to clown.”

Zohran Mamdani ran a youth-savvy, social media-oriented campaign.Credit: Bloomberg

Mamdani’s podcast appearances have not been entirely without controversy. Onstage during last month’s mayoral debate, Cuomo attacked Mamdani over his association with Piker, who had made provocative comments about September 11. But the attacks failed to resonate with the young men tuning in to Mamdani’s larger message.

Succeeding in these online spaces, experts said, can be more complicated than playing the part of the cool politician, or simply making campaign stops in the manosphere.

Cuomo, for instance, also sat down with some of the loudest voices in the manosphere, appearing on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive Podcast in the final weeks of the election.

The episode to date has just over 100,000 views, paltry by Paul’s standards, and received a barrage of negative comments.

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Sabgir contrasted Cuomo’s method with Mamdani’s, noting the latter’s ability to put forward an “optimistic” and “joyful” message. Something, he thinks, Gen Z is looking for most.

“Young men are generally disenchanted with both parties,” Sabgir said. “But Mr Mamdani tried to win them back, especially Trump voters, by running for something as opposed to against something.”

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