Media Panic Over Mamdani: How the Press, the Millionaire Class, and Trump Are Trying to Kill a Movement
Since Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in the Democratic primary for New York City Mayor, the American mainstream media has unleashed a coordinated, near-hysterical campaign to discredit him. Rather than examine his policies or engage with the movement he represents, the media has turned to fearmongering, labelling him — over and over again — with the most radioactive word in American politics: Socialist.
Corporate media outlets, from CNN to Fox News, have not only amplified this label but weaponized it. CNN anchor Brianna Keilar recently invoked “socialism” with the same theatrical disdain one might reserve for Satanism, all without ever explaining what she meant. When Keilar asked a senator whether Democrats could harness working-class energy “without entertaining socialist policies,” she gave the game away — this was not journalism; it was a ritualistic performance meant to disqualify any proposal that might help ordinary people live better lives.
Even more troubling, the smear campaign extends beyond the media. The millionaire donor class is pouring resources into propping up current Mayor Eric Adams — a man who, despite facing an indictment over foreign bribes, is still being treated as the establishment’s “safe” candidate. Former President Donald Trump also weighed in, suggesting Mamdani be deported — a grotesque, xenophobic swipe that plays well with his base and says everything about how threatened the elite are by Mamdani’s rise.
Let’s be clear: Mamdani’s real sin isn’t ideology — it’s that he dares to challenge the unwritten rule of American politics: that government must serve the rich. His platform includes rent controls, free public transport, community-owned grocery stores — all ideas that resonate with working-class New Yorkers who have been left behind in a city increasingly owned by billionaires and landlords.
Yet instead of debating these ideas, the political and media class has chosen to strip them of nuance and brand them with a single slur: Socialist. It’s a strategy rooted in fear, not of failure, but of success. The policies Mamdani supports are not only popular — they are practical. And that is what scares the status quo.
What we are witnessing is the collapse of nuance. Terms like “socialism” have been so oversimplified by corporate media that they now serve as blunt instruments, used to hammer down any policy that threatens the profits of the few. This isn’t just intellectual laziness — it’s intentional. As discussed in The Real News’ Inequality Watch, this tactic of simplification and demonization is designed to render complex, compassionate policy ideas irrational in the eyes of the public.
And the hypocrisy is staggering. The same networks that give endless airtime to dissecting Trump voters’ grievances refuse to even entertain the notion that working-class voters might turn to Mamdani because they are desperate — desperate for lower rent, for accessible healthcare, for a life that isn’t a constant economic crisis.
Meanwhile, the media provides rich, nuanced coverage of real estate moguls worried about their bottom lines if Mamdani is elected, but no equivalent space for the millions struggling to pay rent or survive on starvation wages. As one observer put it: “Complexity for the wealthy, simplicity for the poor.” That’s the media’s formula.
This isn’t just about Mamdani. It’s about the right to imagine a better future. And it’s about how terrified the establishment becomes when someone challenges the theology of hyper-capitalism — the belief that profit is a human right, but healthcare is not.
The corporate media is no longer asking whether a candidate’s policies work. They are asking whether they threaten the power of the elites. That’s why Mamdani is being painted as irrational, dangerous, even evil. And that’s why this moment matters.
The voters of New York have spoken once. They may well speak again in November. And if Mamdani wins, it won’t just be a political victory — it will be a cultural reckoning, a sign that working-class Americans are ready to reclaim their government from the grip of corporate orthodoxy and media manipulation.
And that, more than anything else, is what the establishment fears most.
By Melino Maka
Political and Economic Commentator (NZ & Tonga)
Tonga Independent News
