On Monday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” co-host Steve Inskeep and Senior National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson said that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) July 4th speech presented what “would have been the normal bipartisan view of America,” but that is “now considered the opposition viewpoint.” While Liasson said that President Donald Trump’s speech “was overtly political, just like his speech on Friday at Mount Rushmore, he excoriated Democrats, using his latest epithet for them, Communists.”
Liasson said, “The President’s speech was overtly political, just like his speech on Friday at Mount Rushmore, he excoriated Democrats, using his latest epithet for them, Communists. He’s trying to use to his advantage the fact that a handful of members of the Democratic Socialists of America won some primaries, which, in deep blue districts, in places like New York City, may not matter that much, since the districts are likely to elect a Democrat in the general election. But there are many Democrats who are worried that, in some swing states and districts, they could be nominating candidates who are too far to the left to win. So, the President and the Republicans are trying to take advantage of this and they’re using the Communist label, as well as some of the positions found on the Democratic Socialists for America website, like defund the police, abolish ICE, free all incarcerated individuals, and they’re trying to paint the entire Democratic Party as too far to the left and as Communists.”
Inskeep then asked, “Well, the highest-profile person on the left in the United States right now is probably Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City — who has focused, in his own public presentations, on practical governance in New York, and he certainly hasn’t been shy about the spotlight — gave his own speech over this holiday weekend. How different was his view of America?”
Liasson answered, “It was very different. Mamdani gave a speech on July 3 at New York City’s City Hall to a group of newly naturalized citizens, and his speech really was the opposite of Donald Trump’s. He criticized the constant denigration of immigrants. Here’s what Mamdani said. … Mamdani said that, instead, America should continue to be a place of asylum for the persecuted, and he described a kind of patriotism that sees the nation’s flaws and embraces dissent.”
Inskeep then said, “Mara, listening to you, you noted that’s the alternative view, the alternative view to the administration. But, in many of the decades of politics that you’ve covered, I think that would have been the normal bipartisan view of America, that it’s a nation of immigrants, that we work on our flaws.”
Liasson responded, “Right, absolutely. It’s almost a nostalgic view, a kind of retro view of what makes America great. But, in this case, standing up for immigrants and talking about how they are great contributions to America and actually made America great is now considered the opposition viewpoint.”
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