After New York City’s race for mayor catapulted Zohran Mamdani from state assembly member into one of the world’s most prominent progressive voices, intense debate swirled over the ideas at the heart of his campaign.
His critics and opponents painted pledges such as free bus service, universal child care and rent freezes as unworkable, unrealistic and exorbitantly expensive.
But some have hit back, highlighting the quirk of geography that underpins some of this view. “He promised things that Europeans take for granted, but Americans are told are impossible,” said Dutch environmentalist and former government advisor Alexander Verbeek in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
Verbeek backed this with a comment he had overheard in an Oslo café, in which Mamdani was described as an American politician who “finally” sounded normal.
What I feel more fascinating is how, at least it seems to me, the exceptionalism often stays with Americans even if they do realise how shitty the country is becoming. You can see it either in comments suggesting the USA is worse that any third world country (“we’re the best at being the worst!”) or, especially with tankies, where since capitalism isn’t working in the USA and USA is the best at capitalism so obviously it can’t work anywhere else and the Russian model is the way to go.
It’s just how it looks to me as an outsider, but I can’t shake the feeling that the idea of American exceptionalism is too deeply entrenched even in people who hate the country.