Big Picture: Zohran Mamdani, Trump, and the Fragile Dance of Power, Perception, and Identity in Today's America

✍️ Written by Saket Suman

Zohran Mamdani wants to be mayor of New York City. But what he’s become is a cipher — a screen onto which a divided country is projecting its anxieties, allegiances, and suspicions.

After his upbeat victory over Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, Mamdani has emerged as a high-voltage figure in American politics for what he has come to symbolise: progressive insurgency, diaspora fault lines, and, perhaps, the outlines of a new ideological confrontation on American soil. 

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The past few weeks have seen him become the centre of a national culture war that has been elevated by the words of his most powerful critic.

United States President Donald Trump has wasted no time turning Mamdani into a national issue. At campaign stops and online, he has framed Mamdani as a threat — a “communist,” a “lunatic,” a man who must be “watched carefully.” 

The legality of these remarks is dubious. The political strategy is not. Trump has found in Mamdani a perfect foil: a young, Muslim, socialist politician who can be painted — fairly or not — as out of step with the American mainstream.

But if Trump’s playbook is familiar, the more intriguing subtext lies in the deep suspicion with which parts of the Indian diaspora continue to view Mamdani, even as he has noticeably softened his rhetoric in recent days.

Gone are the sharp references to Narendra Modi as a “war criminal.” Public critiques of India have receded. Statements are more measured, less performative. A recalibration is underway. But is it enough — or even real?

Among diaspora circles, the doubt persists. What changed? Was it strategy or sincerity? And who, really, is backing Mamdani — a candidate with limited administrative experience but sudden elevation and amplified reach?

Whispers have turned to theories. Some view Mamdani as a political experiment — a highly curated figure whose rise feels oddly timed, oddly scripted. A candidate who arrived with radical slogans and sharp elbows, only to pivot — subtly, skillfully — once victory was in sight. For critics, the question is whether Mamdani is a product of his movement or its projection.

To the sceptical, the campaign’s shape — from outsider to insider-in-waiting — feels too neat. We should not forget that in a political culture where authenticity has become the currency of trust, shifts in tone, even when necessary, are not always believed. This is soon going to become about credibility.

None of this is helped by Mamdani’s record. His refusal to disavow slogans like “Globalize the Intifada,” his comparisons between Modi and Netanyahu, his language on policing and prisons — these may have won him activist allegiance but they also introduced fractures in his own base. 

And yet, the door isn’t closed.

If Mamdani is serious about governing, not just protesting, the path is clear but steep. Trust isn’t rebuilt through silence or sudden polish. It comes from clarity, from showing a willingness to listen without posturing, from recognising that identity does not equal entitlement. A softened tone must be matched with political maturity — on both Gaza and India, on housing policy, public safety, immigration, and the day-to-day reality of the people he claims to speak for.

That includes addressing a central contradiction in his campaign: a platform built on equity that has so far been communicated in language that many find exclusionary. Reaching voters beyond his base — including moderate South Asians, Jewish communities, and immigrant families who don’t live on Twitter — is the job.

Trump, for his part, will keep stoking fire. But not every criticism of Mamdani is a product of right-wing politics. Many come from those who supported him early but now feel distanced by what they see as ideological rigidity and a lack of transparency. For Mamdani, dismissing all criticism as manufactured or malicious is a misread. The trust deficit syndrome has worked. And his next moves will determine whether it grows — or narrows.

The question is whether he understands what kind of change New York actually needs. The candidate who once spoke only to the choir now faces the harder task: speaking to the full room, and meaning it.

(Saket Suman is the author of The Psychology of a Patriot. Among other roles, he was a Special Correspondent at The Times of India and the head of Arts/Books/Culture verticals of what was India's largest independent newswire.) 

(Views Expressed Are Author's Own and Do Not Reflect The Views of This News Outlet)