NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Spencer Pratt sparked widespread online reaction over Independence Day weekend after posting a sharp rebuke of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for using the July 4 holiday to criticize America’s history. Pratt, a former reality TV star who drew attention with his surprise Los Angeles mayoral run, continued his political commentary by targeting…

The American Dream “Is No Relic of the Past”

I have seen many of my conservative friends and colleagues say awful things about yesterday’s July 4th speech by NYC Mayor Mamdani. In truth, I did not listen to it because I did not prioritize what he said but as soon as I heard the hubbub about this I had to read it myself and then listen to it to see for myself what terrible anti-American things were being said.

So I read it, I listened to him make his speech in case I missed anything. It brought me to tears, not for anything insulting or degrading, but for the way it connected with me the very hope and dream that America can be for those of us who believe in her dreams, vision and values. Mamdani is not afraid to raise the turbulent past in order to appreciate the overall legacy and the future promise that America offers. As Mamdani tells us “patriotism has never been about pretending our nation is without flaws.” Those who say “Love it or leave it,” want us to believe that America’s values and visions can only be interpreted to a particular cultural expression and for the benefit of certain designated citizens. No, never! America is the dream of us all who yearn for life, for basic liberties, and for the pursuit of happiness.

What Mamdani goes on to mention are the new faces of America who now yearn for the dream that so many of us have taken for granted.

Over the years that followed, despite laws enacted by the federal government to bar their entry, despite sweatshop fires that killed hundreds of women, despite riots aimed at their very existence, immigrants made homes here in New York City, and they helped to make New York City. That legacy of every generation of Americans insisting that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness extends to them, too, is no relic of the past. It carried millions of Black Americans north during the Great Migration; it drew hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans to New York City after the Second World War; it invited countless others from the West Indies, and South Asia, and West Africa, and across the world.

I cannot imagine what others find disturbing about this amazing speech that truly captures the spirit of America. Like I have said before, as an American I believe in the future of her dreams because it has shown historically that it can improve on it a respond to issues that our founders didn’t get to address. This may be what some find offensive but I plead with my conservative friends, please hear what he says from the perspective of those of us who are first generation Americans. What Mayor Mamdani says here touched me and allowed me to see myself as part of the American legacy.

The truth, my friends, is that America is exceptional because here, nothing is fixed into place. The frontier may be closed, we may have walked on the moon, but the work of fulfilling the values first enshrined in the Declaration of Independence — that work endures, my friends, and it belongs to us all. It belongs too to our newest Americans, those standing here with me today, all of whom were recently naturalized. Nearly a decade ago, I too felt what you feel — the joy of no longer being just a New Yorker, but an American too. You each hold a special power. The power to determine what America means.

These are powerful words. They remind me of Captain Kirk’s insight in one of the most patriotic episode Star Trek ever produced. An episode that considered what it meant for an alien species to believe in the promise of America.

Thank you Mayor Mamdani, for capturing the dream of America and for reminding us that its vision and values belong to us all peoples and cultures.

Parker adds Gov Abbott 2015: Please set A/C to 78 degrees.

Parker then quotes Ted Cruz now: In a first-world country, you could turn on the A/C. [mac adds: or flee to Cancun when grid fails]

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave a speech sitting behind the George Washington desk at City Hall on Friday morning to mark America’s 250th birthday. He was surrounded by recently naturalized citizens. Mamdani himself is also a naturalized citizen, and the topic is important to him personally.  The speech was given hours before President Trump is expected to give his America 250 address in…

There is a lot of interesting information in this piece and I do recommend reading it if you're interested in NYC politics or in what Mamdani is up to politically behind the scenes. However: the framing is dumb. One of the running themes is to compare Mamdani to his role model LaGuardia, who built a political machine outside of and as an alternative to Tammany Hall, which was the Democratic establishment machine at the time. The piece also concludes with quotes about how the mayor isn't building parallel institutions or capacity but working in tandem with DSA and its institutional capacity despite that they aren't always in lockstep or agreeing on every choice. So he is building a political machine while not building one and the one he's (not) building is like the one his inspiration LaGuardia, who you are saying he's similar to, ran against. Somehow.

The whole piece is actually looking at how Mamdani chooses to support candidates, the work that goes on behind the scenes to get those candidates to the primary to win the nomination, and the contradictions and difficult choices that come with that when you're the NYC mayor and you also have to keep working relationships with establishment Dem office holders. This is all very interesting and worth reading! It's just not actually the story the framing is telling you it is.

Kamala Harris reached out to Mamdani and pro-Palestinian activists, Axios reports – CBS News Watch CBS News Axios reports that former Vice President Kamala Harris has reached out to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and pro-Palestinian activists. Political strategists Cassie Smedile and Hyma Moore join with analysis. Source link