Inside Zohran Mamdani’s private influencer briefing
Several influencers who spoke with NBC News stressed the importance of being able to not only engage with Mamdani and be welcomed by his campaign, but also be willing to hold him accountable for campaign promises they hope to see him implement.
“At the end of the day, while we all love him so much because he’s made a great effort to connect with us, it’s also incredibly important that we hold him accountable,” Isa Buitrago, a New York-based designer, said in an interview. “Because no politician should ever be on a pedestal, no matter how extraordinary they are. »
Youssef Hasweh, a pro-Palestinian activist and policymaker, asked Mamdani how he plans to make City University of New York schools more affordable and accessible. Before asking his question, he wished Mamdani “salam alaikum habibi,” a friendly greeting in Arabic that translates to “peace be upon you, my beloved.”
“They don’t do this in a normal press conference,” Mamdani said.
Speaking to NBC News, Hasweh said he thought one of the best questions was “how can we hold you accountable.”
“They always talk about us, but they don’t talk to us,” Hasweh said of politicians. “So being in the room was kind of a shock, and I think he’s one of the few administrations that will keep us in the room, which we’ve never seen.”
Ayem “Prance” Kpenkaan, a cartoonist and comedy creator, said influencers would “both shout out the right things.” [Mamdani’s] do, then denounce everything that disappoints us.
“I don’t think anyone here is just interested in propaganda,” Kpenkaan said. “We have an audience that trusts us. And there’s no point lying to them, because we’ve spent years building that trust, and the most important thing for a content creator is to maintain it.”
The briefing offered a range of questions, from humorous asides to more serious policy questions.
Addressing immigration policy, Mamdani, an immigrant who will become the city’s first Muslim mayor, said his election “is an opportunity for us to make clear that immigrants not only have a place in the five boroughs of New York City, but also in City Hall.”
Mamdani promised to use City Hall “as a bully pulpit” to fight for the interests of New Yorkers and those gathered before him on Tuesday. Asked whether the Trump administration’s rapidly unfolding agenda amounted to a “code red” for the country, he responded favorably.
“All Donald Trump cares about is implementing the parts of his agenda that deal with cruelty and punishment,” he said. “There is no interest in the parts of this campaign that have excited so many Americans about lowering the cost of living, about delivering cheaper groceries. And the potential we have at the grassroots level is to show that life can be more than that.”
