Just from looking at his history, he will completely fold like a lawn chair and do whatever they tell him to do. “They” could range from the NYPD to prominent Democrats to even other Republicans.

As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter what ideology Mamdani personally subscribes to because he’ll cave in to pressure anyways, and since the forces pressuring him are acting on behalf of neoliberalism, he will de facto govern as a neoliberal.

I think people vastly underestimate how someone’s willingness to fight factors into this. In a way, even questioning whether he will be a sellout or not misses this point. Whether someone is knowledgeable about socialist theory is one thing and whether someone is principled is another thing, but there is also the question of someone’s tenacity of will and fighting spirit.

Gramsci called this “optimism of the will.” Palestinians call this “steadfastness.” People into combat sports call this “being hungry for the title.” But they all point to the same thing in the end.