Tom Eppenberger JrJul 2, 2025
Anil Dash
This Zohran Mamdani video is absolutely INCREDIBLE. The numbers he cites, the strategy and results they produced — it’s the future. When have you heard *any* campaign talk about this, ever? It is the blueprint.
Jul 2, 2025 at 4:18pmWeb
Show threadoscarfalconJul 2, 2025

@anildash

Oh man, the way things are in the US right now I fear for his life... these kinds of videos only anger the establishment.

Show threadChris RealJul 2, 2025

@oscarfalcon @anildash

Non-white people without public popularity are already in fear for their lives, here.

His risk has become less since he has become a candidate. It's the people he represents who are at the greater risk.

Show threadBodo TascheJul 2, 2025
@anildash also I love his “look, i am wearing a casio watch” attitude
Show threadsnacksJul 3, 2025
@bitboxer @anildash
I noticed that too. Bro is wearing a Casio F91 W watch, that def caught my eye.
Show threadsnacksJul 3, 2025
@bitboxer @anildash
No it’s actually the A1000MA-7 Casio watch. Still, I love his choice.
Show threadnigelsezyarrJul 2, 2025
@anildash Dude has charisma. I love it.
Show threadAndreas GebhardJul 2, 2025
@anildash yes, it is. In fact, it’s a blueprint that isn’t all that new: it’s the core ideas of Category Design applied to a politician. (Note: my consulting firm offers exactly that, for both companies and their products but also for individuals such as politicians.) The strategy is pretty simple: explain to your customers (voters) how your product (you) solves their problems.
Show threadAndreas GebhardJul 2, 2025
@anildash And yes, their tactics, such as showing up, authenticity, relentless focus on what matters to the voters and above all: a feeling of voting FOR something is what really made the difference. A positive choice is always much, much stronger than being against something. We all want a better tomorrow!
Show threadCourtney (moved to dads.cool)Jul 2, 2025
@anildash young socialists with functional social media skills and impeccable rizz are the future of politics -- this basically exempts Millenials, lol, but we can handle it
Show threadJan Lehnardt Jul 2, 2025
@courtney @anildash we can cheer from the back and bring snacks. Let’s fucking go.
Show threadzedJul 2, 2025
@courtney @anildash lol Mamdani is a millennial
Show threadTom - KB9ENSJul 2, 2025
@anildash @bmacDonald94
Show thread🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 🐧 🥦Jul 2, 2025
@anildash He seems all good EXCEPT for an interview, when pressed, he refused to separate himself from the term "global intifada".
Show threadfamousringoJul 2, 2025
@Methylcobalamin @anildash when did you stop beating your wife?
Show threadMagnus AhltorpJul 2, 2025
@Methylcobalamin And do you have a reason he should do that?
Show threadyour auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦Jul 2, 2025
@anildash this made me cry. am so happy 🥹
Show threadBen WerdmullerJul 2, 2025

@anildash Is .. is this *hope* I feel?

He's incredible. I hope he inspires a hundred more of him.

Show threadJoshJul 2, 2025
@anildash @bmacDonald94 Astonishing.
Show threadChris PinolaJul 2, 2025
@anildash I can feel the cynicism leaving my body
Show threadJoel TruherJul 2, 2025
@anildash this is the best political video ever made.
Show threadmattgJul 2, 2025
@anildash the video is great either way, but does it overstate the comparison of a Democratic primary with a general election? Conceivably many of those areas that went for Trump in 2024 could still go as heavily for Adams and Silwa in 2025 right? Is there a breakdown of the absolute numbers to show that he did more than win big among last year's Harris voters?
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Jul 2, 2025
@anildash it's so nice to see something hopeful from US politics for once.
Show threadJared White (ResistanceNet ✊)Jul 2, 2025
@anildash Wow, this is 10/10 no notes.
Show threadWerner RheinJul 2, 2025
@anildash
Show threadWorikJul 2, 2025

@anildash Very impressive

It gets harder now

Good luck, New York.

Show threadKevin RussellJul 2, 2025

@anildash

The content is chefs kiss perfect.

But its purposefully amateurish film making? For the feel.

This is a list of dont do this examples (dont shoot an edit of someone starting to walk then talk).

Its cute right? Just a bunch of young people trying to be real politicians.

Show threadBlaiseJul 2, 2025
@anildash He's an amazing politician. I just hope he has a real plan to accomplish some of the crazy expensive things he's promised, or the Dems are done in NYC forever...
Show threadAnil DashJul 3, 2025
@blaise they’re not expensive at all. We’ve had rent control similar to his program, many times. We already have dozens of free markets much larger than the one he proposes. The ferry system is free to Staten Island and our city university used to be; buses are not much larger scale than that, and we’ll save a ton on safety costs. None of this is anywhere near the increase in costs we had from flooding the subways with useless cops.
Show threadBlaiseJul 3, 2025
@anildash I'm not saying it can't be done, I just don't have much faith in political promises like "We'll get the state to help", "We'll just tax corporations and rich more", and "We'll just raise the minimum wage". I literally don't remember *any* of those ever producing anything but just-barely-statistically-significant results...
Show threadPursuitOfElysiaJul 4, 2025
@anildash @blaise SO much money is saved on fare enforcement by making transit free.
Show threadBlaiseJul 7, 2025
@PursuitOfElysia @anildash Here's hoping my shriveled, cynical, old soul is wrong!
Show threadJargogglesJul 2, 2025

@anildash
Remember this every single time Democrats try to tell you that they have to move to the right to peel votes off of Republicans.

It's horse shit. It's always been horse shit and they know it. The problem is, this makes it much harder for them to pretend like they don't know it.

Show threadIvan Sagalaev Jul 2, 2025
@anildash so it took (counting since Bernie's 2016 campaign) *nine* years and *two* Trump wins for normie liberals to stop being afraid of progressives and for young voters to realize they have to fucking show up. Better late than never I guess.
Show threadDemocritusCavemanJul 2, 2025
@isagalaev @anildash I would be careful...we haven't actually showed up yet...at least not for the general. We need more than a good candidate. We have to divide the other side...a digital campaign to push half the tough-on-crime crowd to Adams and half to Siwa.
Show threadDemocritusCavemanJul 2, 2025
@anildash Ok. But the blueprint for what exactly? If you are a fan of policy, then you need to be a fan of winning first. Recent elections should serve as wisdom for future action. Do you think this video is going to victory? Cuz it feels like an ad for a primary in which the electors are already convinced.
Show threadBecca 🌳🚀🛀Jul 2, 2025

@anildash
Wasn't Obamas campaign like that? It's also a pretty well proven strategy, but a loooot of work which is why most candidates don't do it.

And don't get me wrong, I am glad they achieved the results they did AND think they are worth celebrating even when they are tried and proven and not innovative.

Show threadJason BeckerJul 2, 2025
@anildash I feel like this is a bit misleading though-- he talks a lot about reaching Trump voters by geography, but NYC runs closed primaries, so he's only talking about registered democrats in those neighborhoods. And I feel like the Trump swing, while meaningful, was not from registered dems but from GOP turnout mostly.
Show threada fish named dog ✡️♾️Jul 2, 2025
@anildash It's a good video, but I don't totally get the data on Trump-won neighborhoods. He won the *Democratic primary* -- not the overall vote -- yet from what I can tell he's sort of assuming the Trump voters contributed, when they presumably didn't vote in the Democratic primary. Is there more detail on this or something I'm missing?
Show threadRatboy (reformed dino pirate)Jul 2, 2025
@anildash
Impressive and happy for his defeat of Cuomo. It is important to note though that some of the comparisons are between a primary and a general election. Those are very different and should not be directly compared.
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Jul 3, 2025
@jaykass @anildash They are similar in one important way: turnout is low and has been dropping for a while because no one is especially motivated to vote for bad candidate to avoid worse candidate getting in.
Show threaddusoftJul 2, 2025
@anildash Check the watch, I think it's no accident he is showing a nerd digital watch as opposed to some show off expensive watch.
Show threadJuho MäntysaloJul 3, 2025

@dusoft @anildash

I didn't know the Casio's "terrorist watch" was available in gold.

(Not shaming his choice of a time piece: the model is a classic for a reason.)

Show threaddusoftJul 3, 2025
@iju @anildash is that gold really?
Show threadJuho MäntysaloJul 3, 2025

@dusoft @anildash

I'm sure the model name has the word in there.

But I doubt any digital watch in this day and age actually has precious metal in them for show.

Show threadAnil DashJul 3, 2025
@dusoft I think it’s just his watch.
Show threadJuho MäntysaloJul 3, 2025

@anildash

Having grown up in a society where parties speak of themselves as representatives of classes, economic interests, and/or provinces, or as big tents, it's really strange to listen such clear and up-front cadre partyism.

In my youth I studied marketing (a regret), and the way video spoke seemed to be closer to market campaign trying to find a way to sell a new sodapop on a saturated market.

I mean, it's not wrong, but shows how distant the politics there are from the people.

Show threadDemocritusCavemanJul 3, 2025
@iju @anildash "its not wrong..."
Yes it is. The general public is tired of it. Part of Trump's appeal in 2016 was the way he spoke from outside the system. Unfotunately, he also used strong Us vs. Them language, breeding a whole new type of tribalism that's even worse than party loyalty. Democrats need to create the same type of out-of-party appeal, but do it in a way that attracts an actual majority. I fear Mamdani has labeled himself in a way that leaves too much room for tweetsploitation.
Show threadJuho MäntysaloJul 3, 2025

@Caveman1226 @anildash

Public being tired of something isn't the same that something is "wrong".

Compare: it's not wrong to launch a sodapop that tastes like a broccoli. Might not be smart, but not wrong.

In this case the Mamdani's strategy seems to have worked. Can't argue with success.

Show threadDemocritusCavemanJul 3, 2025

@iju @anildash True about Broccoli Pop. Although I bet Trump Broccoli Pop (now in limited edition gold can) would go gangbusters on The Pillow Channel.

But I think the point of the thread is that we should remain vigilant that he, in fact, has only been successful in the primary. Good, but not Goal. And Goal wins.

Show threadLyle Solla-YatesJul 3, 2025
@anildash Never in my life thought I’d see the second good mayor of New York (the first of course being Seth Low https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Low )
Seth Low - Wikipedia

Show threadwhereamiJul 5, 2025
@Lyle “Advocating cuts to welfare” was not a section I expected to see on the Wikipedia page of someone described as a “good mayor”.
Show threadLyle Solla-YatesJul 5, 2025
@whereami indeed, I didn’t know about that part of his life before he was mayor
Show threadPaul HouleJul 3, 2025
@anildash I really like his style, he's the kind of politician who sets a good example for everyone. Often he's been interviewed by people who are skeptical about his policies and they walk away still a bit skeptical but they say "gee, he's such a nice guy!" He comes across at not the least bit divisive and we need leaders like that.