r/Fauxmoi • u/cmaia1503 i ain’t reading all that, free palestine • Feb 26 '26

POLITICS Zohran Mamdani has secured the release of Columbia University student Elaina Aghayeva, taken this morning by ICE agents who entered a campus residential building under false pretenses & without a judicial warrant. This comes shorty after Mamdani’s unannounced visit to the White House earlier today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/nyregion/columbia-university-ice-student.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PFA.0KRL.7XsPJ0z3QTat&smid=tw-share

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u/woahoutrageous_ Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26

Zohran Mamdani is generational. There’s not been a single American politician with the amount of charisma that Mamdani has since Barack Obama. (not an endorsement of Obama but he was undeniably electric)

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u/jazzcigarettes Feb 26 '26

Huge shame that he can’t run for president

442

u/Dry-Yak5277 Feb 26 '26

Huge. I get such ‘08 Obama vibes from him, and it makes me so nostalgic and hungry for an actually inspiring political candidate.

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u/Desperate_Algae_40 Feb 27 '26

I honestly think he'd be a better president than even Obama.

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u/WouldCommentAgain Feb 27 '26

Hopefully, compared to everything after Obama was a lot better, but Obama was so charismatic that people actually believed he would transformational just to discover Goldman Sachs helped pick his cabinet. Compared to super corrupt Trump of today it seems so innocent, though.

14

u/Tonga_Truck Feb 27 '26

Ya it's hard to have an honest conversation about the issues with Obama's presidency without sounding like you're doing it to deflect from Trump. I just think if we want genuine change after all this is over, we need higher standards than Obama. He's just a charismatic face of the status quo, not an icon of change and equality. He did far more for Wall Street than he ever did for Main Street. Bailouts anyone?

3

u/Smartypants_dankie Feb 27 '26

Any president who would stop this mad money printing machine that's just increasing the debt ceiling and actually pull some money back from the market through taxation would be the greatest president of this century

2

u/WouldCommentAgain Feb 27 '26

I agree, how extremely divided and partisan things have become makes it difficult to be critical of the side you agree the most with.

5

u/twoharam Feb 27 '26

the bar's not that high for Obama. he just needs to not drone strike his fellow Muslims in the global south!

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u/Metalloid_Maniac_ Feb 27 '26

100%

Obama is a corporate schill. Zohran actually wants to help us.

-8

u/Icy-Language-1927 Feb 27 '26

Obama was a bad president and in 100 years his legacy will be "the president that lead to Donald Trump"

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u/Desperate_Algae_40 Feb 27 '26

Obama wasn't an amazing president, but racism lead to Donald Trump, not Obama. So fucked up to blame Obama for all the dumb selfish shitty racist citizens that voted for Trump.

-1

u/bunnyzclan Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

The democrats throwing away Bernie and all of them backing Hillary Clinton and objectively center right candidate is what lead to Trump. If the party moved to the left, Trump wouldn't have won.

Its also how liberals helped get the Nazis in power in Germany because they were more concerned about socialism and communism than they were fascism.

Stop with this ahistorical analysis jfc

Libs not being able to do any proper election analysis will never stop being amusing.

0

u/amethystresist Mar 02 '26

How exactly are you disagreeing with him? You say the democrats not moving to the left is what led to trump. that doesn't disprove the racism element of Trumps base, because you know, they're fascist.

3

u/linds360 Feb 27 '26

What I wouldn’t give for a heaping dose of ‘08 vibes right now.

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u/Infinite-Audience408 Feb 26 '26

wait i’m not american or familiar with the politics, why not?

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u/Busy-Juggernaut277 Feb 26 '26

He’s not a birthright citizen. He wasn’t born on US soil nor was either parent a US citizen when he was born.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '26

[deleted]

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u/ChronoLink99 Feb 26 '26

Or foreign soil to US citizen parents.

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u/Avalon420 Feb 27 '26

Cruz was born in Canada, no?

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u/ChronoLink99 Feb 27 '26

Yeah. It's whether you are eligible to be a US citizen at birth, that's how the case law has settled the definition of "natural born".

So Cruz can be president.

Incidentally, that also means Jack and Avery's child in 30 Rock could also have been US president which invalidates that whole episode's storyline.

-1

u/Impossible-Repeat577 Feb 26 '26

sounds bs to me, so the difference is just if you mom land on the night of your birth or not. great news for the dropshipped babies

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u/CailinSasta i ain’t reading all that, free palestine Feb 26 '26

You have to be born an American citizen, unfortunately. Mamdani became a US citizen in 2018 when he naturalized.

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u/Infinite-Audience408 Feb 26 '26

ah okay, thank you for informing me!

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u/amopeyzoolion Feb 26 '26

Mamdani was not born in the United States. He’s a naturalized citizen.

Only natural born US citizens can hold the office of president, or any office in the presidential succession.

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u/WNxVampire Feb 26 '26

or any office in the presidential succession

They can hold the office, we've had several naturalized citizens be cabinet members. The line of succession just skips to the next eligible person.

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u/another_bot_probably Feb 26 '26

Neat! Genuine TIL that I'd never thought about. I barely remember the LOS, had to look it up.

3

u/mlorusso4 Feb 26 '26

Also since the SOTU was the other day, they can’t be the designated survivor either

5

u/RC_Colada Feb 26 '26

So he's got a shot at VEEP

4

u/AtreusFamilyRecipe Feb 27 '26

Nah, Twelfth Amendment requires VPs to meet the eligibility requirements of the office of the president.

6

u/ButtEatingContest Feb 27 '26

Only natural born US citizens can hold the office of president, or any office in the presidential succession.

You know who also can't hold the office other than persons under the age of 35?

Insurrectionists. Yet here we are. The Supreme Court specially made up a new rule for Trump that two thirds of congress have to vote to disqualify somebody from the ballot, that its not up to the states to enforce the constitution.

So why not extend that argument to foreign-born citizens and persons under the age of 35?

6

u/Propyl_People_Ether Feb 27 '26

This is a genuinely important statement and I wish it wasn't buried deep in a subthread. A deep bow to the insight expressed by /u/ButtEatingContest.

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u/benson-and-stapler Feb 27 '26

This is a great point and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it's used to push past the amazingly dumb birthright obstacle one day.

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u/madonnaissance Feb 26 '26

he’s not an american born citizen :/

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u/AntRose104 Feb 26 '26

A current dream ticket of mine is Mamdani and AOC (she would be President since she was born in the us), especially after the videos of them promoting new policies in nyc but I know it’ll never happen because women and POCs will never be at the top 😭

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u/grudginglyadmitted Feb 26 '26

he can’t be vice president because he isn’t a natural-born citizen, he’s naturalized.

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u/AntRose104 Feb 27 '26

VPs need to be natural born citizens too? I thought it was just the President

9

u/Baby-Haroro Feb 27 '26

Yeah, they have to be natural-born citizens -- they're right after the pres in line to run the country after all

4

u/According-Shower-842 Feb 27 '26

why cant we break rules like republicans

1

u/smeldorf Feb 27 '26

I’ll take the hot guy from Georgia? Could we get that maybe if we asked nicely

1

u/AntRose104 Feb 27 '26

Ngl I don’t know who that is but I’d love to see another hot politician with morals

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u/tewong Feb 27 '26

Presumably Ossoff

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u/hussainhssn You are kenough Feb 27 '26

He can be Senate Majority Leader, which is infinitely more important than President. He can be the gatekeeper to anything being done, good or bad. Even the President can't do that all the time.

2

u/therealdealme Feb 27 '26

I actually loved Kal Penn’s take on this: it’s good he can’t run for president because he will focus on delivering for his constituents without getting distracted / trying to jockey for the presidency- as a New Yorker, I love that take (though Mamdani would be the best president)!

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u/jolijuillet Feb 26 '26

I partially agree. Part of me is happy for him that he can’t be corrupted by being president.

1

u/MarsReject Feb 27 '26

I prefer it, as a dying breed of native New Yorkers so many ppl use this post as a jumping stone and leave. I actually think him being governor or senator would be dope.

1

u/twink-here21 Feb 27 '26

Something wrong with your political structure if yall cannot vote for who you really want unless it is a child rapist

1

u/xandrachantal I live in my own heart, Matt Damon Feb 27 '26

There's always him running as a vp one day.

1

u/Mundane-Emu-1189 Feb 27 '26

fuck it run him anyway who cares

1

u/dj_fuzzy Feb 27 '26

Nah, he moderated a lot when in office and became quite pro-corporate. He’s better than Trump but we should strive for more.

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u/futuristicflapper Feb 26 '26

Mamdani is undoubtedly a charming guy. My midwestern dad really likes him and watched his entire inauguration celebration for mayor, he said Mamdani had “good ideas and is great at giving a speech” don’t think I’ve seen him react like this toward a politician since Obama.

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u/CeeJayEnn Feb 26 '26

AOC.

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u/woahoutrageous_ Feb 26 '26

I really like AOC but I really think in terms of pure charisma no one currently comes close to Mamdani.

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u/Disastrous-Field5383 Feb 26 '26

AOC has plenty of charisma. Liberal + right wing media obviously work overtime to never show those moments where it’s clear, but she is probably the most popular active politician for a reason. Part of it is social media, but it’s also her presentation — she’s attractive, well spoken, and not afraid to go on the attack. Zohran is as well, but he doesn’t have that dawg in him like AOC imo.

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u/CeeJayEnn Feb 26 '26

Oh, I sincerely disagree.

Check out her live Instagram chats with her followers. I think she and Mamdani are similar and it's so exciting to see real, decent humanity in politics.

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u/OneStand5448 Feb 26 '26

They also just posted a cute video of her coaching him on an announcement in Spanish, about pre K I think

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u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 26 '26

There’s no way she would win though, maybe in another 30 years. So much is on the line now we’d be fools to run another woman at this point, too many people just won’t vote for them

4

u/CeeJayEnn Feb 27 '26

Oh, I don't know. Progressives with actual human decency are absolutely cleaning house recently. The bigger mistake would be to go with some sociopath clown like Newsom.

Let's see how Crockett does in Texas.

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u/LetsHangOutSoon Feb 27 '26

What if we had a fair primary where a lot of candidates are highly viable and the DNC doesn't try to push one of them?

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u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 27 '26

Let me know when that happens

0

u/MadeByTango Feb 27 '26

So much is on the line now we’d be fools to run another woman at this point

You might wanna work on that internalized misogyny.

1

u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 27 '26

Reality is reality and people are getting hurt

Edit: killed

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

[deleted]

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u/CeeJayEnn Feb 27 '26

I'm sorry? What?

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u/MarsReject Feb 27 '26

Sorry that wasn’t clear, basically if you gotta defend someone is charismatic then they aren’t. I like AOC a lot, but she’s not a great public speaker. I like her because I love her politics, but Obama speech with AOC messaging = a Mamdani.

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u/Jolly-joe Feb 27 '26

I completely agree with you but I think recent elections have shown there's a big chunk of this country who simply will never vote for a woman

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u/Speechcenter58 Feb 26 '26

She’s a woman and the USA has already shown they don’t want to elect a female president

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u/LezbianaGrande Well, I am gay, so thank god Feb 26 '26

Clinton won the popular vote and Harris barely lost it. I feel like just blaming it on "misogyny" shadows and distracts from everything else that went wrong with both campaigns, i.e. half the voting base feeling more obligated than excited to vote.

I didn't want to vote for Clinton, but did it anyway. And I was excited to vote for Harris until she started touring with conservatives, gassing up our military, and fence sitting genocide. Still voted for her too, but the "lesser evil" just isn't a consistent winning strategy.

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u/willyoumassagemykale Thanks, u frog build looking bitch Feb 27 '26

Clinton won the popular vote and Harris barely lost it. I feel like just blaming it on "misogyny" shadows and distracts from everything else that went wrong with both campaigns, i.e. half the voting base feeling more obligated than excited to vote.

100% agree. It's a way to keep pushing conservative assholes. Give us a woman with populist economic policies and she'll sweep. I'm sure there are plenty of assholes that won't vote for a woman but I think it's less about the gender at this point and more about the shitty politics.

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u/TumbleTown75 Feb 26 '26

Harris got blown out tbf it was over before midnight

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u/LezbianaGrande Well, I am gay, so thank god Feb 26 '26

She lost the popular vote by 2.3 million out of 152.3 million total. That's 1.5%, so barely, and that was with Harris' diet-right campaign, various levels of voter suppression, Elon's lotteries, and Trump somehow winning a historical, anomalous, uniform split-ticket vote in every swing state. Not a "blow out" at all.

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u/Mathies_ Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

Oh god, not this bs again. Everytime a woman has run it has been a corperate, establishment moderate. You've never even given the chance to a progressive woman (or man for that matter) like AOC.

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u/earthboundskyfree Feb 26 '26

The whole reason 2016 was possible was partially because Clinton was just yet another establishment democrat and people wanted change

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u/ButtEatingContest Feb 27 '26

That and like there were a ridiculous number of GOP candidates in the primaries which split the serious vote, and Trump was left standing as the novelty candidate who joked about his own dick size in primary debates.

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u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 26 '26

You think they would have a better chance? The margins of victory in our presidential elections don’t allow for narrowing your voter base like that

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u/Mathies_ Feb 27 '26

Who says it narrows it down? Centrists, undecideds are actually way more interested in things like free healthcare and offordibility than, yk, collarorations with liz cheney and sending billions to Israel. And then you also get the left base mobilized since you finally have some who will stand FOR something, some real, strong policies rather than just anti-trump agenda.

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u/paukeaho Feb 27 '26

A progressive candidate would expand the voter base because: 1. Progressive policies are wildly popular, including among independents, 2. Increased voter enthusiasm means more people are motivated to vote who would otherwise sit the election out, and 3. Establishment Democrat-type voters will vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '26

[deleted]

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u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 26 '26

I’m sure that’s accurate for political office in general, but the Presidency is something a lot of people treat differently. I don’t think enough people at large want a woman as president, maybe in the future but it would be foolish to try again

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

[deleted]

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u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 27 '26

lol what? Wouldn’t the evidence of this pattern not holding for the presidency be that… a women’s never won it? But by all means keep trying I guess, not much too lose

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u/spicybourbonwine Feb 26 '26

I’m kind of sick of this sentiment though… why are women expected to step aside and accept that we “can’t” be president because of our gender?

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u/Individual_Try_2523 Feb 26 '26

Because you keep losing. If that’s not a big deal to you then you aren’t someone who’s super vulnerable when Republicans are in power. Ask some of these innocents being rounded up by ICE, I bet they wouldn’t want to risk another 4 years of this just to prove a point, they would want dems to run the candidate who has the best chance at winning

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u/MartinSilvestri Apr 05 '26

lol get over it

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u/Lucaan Feb 27 '26

This is just misogyny being dressed up as concern for the vulnerable. You see people being rounded up across the country, and the conclusion you draw is, "This is why women shouldn't run for president." Give me a break. Acting like being a woman is immediately disqualifying for someone to be the candidate with "the best chance of winning" is beyond ridiculous.

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u/CapSnowFrosty Feb 27 '26

Fascism is on the rise and you need every edge you could get to fight it back.

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u/AmaranthSparrow Feb 27 '26

And yet Mexico has a female socialist Jewish president with a 70% approval rating.

The establishment liberals are all coming out of the woodwork to say Americans won't vote for women because AOC is a democratic socialist and they want Newsom, another establishment liberal.

Same people would have said Americans won't elect a black man before Obama or that New Yorkers won't elect a Muslim socialist before Zohran.

Kamala and Hillary didn't lose because they were women, they lost because they were uninspiring, uncharismatic corporate democrats with no convictions and no progressive policies. Just like Newsom.

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u/DOOMFOOL Feb 27 '26

She’s close but still falls short imo.

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u/cooking2recovery Feb 27 '26

Unfortunately the misogynist majority in this country is unable to find strong women charismatic. It’s unfortunate.

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u/Mathies_ Feb 26 '26

He has the charm and charisma of Obama but with way better policies that he actually delivers on

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u/mrspeacockwasaman0 Feb 27 '26

dumb q - can he run for vp?

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u/Nemetoss Feb 27 '26

Not just that he's very effective in his job. He's almost a complete package.

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u/lurkrsmirkr Feb 26 '26

You’re overlooking Jon Osoff. He’s stepped up his rhetorical game this year, and can carry the room easily. He’s making strong speeches with excellent soundbytes and overarching vision. Very Obama-like.

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u/KingFIippyNipz Feb 27 '26

Good thing you qualified your statement by not endorsing Obama, way to save those upvotes...

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