Rebuttal to Washington Post Editorial Board

The paper that warned "Democracy Dies in Darkness" is killing democracy in broad daylight

Under billionaire Jeff Bezos’ ownership, the Washington Post Editorial Board has made clear they serve oligarchs, not democracy. In the past year(ish) alone The Washington Post has refused to endorse Kamala Harris by bizarrely claiming they don’t pick sides, whitewashed Israel’s genocide in Palestine, forced out their own Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for mocking Jeff Bezos, fired their last full time Black Opinion columnist, and pretended their journalist Jamal Kashoggi wasn’t brutally murdered.

Now, in their latest excursion, the Post launches a reckless attack on New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani—all after months of picking every side against him.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is apparently no longer the The Post’s slogan, but their mission statement. In their falsehood ridden rant about Zohran Mamdani, the Post has done a massive disservice to the civic process, and exemplify why trust in legacy media is at a historic low of 28%. Thus, in this piece I dismantle each of the Post’s absurd attacks on Zohran Mamdani, with receipts, following this simple strategy:

• I produce The Post’s remarks in bold text.

• I follow those remarks with my detailed rebuttal.

Without further delay, Let’s Address This.

Contrary to the open book Zohran has been throughout his career and Mayoral campaign, the Post’s article title paints an image of someone allegedly two-faced, not to be trusted. Unfortunately, the Post’s disinformation only increases as one reads on. Thus, the opening sentence of the Post’s article reads as follows:

A new era of class warfare has begun in New York, and no one is more excited than Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani. Witness the mayor-elect’s change of character since his Tuesday election victory.

This is the Post’s first mistake. The class warfare they cite didn’t just begin. That class warfare has existed for decades, being waged by the city’s 123 billionaires—with a hoarded wealth of $760B—against the more than 8 million non-billionaires in the city. New York City has more billionaires than any city on Earth, and consistently ranks as among the top two or top three most expensive cities in the United States. For the Post to claim that class warfare has only now “begun” indicates either an indefensible detachment from reality, or an admission that they write only for an audience of 123 billionaires.

Likewise, the Post’s attempted snark to refer to Mamdani as “Generalissimo” is a low blow. To levy such an insult is unbecoming of legitimate journalists, especially when Mamdani’s entire career has focused on ensuring transparency, accountability, and due process of law. The Post continues:

Mamdani ran an upbeat campaign, with a nice-guy demeanor and perpetual smile papering over a long history of divisive and demagogic statements. New Yorkers periodically checking in on politics could understandably believe that he simply wanted to bring the city together and make it more affordable. That interpretation became much harder after his victory speech.

So far we’re two paragraphs into the Post’s diatribe and they’ve presented zero facts. Yet, they find time to issue another dismissive snark, this time about New Yorkers. This election had the highest turnout since 1969, with Mamdani earning more than a million votes. That’s some 300,000 more votes than Eric Adams, Bill DeBlasio, or cente-billionaire Michael Bloomberg. New Yorkers were not “periodically” checking in on politics. They were deeply engaged—as evidence by record turnout—because they finally saw a public servant who spoke to them through proven success and poetry.

Across 23 angry minutes laced with identity politics and seething with resentment, Mamdani abandoned his cool disposition and made clear that his view of politics isn’t about unity.

At this point I’m convinced that the Post did not bother to actually read or watch Zohran’s victory speech. It included gem after gem calling for unity and against corruption, including this powerful declaration:

In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light. Here, we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall. Your struggle is ours, too.

And we will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism. Where the more than 1 million Muslims know that they belong – not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power.

Likewise Zohran declared, “Together, we will usher in a generation of change.” Far from divisive, Zohran could not have been more clear in his message of unity. But the Post continues in their alternate reality diatribe, and soon divulge what they actually deem as “divisive.”

It isn’t about letting people build better lives for themselves. It is about identifying class enemies — from landlords who take advantage of tenants to “the bosses” who exploit workers — and then crushing them.

The Post appears to argue that we should not view exploitative landlords and bosses as enemies of working people. In deliberately ignoring that Zohran Mamdani ran on affordability and condemnations of exploitation, the Post instead seems to pretend exploitative landlords and bosses are some sort of protected class. Thus, the Post reveals what actually upsets them—Mamdani’s message that billionaires exploit working people. To the Post, billionaires are a fragile delicate flower to be nurtured and spoken to in only the softest most loving tone, lest they realize that other people exist on Earth that matter just as much as they do, and thus be irreparably harmed by the sheer thought that the universe does not in fact revolve around them.

His goal is not to increase wealth but to dole it out to favored groups. The word “growth” didn’t appear in the speech, but President Donald Trump garnered eight mentions.

I’ve read this sentence at least a dozen times and I have no idea what the argument is. So what if the word “growth” does not appear? The word “expand” appears. And far be it for this lowly lawyer to explain to the Post how the English language works, but “expand” is a synonym for “growth.” And just to be sure the Post gets the point, a synonym is when “one of two or more words or expressions of the same language have the same or nearly the same meaning in some or all senses.” Thus, as Zohran declared:

We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.

Mamdani speaks of the need to further expand labor rights for working people, while countering the exploitation of slumlords like Donald Trump. Trump, a man who the DOJ fined for racial housing discrimination in New York City, a man who AG James convicted for tax fraud related to his properties in New York City, and a man well known for stiffing workers, including in New York City. Donald Trump has an anti-worker rap sheet a mile long—as documented by the very labor unions that Zohran Mamdani wants to expand. He is the current President of the United States, and has actively attacked Mamdani throughout the campaign, even withholding $18B in funds owed to New York City—an act that if not remedied will devastate working class people. Yet the Post is surprised that Mamdani is courageously standing up to him?

People’s lives, in Mamdani’s world, can be improved only by government: “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.”

The Post’s sinister inclusion of the word “only” does nothing but demonstrate their bad faith. Zohran’s victory speech is replete with the need to work with all New York City communities, numerous of whom he specifically names. He spoke of the need to strengthen labor unions, and he spoke of the need to hold government accountable while using the government to serve the people. Mamdani called for a politics of hope and aspiration, that a government of the people should also necessarily work for the people. And somehow the Post hears “only.” Absurd.

The crowd cheered, of course, but a thinking person might wonder whether it’s good for the institution that has a monopoly on violence to insist that nothing is beyond its purview.

This is at least the third snark and the second time in its article that the Post insults New Yorkers as “not real thinkers.” Moreover, the audacity of the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos and Amazon, to claim that the government has a “monopoly on violence.” Has the Post forgotten that Amazon is responsible for what investigative journalists call “countless deaths” at Amazon warehouses due to horrific working conditions? Or perhaps they’ve forgotten the 68,000 Americans who die annually because corrupt and exploitative health insurance corporations deny them coverage? Or perhaps the Post forgot that it was none other than Zohran Mamdani who went on a 15 day hunger strike with cab drivers to hold government accountable after nearly two dozen cab drivers died by suicide due to exploitative debt? After successfully eliminating that debt, Mamdani is showing the world how he wants government to actually work for the people. What about this is offensive? The Post never explains.

Such crass appeals have real support in New York, where overpriced housing is a real problem. But it’s important to recognize that high rents are a function of too much government rather than too little.

Why does the Post consider affordability a “crass” appeal? They never explain. Likewise, Amazon The Post provides no evidence for the claim that “high rents are function of too much government.” They could have linked to a study or fact check, as they attempt in other places, but here they expect the reader to defer to their esteemed reputation of never telling a falsehood. (satire font). The Post also does not disclose that their boss, Jeff Bezos, has heavily invested in a start up that let’s people buy shares of rental homes, further limiting the homes available on the market to purchase.

Temporary relief because of the rent freeze he promised for 2 million housing units will inevitably lead to less investment, driving up costs in the long run.

Again, the Post provides no evidence for this claim. Moreover, New York City has more billionaires and wealth than any city on Earth. The problem is not a lack of investment, the problem is a lack of affordability for working people—a point the Post insists on ignoring because acknowledging it undermines their entire argument. Moreover, the Post deceptively pretends that rent freeze is the sole solution Mamdani offers to combat New York City’s housing crisis. On the contrary, a cursory glance at Mamdani’s platform demonstrates that rent freeze is just one of four parts of his housing platform, which also includes building affordable housing, cracking down on bad landlords, and supporting home owners and ending deed theft. The Post’s brilliant Editorial Board could not be bothered to look at Zohran Mamdani’s literal website. What world class journalism.

In the days since winning, Mamdani’s favorite word has become “mandate.” He won decisively and now wants to pursue his agenda, from the rent freeze to “free” child care and buses.

The Post finds it shocking that a candidate who won with historic turnout and vote counts not seen in more than half a century is leaning into the mandate voters expect of him. His success notwithstanding, the Post then ignores that none other than Mamdani himself calls on voters to hold him accountable, declaring his his speech:

When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them.

Where I come from (Earth), we celebrate—not malign—public servants who welcome accountability. Perhaps the Post should spend less time space riding Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket ship, and more time actually meeting people on the ground.

Yet as mayor of New York, his control over taxes and transportation is limited.

My congratulations to the Post on recognizing that Zohran Mamdani is Mayor, not a dictator like the one they keep defending in the White House.

He needs approval from the state to raise taxes.

Again, congrats to the Post for understanding Civics 101. This is Pulitzer worthy reporting right here. Pure genius.

His transition team includes several New York political insiders who understand how to pull the levers of power, as well as diehard ideologues such as Lina Khan, the former Federal Trade Commission chair.

Breaking News: Zohran Mamdani builds well rounded team who understands how government works.

Mamdani was the first New York mayoral candidate to garner more than 1 million votes since John Lindsay in 1969. One reason he will be so constrained is that Lindsay’s mayoralty was such a disaster for the city’s finances that the state imposed these financial controls to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

“Zohran Mamdani made history with record turnout! Here’s why that’s bad news!”

This sounds like satire from NYT Pitchbot rather than legitimate journalism.

More interesting will be how Mamdani interprets class struggle in the context of law enforcement and public education, where his powers are more sweeping. He says he wants to keep Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, who is respected by officers and competent at fighting crime. Will he give her deference? Will he order that prostitution laws stop being enforced, as he has suggested? Will subway stations become dangerous social experiments where vagrants are welcomed in to receive services?

If only the Post had journalists they could send to Zohran Mamdani to ask him these questions directly, rather than pontificating online.

On schools, Mamdani has done nothing to suggest he’ll take the side of children over union bosses when their interests conflict.

After spending their entire article falsely accusing Mamdani of being divisive, the Post jumps head first into an attempt to divide school children and teacher’s unions. Worse, they ignore Mamdani’s platform once more, where he puts in writing:

Zohran will ensure our public schools are fully funded with equally distributed resources, strong after-school programs, mental health counselors and nurses, compliant and effective class sizes, and integrated student bodies. He will create car-free “School Streets” to prevent traffic fatalities, improve play, and lower pollution for every school, and address student homelessness by expanding the successful Bronx pilot Every Child and Family Is Known. Zohran supports an end to mayoral control and envisions a system instead in which parents, students, educators and administrators work together to create the school environments in which students and families will best thrive—strengthening co-governance through the PEP, SLTs, DLTs, and CECs in particular.

I’m reminded of an Indigenous saying that “You cannot wake up someone pretending to be asleep.” The Post’s Editorial Board is either pretending to be asleep, or they forgot that Zohran Mamdani has laid out his platform in plain English (and multiple other languages). Either way, this is deeply embarrassing for them.

New York schools make it too difficult to discipline misbehaving kids, which makes classrooms less safe and hurts everyone.

With this, the actual mask is off, as the Post makes a straight up racist claim. Yes, this is actual white supremacy. The Post hopes readers ignore that this is an attack on Black children generally, and Black girls in particular. A national study ignited by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and former Speaker Pelosi and conducted by the Government Accountability Office found that:

In K-12 public schools, Black girls had the highest rates of so-called “exclusionary discipline,” such as suspensions and expulsions. Overall, the study found that…Black girls received nearly half of these punishments, even as they represent only 15% of girls in public schools. Black girls accounted for 45% of out-of-school suspensions, 37% of in-school suspensions and 43% of expulsions for actions like “defiance, disrespect, and disruption.” Nationally, Black girls received such exclusionary discipline at rates 3 to 5.2 times those of white girls. The study also found that when they had a disability, discipline rates for Black girls grew even larger.

And in New York City, this systemic racism is even worse for Black children and Black girls in particular. A recent study as reported by the New York Times found that:

In New York City, Black girls in elementary and middle school were about 11 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers… according to a report from the Education Trust-New York, a research and advocacy group.

The Post cruelly attempts to rebuke Zohran Mamdani’s call for better education practices by claiming it would become “too difficult to discipline misbehaving kids.” And they do so with no regard for the harmful impact on Black children and girls in particular. In short, the Post should be ashamed for using their massive platform to call for harsher punishments on children. What was that the Post said earlier about “taking the side of children?” The Post’s performative outrage is truly exhausting.

Mamdani has also said he wants to phase out gifted-and-talented programs for elementary students.

The Post makes another demonstrably false statement, one that extends from their earlier racist comment against Black students. In truth, Mamdani has not called to “phase out” gifted programs and even the link the Post provides does not validate their own claim. The problem Mamdani has identified is that New York City’s gifted program has historically disproportionately excluded Black and Latino students. While Black and Latino New Yorkers represent nearly 50% of the population, only 12% of the gifted slots are awarded to Black and Latino students. Though this has slightly improved in recent years, the city is still not at a place of meaningful justice for students of color. Therefore, Mamdani has proposed starting the gifted program in third grade, instead of in KG, when children are older and testing is more accurate. Moreover, Mamdani has called to provide additional support to all students earlier on. What parent could possibly oppose more support for their child at a younger age? To translate Mamdani’s thoughtful approach to increase student support as “phasing out” gifted programs is quite clearly disinformation.

Exit polls showed that the New Yorkers most skeptical of these utopian promises are those who were born in the city and don’t have college degrees.

The Post closes its diatribe by once again making clear that what really offends them is Mamdani’s message of affordability. Apparently it is “utopian” for the wealthiest city in the history of time to make transportation, groceries, housing, and education affordable. Who would have thought that a paper owned by a fragile billionaire would arrive at such a conclusion?

Sir Charles Dilke is believed to have said, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.” The Post’s attempt to manipulate exit polling data is simply indefensible. Here are the polls to which the Post refers:

First, those in New York City less than 10 years voted 81-17 in favor of Mamdani. Is anyone shocked that those who previously lived outside of NYC overwhelmingly agree that NYC should be more affordable? Those in NYC more than 10 years still voted 55-40 in favor of Mamdani. The Post instead ignores those massive lopsided votes in favor of Mamdani, and instead focuses on the lifelong New Yorkers who voted by a smaller margin 38-49 in favor of Cuomo. Even then, to those native New Yorkers who voted for Cuomo, Mamdani has made clear he wants to earn their trust, declaring:

To every New Yorker – whether you voted for me, for one of my opponents or felt too disappointed by politics to vote at all – thank you for the opportunity to prove myself worthy of your trust. I will wake each morning with a singular purpose: to make this city better for you than it was the day before.

The Post instead ignores this unifying message, and continues their odd critiques.

Mamdani fared best among newcomers and people with advanced degrees.

Moments after accusing Mamdani of undercutting education, the Post slams Mamdani for being popular among the most educated. If Mamdani was actually against education, then why are the most educated in New York City voting for him? Unless, of course, the Post is lying about Mamdani’s stance on education.

Moreover, which is it? Is he a bad person for allegedly undermining education, or is he a bad person because he embraces those who are educated and have studied his policies and recognize that his policies make sense? The Post should change their name to the Washington Pretzel, because that describes them better, particularly the part about being overly salty. Finally, the Pretzel Post concludes:

Apparently, living in New York for decades — and witnessing what does and doesn’t work when it comes to running a city — offers more wisdom than grad school.

The Post’s final attempted snark is embarrassing because the data actually shows those who lived in New York for more than a decade still voted for Mamdani by 15 points more than they voted Cuomo. And those with a college degree vote for Mamdani by 19 points over Cuomo. However the Post slices it, their guy lost—badly—and their attempts to malign Mamdani does nothing but expose their own petulance. Apparently, the Post hopes that they can flat out lie to its readers and not be fact checked. The Post’s editors should know, disinformation dies in daylight.

Conclusion

And thus concludes the Post’s diatribe.

My job as a human rights lawyer is to speak truth to power and uphold absolute justice as my supreme standard. That mandates holding accountable the privileged and the powerful, the wealthy and the well connected, and the corrupt and the cruel, all while uplifting the marginalized and the manipulated. That is my promise to you, and it is a promise I will not break under any circumstance.

What Zohran Mamdani represents is not just a political victory; it is a paradigm shift. It is the proof that organized people can defeat organized money. That coalition-building across race, faith, class, and boroughs still works. That justice still resonates louder than fear, even when fear has billionaires on payroll.

And that is exactly why you and I cannot afford to step back now. We have to push harder—to expose propaganda when we see it, uplift truth when we hear it, and defend leaders who center humanity, not wealth. Whether the battleground is legacy media, City Hall, Congress, or the global struggle for human rights, the core principle is the same: power concedes nothing unless we force it to.

So if you’ve gotten this far, understand that your engagement is not symbolic—it is strategic. When you share this work, when you support this platform, when you subscribe to stay informed and stay organized, you build the foundation for a nation where fewer billionaires own the narrative, the headline, or the backroom decision.

The Post may be trying to ensure democracy dies in darkness, but I promise you this: as long as we stand together, keep the lights on, and refuse to back down, democracy will not die. Not on our watch.

Let’s get to work. Or as Mayor Mamdani would say it—you’ve heard the poetry, now let’s govern in prose.