NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani faces scrutiny over father’s controversial claims

New York City’s mayoral race just took a sharp turn into the history books with a bizarre twist involving socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani and his father’s eyebrow-raising theories.

In a nutshell, Mamdani, a self-described socialist vying for the city’s top job, finds himself under fire not just for his own radical ideas but for his father’s shocking assertions that Adolf Hitler took cues from Abraham Lincoln for the Holocaust, as Fox News reports.

Let’s start with the family tree. Zohran Mamdani, who credits his parents for a “privileged upbringing” filled with political debates as noted in a New York Times profile, is the son of an Oscar-nominated filmmaker mother and a prominent Ivy League professor father, Mahmood Mamdani, who teaches at Columbia University as the Herbert Lehman professor of government.

Unpacking professor’s provocative past

Things got dicey in 2022 when Professor Mahmood Mamdani spoke at an Asia Society panel and dropped historical bombshells that could make even the most open-minded scholar blink twice. He claimed Hitler drew inspiration for genocide from Lincoln’s handling of American Indians during the Civil War through the creation of reservations.

“With the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln generalized the solution of reservations,” Mahmood Mamdani said in 2022. Sorry, professor, but linking Honest Abe to the horrors of the Holocaust feels like a stretch that could snap even the sturdiest of historical narratives — Lincoln fought to preserve a nation, not to inspire atrocities.

Mahmood didn’t stop there. He argued America pioneered “settler-colonialism” globally, claimed Nazi Nuremberg Laws mirrored American policies, and even equated nationalism with colonialism, leaving little room for nuance in his worldview.

More alarming assertions from academia

Perhaps most jaw-dropping, Mahmood Mamdani suggested during the same 2022 discussion that the Allied forces in World War II shared the Nazis’ goal of creating “pure” nations by ethnically cleansing Germans from Eastern Europe. “The Nazi political project was shared by the Allies,” he stated. With all due respect, equating the Allies’ post-war actions with Nazi ideology dismisses the moral chasm between defeating tyranny and perpetuating it.

Elsewhere, in discussions around his book on terrorism, the professor reportedly called the term “suicide bomber” a misnomer, likening such acts to soldiers’ missions. And per a study excerpt shared by the Washington Free Beacon, he’s argued Israel represents the “logical conclusion” of Nazism — a statement that raises serious questions about historical accuracy.

Now, while a father’s views don’t automatically define a son, it’s fair to wonder how such ideas might have shaped Zohran Mamdani’s outlook. After all, he’s openly praised his upbringing as one steeped in political discourse. Fox News Digital reached out to both father and son for comment, but answers remain pending.

Zohran’s own radical rhetoric emerges

Turning to the candidate himself, Zohran Mamdani’s own words have fueled concerns about his potential leadership style. After a surprising upset in the Democratic Party mayoral primary, critics dug up old videos showcasing his far-left stances.

Back in 2021, at a Young Democratic Socialists of America conference, Mamdani urged attendees to stand firm on goals like “seizing the means of production.” That’s not exactly the language of a moderate ready to govern a diverse city like New York — it’s more suited to a manifesto than a mayoral platform.

In another video for The Gravel Institute, he pushed for housing to become a public resource rather than a private commodity. “If we want to end the housing crisis, the solution has to be moving toward the full de-commodification of housing,” he declared. While affordable housing is a real issue, replacing luxury condos with communal laundries and food co-ops sounds like a utopian dream that ignores market realities.

Concerns over upbringing, ideology emerge

These statements, paired with his father’s controversial theories, have sparked legitimate worries about how Mamdani’s background might influence his governing approach. It’s not about guilt by association, but about understanding the ideological soil in which his policies are rooted.

Look, every candidate deserves to be judged on their own merits, not their family tree. But when a mayoral hopeful’s rhetoric leans so heavily toward radical restructuring of society, and his formative influences include such extreme historical interpretations, New Yorkers have a right to ask tough questions.

Turns out, ideas have consequences, and so does upbringing. As this race heats up, Zohran Mamdani will need to clarify whether his vision for NYC aligns more with practical solutions or with the provocative theories echoing from his past. Until then, voters might wonder if they’re electing a mayor—or a social experiment.