 |
| By The Free Press |
It’s Thursday, August 7. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Eli Lake traces the ties between Islamists and progressives. How the Democrats are responding to Trump’s immigration agenda. And more.
But first: Andrew Cuomo is trying to go viral.
Andrew Cuomo probably thought he had delivered a big zinger during the first debate before the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in June. “Mr. Mamdani is very good at Twitter and with videos,” the line went. After pausing for effect, Cuomo added, “But he actually produces nothing.”
What the 67-year-old former New York governor didn’t seem to realize is that being “very good” at making viral videos isn’t nothing. In 2025, it might be the whole game, at least for some voters. A poll last month showed that more than 30 percent of those who voted for Zohran Mamdani in the primary said that his social media presence and videos were important—and swayed how they voted.
Back in February when Mamdani was polling at 1 percent, I came across one of his early campaign videos and it stopped me in my tracks. I had never seen political content like it. It was funny, cinematic, and deliberately strange—as if Wes Anderson had directed it. At that moment, I knew that Mamdani was going places.
Fast-forward to today: Mamdani, 33, seems unstoppable. Cuomo, now running as an independent, is trying to catch up online, even though his political instincts were forged in the heyday of network news—not podcasts, TikTok, and Instagram Live.
To see his new strategy at work, I followed Cuomo for a day in LeFrak City, a working-class housing complex in Queens so large that it has its own post office.
One campaign staffer told me that the new approach is to “capture everything.” Two Gen Zers trail Cuomo constantly, documenting every handshake and dad joke. The goal is to make sure social media sees the “authentic Andrew,” an aide told me.
It’s authentic, all right. But is catching up to Mamdani as easy as walking and talking like him? Here is my prognosis, based on the day that I spent walking and talking with Cuomo.
—Olivia Reingold
 |
The Ties That Bind Islamists and Progressives | ||||||
 | ||||||
|
How New York Became a City of Billionaires | ||||||
 | ||||||
|
A God-Loving Democrat Flees to Illinois to Stop Trump in Texas | ||||||
 | ||||||
|
The Democrats Have No Immigration Plan | ||||||
 | ||||||
|
 |
