Jerry Springer, Zohran Mamdani, Maryland Parents, and Marjorie Taylor Greene Walk Into a Yemeni Coffee Shop

Zohran Mamdani isn’t the only Muslim who made headlines and moved the national conversation last week. Montgomery County, Maryland (Suburban DC) Muslims were the real power players. The Supreme Court voted in favor of the Muslim plaintiffs in Mahmoud v. Taylor setting the precedent that parents can withhold their children from classes deemed offensive and prohibit them from reading and using controversial books as curriculum. The classes in question involve sex education and the books are focused on gender ideology and other hot topics. While Muslims led this fight in Maryland, and in a number of other school districts nationally, they were joined in a coalition with Ethiopian Orthodox, Jewish, Catholic, Ukrainian Orthodox, and other families upset at the troubling nature of much of the new school curriculum and books. Liberal writers such as Gerald Posner have also spoken in favor of the “opt-out” option.

The lessons for this case are many. Parents can fight for their rights and win. Muslim issues in America are American issues as they aren’t peculiar to any one community. Amplified progressive Muslim voices, politicians, and the tactical and ideological vision of the Ikhwani-Left Alliance doesn’t erase the fact that the Muslim community is still one that is largely traditional and conservative.

However, without a nationwide action plan this ruling may not amount to much. This is particularly true for refugee, poor, and working-class families who are in school districts that the most ideologically and politically motivated teachers, staff, and administrators are often working in. Without the knowledge and resources made available to them informing them that they have a right to remove their kids from such activities, and that they aren’t powerless in the face of perceived power, the social engineering will continue. Is any organization in America, particularly a Muslim one, well enough organized and funded to offer translation services and proactively go to parents in inner-city and low-income school districts? Willing to do so at the expense of upsetting political allies?

Jerry Springer- The Original Zohran and MTG

I’ve long argued that reality TV and shows like the one hosted by Jerry Springer made way for the presidency of Donald Trump. Suddenly, a politician could say anything and not get canceled. People are now routinely shrugging off the most outrageous old Tweets and quotes from politicians they identify with. Poor Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart. Trump went all Slick Willie with strippers and the party that told Bill Clinton he had to resign from the presidency over character issues shrugged it off. That’s why I’ll tell anyone interested in running for public office today to not worry about old social media content and a troubling past. If voters like you, they won’t care. Trump set the precedent and changed the political culture of America.

Before Trump got in trouble over a check written to a sex worker there was another politician who did the same thing and made a comeback. His name was Jerry Springer. Born In London to German Jews who escaped the holocaust, Jerry came to America on a ship for refugees as a child. Nearly all of the family left behind in Germany was murdered with the exception of some who escaped to Israel (then British mandate Palestine). Jerry grew-up in Queens, became a lawyer, and moved to Cincinatti. It was in Cincinatti where Jerry became a liberal crusader on a number of economic issues and elected to City Council. Shortly thereafter, Jerry got busted for writing a city check to a hooker. Of course, this was the 1970s, so Jerry resigned from office. He then decided to give politics another shot and was reelected to the city council, became mayor, and eventually ran unsuccessfully for Ohio Governor. His platform and messaging sounded a lot like that of Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani. It was Jerry’s career in television that made him wealthy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Zohran returns to the world of entertainment after politics. (For more information on Jerry you can listen to the Final Thoughts podcast on Audible).

Populist candidates are the product of time, place, and identity. Jerry represented the politics of New York baby boomer Jews who believed the lesson from the holocaust was to forcefully fight against racism and discrimination, not cede any ground to the right on economic issues negatively impacting the working-class, and to see the right-wing as a perpetual enemy. This brand of politics was sanctified in American film, television, books, and music. Zohran Mamdani wasn’t a refugee and is part of the global South Asian elite. India is becoming a wealthy nation (that is, for the wealthy) and a world power, the Indian diaspora in Africa has wielded a lot of economic power for many generations (thus, Idi Amin), and Indian Americans are the most financially successful ethnicity in America. Surely such wealth and prosperity will translate to conservative economic politics. Perhaps, Indian-Americans have been very prominent in the Trump Administration and in conservative politics in recent years. However, South Asian Americans have largely followed the politics of their economic and educational non-Desi peers in America and vote Democrat.

In the context of affluent college-educated urban professionals being a populist means unabashedly advocating for woke politics in an affable and social media friendly manner and having the right identity to do so. This message will surely then be amplified by celebrities and social media influencers. Zohran did that. He had the right politics, like Jerry, is quick-witted and good in interviews, and, like The Squad, he had an identity that made him cool to guilt-ridden white urban progressives and the cultural currency to get many of the same Sugar Daddies, Mamas, and Thems who backed AOC, to open up their sizeable wallets and expertise for him. Black, working-class white, and Hispanic voters, particularly those without seminary training, appear less enthusiastic about Zohran’s brand of politics.

Being a populist in Georgia looks different than being one in New York. Marjorie Taylor Greene is the newest darling on Muslim social media. The absurdity of this may be lost on those without a deep familiarity with the American-Muslim community. MTG has a long track record of bashing Muslims that many seem to have forgotten. Still, I knew Muslims who once celebrated former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, so I’m not really surprised. All anyone needs to do, far-left or far-right, in order to gain Muslim fans is very simple. Criticize Israel and American support for the Jewish State. Perhaps out of ignorance, or just a flat-out lack of care, Muslim social media accounts are often plastered with everyone from communists to Nazis to Salafis to Shia to Sufis. The only qualification is to be a conspiracy theorist, critic of Israel, and in some cases outright antisemitic. MTG is working her way to an iftar invitation. Perhaps it can be hosted by Andrew Tate.

What began this love affair between MTG, and some Muslims is an interview she gave with Tucker Carlson in which she was critical of US support for Israel. A perfectly reasonable conversation to have whether you agree with the takeaways or not (I happen to believe both were paying fast and loose with the truth and the war hysteria with Iran has come to pass), but it is one that will gain fans given the current tragic situation in Gaza.

MTG began her political career as a fitness trainer and Facebook moderator (a horrifying sign of things to come). What MTG represents, is all of the things that Zohran doesn’t. White, Christain, rural, and a “tell it like it us” populism that rails against immigration, crime, Muslims, LGTBQ, and the bad trade deals America has made that has impoverished many of her constituents. The only thing Zohran voters may find endearing about MTG is she was a swinger who cucked her husband for years. The difference between Georgia and Bushwick is this behavior is not seen as something cool and liberating in her district. If an urban progressive politician was involved in such an arrangement, it may even be celebrated by their voters. MTG had to resort to a call for divine forgiveness and leaving the Catholic Church for Evangelical Protestantism. Not that it was really needed. The MAGA movement isn’t a religious movement and MTG is far from the only cheater in the lot.

What does MTG have in common with Jerry and Zohran? What all three have in common with one another is that they all display a deep level of distrust for elites. These attitudes are popular and common with the American people. The insular nature of places like Wall Street, DC, Hollywood, Manhattan, the Ivy League, County Clubs, Martha’s Vineyard, Silicon Valley, and other such places protects them from this simple fact- people aren’t really into them that much! The particular elites you hate depends on your politics and location.

Opposition to elites could take the form of railing against billionaires and corporate interests like Bernie Sanders, Jerry, and Zohran. Or it could take the form of railing against the messaging in media, entertainment, and the Democratic Party as well as the attempted social engineering of the education system, like MTG and countless other Republicans…or even like those Muslim families in Maryland.

Iran Studies

I just finished Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic by Michael Axworthy. A fascinating and informative read which I’m following by reading Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History by Vali Nasr, and Tales of two Cities: A Persian Memoir by Abbas Milani. I also watched this Iranian film that was discussed in the book and recommend it.