Amid an amusingly paranoid reaction [11] from the MAGA right, Donald Trump is threatening [26] to have Zohran Mamdani denaturalized [12] and deported [13] under the archaic Cold War-era Communist Control Act [14] if he continues with New York's "sanctuary city [15]" policy as mayor. A Justice Department memo has already set the machinery for "denaturalization [16]" of citizens in motion [27]. But the Islamophobic, xenophobic and old-school Red Scare backlash to Mamdani's political rise [17] could provide the breaking point in which localities coast-to-coast refuse to cooperate with Trump's fascist agenda [18]—vindicating Murray Bookchin [28]'s theories [19] of radical municipalism [20]. In Episode 285 [21] of the CounterVortex podcast [22], Bill Weinberg argues that Mamdani's ascendance, whatever the limitations of his personal politics [23], heightens the contradictions in American society in a salubrious way, and may even open revolutionary possibilities.
Listen on SoundCloud [21] or via Patreon [29].
Production by Chris Rywalt [30]
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