Mamdani appears to flip-flop on Hamas during debate

For a newcomer to the big stage, I have to say, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is pretty slick.

He has figured out how to play the game, and sadly, far too many people are falling for his act.

This would include suddenly flip-flopping on his Hamas disarmament position during the debate.

The Debate

Mamdani has a monster lead in this race, and if it stays a three-way race, he is going to roll, but he did not take that lead for granted.

Mamdani gave just as good as he got during the debate, but the format also benefited him, as there were moderators who appeared more intent on microphone time than allowing the candidates to run the show.

As an example of an attack, Cuomo has been hammering Mamdani over his rent-controlled apartment, so Mamdani flipped it as an attack, stating, “If you think that the problem in this city is that my rent is too low, vote for him.

"If you know the problem in this city is that your rent is too high, vote for me.”

Please Get Out

Cuomo just about begged GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa to get out of the race, but Sliwa is not bending, and I don’t blame him.

I know it’s not a popular opinion, but Cuomo had his chance to beat Mamdani during the primary, and he lost. Sliwa won the nomination of a major party, so he has earned the right to be in this race despite his low polling numbers. As I have stated numerous times already, I don’t fault Sliwa, but I fault the NYC GOP for not wooing a better candidate and taking this race seriously from the outset.

Cuomo did not outright tell Sliwa to quit, but he did say, “He cannot win. You vote for Curtis, save yourself the time, and vote for Mamdani. That’s what this is.”

Well, Mr. Cuomo, right now, you cannot win either, so dare we ask what would happen if the independent candidate dropped out and left it up to Sliwa to take on Mamdani, especially if Cuomo threw his support behind him?

Flip-Flopping

Even though Mamdani is still sitting on a double-digit lead in polling after Mayor Adams dropped out, he has tested the waters, most notably on his stance on Hamas, which he has been quite coy about, apparently saving it for the debate.

To this point, Mamdani has not backed Hamas’ disarmament, but he took that stance, sort of, during the debate, responding, "Of course, I believe that they should lay down their arms.”

He later added, "I don't really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety.”

That was a pretty slick answer, but if you notice, he did not mention the permanent disarmament of Hamas. Oh, by the way, he also wants to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested for war crimes, yet that has somehow not hurt him with the Jewish contingent of New York City Jews. I swear, the hatred for the GOP is so high right now, I am not sure Mandani walking down the street with an ISIS flag would change people’s minds.