For the low price of $45, New Yorkers can proudly display their racist attitudes against New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Despite establishment opposition, Mamdani clinched the city’s primary in June with 56 percent of the vote. The Ugandan-born Queens lawmaker’s rise in the Big Apple has not been without intense opposition: many Democratic leaders in New York politics have still refused to endorse him, with some outright attacking him. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand baselessly claimed that Mamdani condoned “global jihad,” a statement that her communication director quickly had to walk back.
But it’s been Republicans who have proven especially venomous in the wake of Mamdani’s surprise win. On Friday, the New York Young Republican Club unveiled its newest merchandise: a blue shirt plastered with the text “Deport Zohran.”
“A new era is coming to New York City,” the item description reads. “With a dash of Che Guevera and modern populist overtones, our tee flips the script on socialism as we take back the city we love. Don’t just cast your vote, rep it too!”
(The website misspells the last name of Cuban Revolution figure Che Guevara.)
The shirt’s manufacturing details explain that it’s 100 percent cotton, side-seamed construction with shoulder-to-shoulder taping, and is “made in the USA, unlike Zohran.”
The unabashed xenophobia is no doubt thanks, in part, to Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric. The president has recently directed his attention towards the Democratic Socialist, threatening to arrest Mamdani and initiate a federal takeover of New York City if the 33-year-old is elected to Gracie Mansion.
“If a Communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. “We’re going to straighten out New York. It’s going to—maybe we’re going to have to straighten it out from Washington.”
Trump did not specify by which authority he planned to intervene in New York’s democratic processes.
The post New York Republicans Unveil Bonkers New Anti-Zohran Mamdani Merch appeared first on New Republic.
