Hours before President Trump was set to deliver remarks commemorating the Fourth of July and the nation’s 250th anniversary, New York City’s democratic socialist mayor offered his own view of patriotism.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, seated at George Washington’s desk in City Hall and surrounded by recently naturalized immigrants, emphasized the nation’s diversity as he criticized aspects of American history, from slavery to discrimination to worker exploitation.
“American exceptionalism, the conventional wisdom tells us, makes our freedom a little more free; is how we dug the Erie Canal and irrigated the West; is why children in faraway lands grow up dreaming of one day moving here,” Mr. Mamdani said during a nearly 13-minute address on Friday morning.
“And yet the irony,” he concluded, “is that the story of America has so often been written by those who were told by others with power and influence and wealth that they were anything but exceptional.”
He critiqued what he regards as an intrinsic bias some Americans hold against immigrants — a reaction he said was rooted in a belief that “when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best.”
The country’s best asset, he argued, is its constant evolution, rather than a fixed notion of American identity that has propelled Mr. Trump’s political movement for the past decade. The mayor never mentioned the president by name, but appeared to take aim at him and his supporters.
“The powerful have always known their answer. America, in their view, is an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal,” Mr. Mamdani said, in reference to discriminatory attitudes toward nonwhites. “How small they are. How weak. How unoriginal.”
He also said to America’s fiercest defenders, “Patriotism has never been about pretending our nation is without flaws.”
J.C. Polanco, an independent political commentator and son of Dominican immigrants who often disagrees with Mr. Mamdani, called the mayor “a very gifted speaker” while taking issue with the tone of his remarks.
“The speech was more a critique of American patriotism — a passive-aggressive critique of American exceptionalism and capitalism — than a celebration,” said Mr. Polanco, who is also a professor at the University of Mount St. Vincent.
He said the mayor had “found a way to blame those he disagrees with politically for all that is wrong,” and suggested he should have focused more on “Native Americans, Chicanos and foundational Black Americans.”
In contrast to Mr. Mamdani, the president’s official account on X was showcasing a more classic celebration of the nation’s founding on Friday. One post showed lyrics from “The Star-Spangled Banner” over a picture of American flags, with the caption “A nation built on strength.” Another featured a short video with footage of troops and other American iconography.
The mayor, in his seventh month in office, was seated at the Federal-style desk that Washington used in Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan, where he was inaugurated as president. Mr. Mamdani was flanked by immigrants from Chile, Mexico, Haiti, Egypt and Pakistan. They clutched small American flags and stared onward as he spoke.
Mr. Mamdani has often alluded to his own brand of geographic exceptionalism. Coming off a particularly triumphant month, including a Primary Day sweep by his preferred House candidates and a historic Knicks victory parade celebrating the team’s championship, the mayor has spoken with unconditional warmth about New York City, in contrast to his more complicated feelings about the origins of America.
His remarks underscored his interest in elevating his stature beyond the diverse city of 8.5 million people he leads. He was born in Uganda and thus cannot run for president, but can aim for other offices when he leaves City Hall. And he has shown early inclinations toward leading his own political movement of democratic socialists looking to topple establishment players and further their own agenda.
One of Mr. Mamdani’s supporters, Asad Dandia, the official historian for the borough of Brooklyn, discussed the speech in the context of Mr. Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, which was rejected earlier this week by the Supreme Court.
“In the same week where we came an inch away from losing birthright citizenship and restricting who can be American, the mayor offered a vision of America worth fighting for,” Mr. Dandia said. “One that is expansive and rich, but still in the process of becoming.”
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