Mamdani’s spun-up ‘fun’ is starting to feel a little desperate

Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign hosted a scavenger hunt on Sunday. It was incredibly fun and a great way to “engage with actual human beings in real life and learn about your city.” 

That’s his pollster speaking, by the way.  

“There’s at least 1.5K+ people in line at the Zohran Scavenger Hunt,” exclaimed a post on X that netted 5 million views. “All of 17th Street at Union Square is packed. People are eager to receive the first clue!”  

That report came from a DSA activist who followed Mamdani on every step of his walk down the length of Manhattan before the primary election.

If you don’t believe either of them, you can listen to Amanda Litman, former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer and the founder of Democrat activist PAC Run for Something.

“A thing Zohran and his campaign have powerfully tapped into — and that his scavenger hunt captures so perfectly — is that a vast majority of the people who live here genuinely love New York City,” Litman gushed. “We wouldn’t stay here otherwise!” 

Notice a theme? Sounds a lot like someone’s mom insisting that the birthday party egg-and-spoon race in the rain was a blast. 

Now, having missed out on the scavenger hunt, it’s impossible for me to say whether it was fun or not. Maybe it was the most thrilling event of the summer.

But the rhetoric around the day’s fun sounds a little forced. 

It reminds me a lot of another campaign that was supposed to embody fun.

The electoral dream team of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz sparked, if you recall, a “new politics of joy,” as Errol Louis wrote in New York magazine last August. 

Walz publicly thanked then-Veep Harris for “bringing back the joy.”  

Kamala herself, asked what makes her so joyful, explained in her trademark word-salad fashion: “I find joy in the American people. I find joy and optimism in what I see to be our future . . . I find joy in the ambition of the people. I find joy in the dreams of the people. I find joy in building community. . .” 

In reality, the Harris/Walz campaign was miserable, with a nominee who was evidently a terror to work for, two running mates who detested each other and an incumbent who sometimes appeared to be rooting for the other side. 

So atop all that dysfunctionality, the Harris/Walz campaign smeared a heaping helping of joy to make things seem sweet as candy. 

A charming smile, after all, can paper over a lot of faults. And Zohran Mamdani oozes charm. 

Is the threadbare vapidity of the Mamdani campaign starting to show?

His policies, after all, are absurd.  

Free buses just mean less money for the MTA — or for the city, which will have to cover the fares.  

All “freezing the rent” means is deferred maintenance on our decrepit housing stock.  

And “city-owned grocery store” is just a fancy term for “food pantry” — because, let’s face it, City Hall isn’t looking to compete with Citarella, but to offer New Yorkers in “food deserts” a place to buy tomatoes and chicken thighs. 

Meanwhile, for a supposedly grassroots, popular campaign, the Mamdani movement is strangely locked-down and remote.

For instance, two recent events with Staten Island Democrats were blanketed by the sort of security you might expect to encounter at a ritzy wedding reception in the elite districts of Kampala, Uganda. 

Invitations to meet with Mamdani on Saturday went out with strict instructions of secrecy; multiple layers of registration and vetting were conducted. The final details of where and when were released at the last minute. 

And this was an event limited to active members of the county Democratic Party, including sitting public officials! 

Why the need for control — unless Machine Mamdani is running a little hot and the bolts holding it together are starting to rattle? 

This isn’t to say that Mamdani is not going to win. But there ain’t much there there.  

The adult-kickball-league DSA-nerd Mamdani cultists will go cheering where they’re told to go, and have as much fun as they’re commanded to have.  

But most New Yorkers don’t look to politicians to organize games for them. We would like a little substance.

And Mamdani isn’t delivering it. 

Seth Barron is a Post associate editorial-page editor. X: @SethBarronNYC