It’s not your fault. Our country’s entire theory of justice is predicated on proportional penalties — that the “punishment fits the crime.” It’s derived from the Biblical edict of “an eye for an eye” and has been drilled into your head since birth.
So, no wonder it seems weird and counterintuitive when two people commit the same “crime,” and the first guy’s career is absolutely, completely destroyed — his reputation is annihilated and he never works in his field again — but the second guy shakes it off like a bad case of fleas.
You’ve seen it happen repeatedly in music, Hollywood, sports, news/entertainment, and business… but especially in politics. (Just off the top of your head, you’ve probably got half a dozen examples.)
That’s because our legal system is based on the “punishment fits the crime,” but the court of public opinion is based on something else. And it’s less about the “crime” and more about your personal brand.
More specifically, how the “crime” relates to your brand identity.
Why did Bill Clinton’s approval rating increase during the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Part of the reason was a strong economy. And in a battle of personalities, Bill Clinton was far more likable (and charismatic) than his GOP adversary, Newt Gingrich.
Those were two important factors.
But the biggest reason — by far — was Bill Clinton’s brand identity: Boinking an intern sure sounded like something Slick Willy would do, so when his DNA was found on Monica’s dress, it didn’t really change how we thought about him.
When Pete Rose died, I wrote that his biggest PR mistake was admitting to gambling. Even though it was 100% obvious he was guilty! Before, his brand identity was based on being a scrappy, hard-working, elbow-throwing, record-setting baseball outcast.
He was the perfect American antihero.
But then he admitted to gambling in 2004, and his image changed in an instant. He was a liar — a desperate, degenerate liar!
And near-immediately, support for his inclusion in Cooperstown fell off a cliff. The passion of his supporters vanished overnight, and Pete Rose died without ever reaching the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Different brand identities have different vulnerabilities.
Which brings us to Zohran Mamdani, the next mayor of New York City. The ex-governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo — an experienced, savvy politician in his own right — has been hammering Mamdani as hard as he can, focusing on his far-left positions, support of radical Islam, and lack of experience.
Cuomo accused Mamdani of wanting to legalize prostitution. He alleged Mamdani is sympathetic to Hamas. And he charged that Mamdani “believes in defunding the police.”
[…]
Cuomo castigated Mamdani as too inexperienced: “If the assemblyman is elected mayor, Donald Trump will take over New York City, and it will be ‘Mayor Trump,’” Cuomo said.
Which is exactly why Cuomo will lose one week from today: That’s not Mamdani’s Achilles heel!
For millions of New Yorkers, Mamdani’s left-wing policies and/or hostility to Israel are WHY they’re drawn to him in the first place. It’s a feature, not a bug.
Related: The Liberal Media Plays the Islamophobe Card to Save the Bacon — er, Falafel — of Zohran Mamdani
And attacking him for being inexperienced? Why on Earth would you attack a young-looking 34-year-old political upstart — whose entire brand identity is based on being the Next Big Thing — for being inexperienced?!
The voters already KNOW he’s inexperienced — he’s a fresh new face. It’s a huge part of his appeal!
No, Mamdani’s fatal flaw was always something else. And he came precariously close to revealing it at this ill-advised press conference:
I want to use this moment to speak to the Muslims of New York City. I want to speak to the memory of my aunt [fighting back tears] who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab.
Almost immediately, commentators focused on the absurdity of equating Auntie Mamdani’s transportational trepidations with the fiery, gruesome murders of 2,753 New Yorkers.
Here’s JD Vance’s X post:
According to Zohran the real victim of 9/11 was his auntie who got some (allegedly) bad looks https://t.co/UGeKANSAH2
— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 25, 2025
But that wasn’t Mamdani’s fatal flaw either: His anti-American, pro-Muslim sympathies were already baked into his brand.
Instead, it took Internet sleuths — the vaunted “Pajamas Media” that inspired this very website — to reveal the truth about Auntie Mamdani: She didn’t exist.
Questions began to mount on social media after a tearful Mamdani on Friday recalled how his “aunt” made the painful decision to stop taking the subway in New York City after facing Islamophobia in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Internet sleuths later claimed that a public health consultant, Masuma Mamdani, was the Democratic nominee’s only aunt, posting photos of her in which she appeared without a hijab and noting that she lived in Tanzania on 9/11.
Yesterday, Mamdani was forced to come clean:
Asked about the posts on Monday, Mamdani was prompted to do some damage control and clarify he wasn’t referring to a biological aunt.
[…]
The “aunt” who Zohran Mamdani said was too afraid to wear her hijab on the subways after 9/11 is actually his dad’s cousin.
The socialist mayoral front-runner made the revelation during a press conference Monday after critics seized on his story, sharing photos on social media of a woman they identified as his aunt, who was pictured without a hijab.
“I was speaking about Zehra fuhi, my father’s cousin, who passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters about the relative, whom he said he affectionately called his aunt.
And suddenly, for the very first time in the mayoral campaign, blood was in the water: This allegation hurt Mamdani in ways the others didn’t.
Because his fatal flaw was NEVER communism, socialism, Hamas, inexperience, or even his anti-Americanism. Cuomo wasted most of his time (and money) focusing on the wrong thing.
His fatal flaw is that he just might be a big, stinkin’ phony.
A fraud. A performative trick. An actor reciting lines.
In today’s edition of The Guardian, ex-Clintonite Robert Reich (or, if you prefer Rush Limbaugh’s pronunciation, Reichshhhhhhh) bragged about his granddaughter canvassing on behalf of Mamdani:
You don’t have to reach too far back in history to find Democratic politicians who have inspired young people. Bernie Sanders (technically an independent) and AOC. Barack Obama. (I was inspired in my youth by Bobby Kennedy — the real Bobby Kennedy — and Senator Eugene McCarthy.)
And Zohran.
What do all of them have in common? They’re authentic. They’re passionate. They care about real people. They want to make America fairer. They advocate practical solutions that people can understand. [emphasis added]
Pay close attention to the last paragraph: The very first word Reich used to describe Mamdani’s most important, most meaningful, most relevant brand attribute was “authentic.”
But what if he’s not?
What if he’s just a rich, spoiled manchild who couldn’t cut it as a rapper?
What if he’s an actor playing a part — crying crocodile tears over an “Auntie” who doesn’t even exist?
What if there’s NOTHING authentic about him at all?
Andrew Cuomo has one week to revamp his messaging. Alas, that’s probably not enough time.
One Last Thing: The Schumer Shutdown is upon us. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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