In “Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” Adam Sandler plays a commando who abandons the battlefield to reinvent himself as a New York hairstylist, convinced that charm and idealism can fix what brute force could not. The problem is that his passion for being the hero quickly turns into chaos. Mayor Zoran Mamdani seems to be chasing that same fantasy. He wants to be the Zohan of city politics; the fearless crusader who saves New York from Trumpism, but his fixation on ideological combat is turning governance into performance art.
Mamdani enters office promising transformation, yet his policies feel more theatrical than tactical. Free buses, rent freezes, and city-run grocery stores may sound like social victories, but they resemble political statements against capitalism more than concrete solutions for a city drowning in debt, housing shortages, and declining services. In his attempt to “not let Trump mess with New York,” Mamdani risks letting ideology mess with it instead.
The city doesn’t need a savior acting out a moral sequel to Don’t Mess with the Zohan. It needs a disciplined administrator who can balance budgets, deliver public safety, and rebuild trust between government and citizens. Every time Mamdani turns City Hall into a stage for national resistance, he drifts further from the problems his constituents actually face. For middle-class and working New Yorkers, inflation, rent, and quality of life are not side plots; they are the story.
Like Zohan, Mamdani’s heart may be in the right place, but good intentions don’t guarantee good outcomes. If he keeps framing his term as a battle against Trump rather than a mission to fix New York, the backlash could cost not only him but also the progressive movement he represents. New York doesn’t need a political superhero; it needs a mayor grounded in reality. Because when leaders start seeing themselves as the Zohan, they stop cutting hair. and start cutting corners.
Bobb Rousseau, PhD