Why is Mainstream Media Ignoring Overtly Racist Attacks on Mamdani from Congressional Republicans?

Some of the above outlets did cover an incident where Mamdani’s main challenger, Andrew Cuomo, laughed at a radio host who suggested Mamdani would celebrate another 9/11-style attack (ABC News, New York Times). But none of these write-ups mentioned, nor did any of these outlets write separate articles detailing, the racist attacks from Republicans in Congress. The Washington Post, in a broader article about Mamdani being the first Muslim mayor of New York City, did include a passing mention of Rep. Brandon Gill’s ​“humiliation” tweet, but did not make Congressional Republican attacks on Mamdani the focus of the article. A November 5 article in The Washington Post by internet culture reporter Tatum Hunter made reference ​​to a post on X by Rep. Randy Fine but edited out the overt racism. Hunter began her reporting:

As the country absorbed Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win Tuesday night, some high-profile social media users rushed to mourn what they characterized as the destruction of America. ​“New York City has fallen,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) said in a post on X. ​“America is next if we don’t stop it.”

Left out was the first part of Rep. Fine’s tweet where he wrote, ​“Legal immigrants who hate America elected a Communist Muslim Jihadist,” which seems like important context when discussing the nature of said ​“internet culture.” The post, of course, wasn’t framed as part of a pattern of racism and incitement, but was instead positioned as just another ​“online reaction” in a vapid trend piece on how Mamdani’s win became a ​“lightning rod for internet discourse.”

This is consistent with mainstream media ignoring Congressional Republicans’ overtly racist attacks on their colleagues Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) last year. As I detailed last July, in response to a post on X from Omar that echoed the International Criminal Court’s designation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal, Fine posted on X, ​“I’m sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists. The only shame is that you serve in Congress.” The previous month, Fine’s Republican colleague Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told the PBD Podcast that she was ​“fine with putting [Omar] on a one way flight back to Somalia,” in response to Omar’s criticisms of Trump’s immigration crackdowns. She later doubled down on X, saying, ​“Omar clearly has more loyalty to the corrupt hellhole she came from than to the country she was elected to serve.” 

These racist attacks were similarly not covered at the time by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC, ABC, or CBS network news, or on-air coverage at CNN. 

The New York Times did dedicate one article to anti-Muslim attacks on Mamdani which focused on Congressional Republcians during the primary in June. And The Washington Post published similar coverage highlighting islamophobic attacks from Republicans against Mamdani that same month. Yet neither outlet has done so since.

This racist targeting of Mamdani, like the targeting of Tlaib and Omar, isn’t coming from random, deranged nobodies. It is a non-stop and coordinated pattern of incitement from powerful people in Congress. It is paired with very serious attempts to deport the subjects of their vitriol (specifically Mamdani and Omar, both of whom are naturalized citizens). And it exists within a context of actual attacks on Democratic lawmakers, most recently from accused murderer Vance Boelter, who assassinated Democrats in a shooting spree in Minnesota this past June. A hit list found on Boelter included Ilhan Omar. 

To make it even worse, the member of Congress leading the racist attacks on Mamdani, Rep. Randy Fine, was interviewed on CNN four times (10/20/25, 11/06/25, 11/10/25, 11/10/25) during the month-long survey period, routinely presented as a good-faith expert on ​“antisemitism” and not asked a single question about his racist attacks on Mamdani. He was opaquely asked about attacks on Muslims in general by CNN’s Brianna Keilar (10/20/25), but was permitted to continue his hateful ranting without any meaningful pushback. 

Contrast the relative media silence over the racist attacks on Mamdani with the over-the-top media outrage over Rashida Tlaib’s comments in November 2023 that she believed Palestine should be free ​“from the River to the Sea.” The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Axios, CNN, MSNBC, NBC News, CBS News, and ABC News all ran breathless coverage of a phrase that is only offensive if one deliberately misunderstands its meaning. Meanwhile, clear-as-day, openly racist hatred of Muslims is ignored, factored in, or briefly mentioned in dopey ​“internet culture” trend pieces about how Mamdani’s win was a ​“lightning rod for internet discourse.” It’s treated as barely worth mentioning, much less a moral emergency. 

Why? Because it suits the geopolitical interests of the United States and its allies. Racial hatred towards Muslims is not only acceptable, but worth only scattering media mention and the occasional, vague handwringing. Those engaged in this hateful incitement are brought on cable news and simply never asked about it. It’s treated as not urgent, not serious, and not something worthy of sustained coverage. Instead it’s treated as routine, not a big deal, and just something the targets of this incitement are expected to accept and take on the chin while Republicans in Congress invite violence and racial hatred against them.