From behind George Washington’s desk inside New York City Hall, Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the nation’s 250th anniversary with an address that sought to redefine “American exceptionalism” against a tide of anti-immigrant and anti-democratic forces under President Donald Trump and his allies.
The mayor, surrounded by a group of recently naturalized American citizens holding American flags, did not explicitly name the president in his remarks, but Friday’s 14-minute address amounted to a rebuke of the administration’s anti-immigration agenda and the “forces of division” that undermine the nation’s founding principles.
