Zohran Mamdani’s First Fox Interview Was a Train-Wreck—for the Host
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gave a strong interview on Fox News Wednesday—but the same can’t be said for the host Martha MacCallum.
During the interview on Fox’s The Story, MacCallum posed a variety of questions echoing far-right talking points. But if MacCallum was hoping to catch Mamdani out on his leftist policies, she got something else entirely.
While asking Mamdani whether his socialist politics were at odds with New York City’s reputation as the finance capital of the world, MacCallum revealed that she’d gotten a little help with her interview prep from AI.
“Last night, I ChatGPT’d, ‘Where is the capitalist and global finance center of the world?’ and it said New York City, which made me feel good as someone who loves New York City,” MacCallum said. “Is that a moniker you’re proud of, and one that you want to continue for this city?”
“Well, you should be proud of it. And, that is one thing you have in common with Andrew Cuomo, because he also uses ChatGPT to answer many questions including how to actually resolve the housing crisis in this city,” Mamdani said, referring to Cuomo’s April housing plan that had clearly been made with the help of a large language model.
He added that he hoped to make NYC the capital of “where working people could afford to live in this city.”
MacCallum then noted that Mamdani had no experience as a businessperson—though why that would be necessary for a civil servant is unclear—and asked him what experience gave him the “confidence” to run for mayor.
Mamdani cited his nearly six years as a New York state assemblymember, representing 130,000 residents in Queens. “I’ve not only delivered more than $100 million in increased bus and subway service, I’ve also secured half a billion dollars in debt relief for working class taxi drivers,” he said.
MacCallum’s condescending question seems to echo President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday had criticized Mamdani, claiming he had “never worked a day in his life.”
The Fox News host appeared uncomfortable while pressing Mamdani on his view on law enforcement, and when she challenged him to publicly apologize for calling the New York City Police Department racist and corrupt, he launched into an apology—which MacCallum quickly interrupted. In fact, she interrupted Mamdani several times throughout the interview.
The interview also opened with a lengthy segment where McCallum probed Mamdani for his opinions about Hamas, following the tenuous peace agreement with Israel. Mamdani, whose potential position has little to do with foreign affairs, refused to take the bait.
Mamdani has previously faced wildly racist comments from right-wing media and lawmakers including Trump, who accused Mamdani of being in the country “illegally” and promised to have the local lawmaker arrested if he should follow through on defying ICE.