Days ago, a national political scandal should have erupted surrounding a New York City congressional candidate.
It involves a high-profile race, a prominent ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and a pro-terror conspiracy theorist. It speaks to a dangerous trend shaping our political scene: extremist bigots are amassing power on both ends of the spectrum.
But news giants ignored or buried the story. Why? Because it doesn’t fit their preferred narrative.
Big Media’s political coverage has become a calculated tactic of manipulation. In the new episode out today, I take you through the proof:
The case surrounds Brad Lander, NYC’s former comptroller who is trying to unseat a fellow Democrat, Rep. Dan Goldman. The website Jewish Insider discovered that Lander’s highest-paid consultant was a deranged antisemite who tries to blame Israel and Jews for everything from 9/11 to the Kennedy assassination.
The operative, Kaif Gilani, previously created a campaign called “Hot Girls for Zohran.” (Notice that no one on the far left seems to mind that a man created this.) In addition to pro-Hamas madness, his social media history includes attacks on political figures. He called former President Biden a “pedophile.” And in 2024, he wrote of the then-president: “my prayer is that your heart stops beating.”
Lander’s team no longer plans to work with Gilani, and insists that his views don’t represent Lander’s. Somehow, they claim, they never found this information even though it was publicly available.
In the new episode, I show how the media follows very different steps when right-wing candidates have extremists on the payroll — giving the controversies incomparably more attention, and raising alarms. I take you through potential reasons for the glaring difference, and how we can see willful ignorance at work.
Downplaying left-wing extremism is perilous, especially amid rising support for political violence.
In judging any political figure, “We the People” need to know about their positions and vetting processes. If a candidate makes someone like this their top paid consultant, what’s to stop them from bringing that person into the halls of Congress with them?
Meanwhile, the media is refusing to ask crucial questions about where Lander really stands. As I’ve reported previously, he slams ICE for unconstitutional arrests, but supports Mamdani’s anti-democratic threat to carry out an illegal arrest of his own.
People are deeply emotional about all this. Some instinctively reject any talk of the far-left being dangerous. From the new episode:
If you’re new to this show, you might be thinking, “But they’re not the same.” Exactly. They’re not the same. Facts plus context — that’s what we need for truth. The media should tell us how things are different too. But in order to do that, they have to gather information in the first place. They have to be willing to look. And they have to stop and realize that they’re not even bringing up these topics.
Much more to come. Paid subscribers, share questions and thoughts here:
JL
Thank you for covering this. If it got top-of-page national press coverage as it should, instead of being buried, most people would be appalled. I hope. Maybe I'm being too optimistic. Lander claims to have been unaware--so he's admitting his hiring process was sloppy and incompetent? Mamdani stays silent, Lander still apparently thinks Mamdani can do no wrong...gaah.
I first read the awful details about Kaif Gilani at Times of Israel--(before scrolling waaaay down the NYT's homepage to unearth their piece)--and burst out laughing when I realized this "Hot Girls for Zohran" founder was a man. Thanks for pointing out that not-so-trivial detail. That is so on-brand for a brocialist. It's particularly creepy when juxtaposed with his obscenely misogynist tweet linked from the ToI piece (which was only delicately hinted at in the NYT piece).
The antisemitic conspiracy lies about the JFK assassination and 9/11 are depressingly common on far right and far left (e.g. Jamaal Bowman). Wishing death on Biden (while imagining him guilty of things that make the hate righteous) reminds me of seeing cosplay leftists online in 2016 hoping Hillary Clinton would die (in specific ways)--none were outed as campaign staff, though, as far as I know. I don't think it's that hard to not hire these people.