By Melanie Nathan, April 06, 2026.
Mamdani ran for Mayor of New York and won. Tanya Tsikanovsky, aka @HighlyJewish is running for City Council of WEHO (West Hollywood) – From two extremes they are the same political strain!
Mamdani represents a familiar and increasingly sophisticated strain of far-left politics that cloaks its sharpest edges in the language of compassion. By foregrounding housing, inequality, and social justice, he builds credibility as an advocate for the vulnerable, and embedded within that framework is a deliberate erosion of protections for Jews under the guise of “redefining” harm.
His push to strip or dilute widely accepted definitions of antisemitism, such as those advanced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, is a forceful good start! It allows anti-Zionism to operate unchecked even when it bleeds into antisemitism, and it normalizes efforts like advancing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions within New York City governance. Indeed it is ideological positioning, normalizing. However worse yet, it is infrastructure-building for a broader political reach, using local office as a testing ground and springboard.
On the opposite end, is Tanya Tsikanovsky, using the handle HighlyJewish. Another galloping Trojan horse who mirrors the same dynamic, but from the extreme right. She wraps herself in pro-Israel advocacy, which resonates deeply in a moment of rising antisemitism, yet beneath that banner sits an alignment with hardline MAGA conservatism and policy agendas tied to Project 2025. Today she bragged the endorsement of ultra right winger Steve Hilton – running for Governor in California, who in turn is bragging the endorsement of Donald J. Trump, the President currently embroiled in the Epstein pedophilia scandal and cover -up, an historic low disapproval rating of 68%, while sporting 34 felonies! Nice bedmates!
When it comes to Tsikanovsky- the danger is not her support for Israel, which is legitimate and shared by many across the political spectrum, but the way it is leveraged to smuggle in a broader ideological package that undermines democratic norms, LGBTQ+ protections, and pluralistic values that many Jewish communities rely on. In doing so, she reframes pro-Israel advocacy as inseparable from a specific right-wing political identity, narrowing the tent and deepening internal fractures.

What makes both Mamdani and Tsikanovsky particularly dangerous is their use of local politics as launchpads to test narratives, build followings, and normalize frameworks that extend far beyond city limits of big New York city and tiny West Hollywood. The immediate damage, however, is borne locally: fractured coalitions, increased polarization, and communities forced into false binaries. Mamdani’s approach risks institutionalizing antisemitism under progressive cover, while Tsikanovsky’s risks tethering Jewish safety to an exclusionary political agenda.
While opposites in branding, they are aligned in the slither!
The purpose is MAGA power – both advancing broader MAGA ambitions, while willing to leave local constituencies to absorb the consequences.
