Mark Meckler is a Christian nationalist political activist and right-wing commentator, the sort who brags about being "a radical, right-wing, Tea Party, Bible-thumping, gun-toting conservative" and praises President Donald Trump for supposedly having rescued the word "retard" from the woke thought police.
Meckler, who is co-founder and president of the Convention of States Foundation, a conservative organization that seeks to get state legislatures to call for an Article V convention to propose constitutional amendments that will dramatically limit the power of the federal government, is also a vocal opponent of Islam. As such, it was no surprise to hear hm complain about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani citing his Muslim faith during remarks he delivered at a recent interfaith prayer breakfast.
On Sunday night's episode of his "The BattleCry" program, Meckler first voiced his happiness at reports that New York City streets and sidewalks are covered in snow and trash as the city struggles to dig itself out from a recent blizzard. Acknowledging that Mamdani is not actually at fault, Meckler said that it nevertheless pleases him that Mamdani is getting the blame "because he's a communist, because he's an Islamist"
"I don't like the fact that he's mayor of New York City," Meckler said. "I don't think this is good for the world to have Mandani as mayor and so anything that takes him down a notch or two, I'm good with."
Meckler then played an excerpt from Mamdani's remarks at the interfaith prayer breakfast in which Mamdani cited examples of the ways in which different religious traditions, including Islam, instruct their followers to care for the strangers in their midst while discussing the Trump administration's brutal ICE raids and deportations operations.
"That hurts my head," Meckler said after playing the clip, voicing his displeasure that Mamdani added the honorific "sallallahu alaihi wasallam," which means “peace and blessing be upon him," whenever he mentioned the Prophet Muhammad.
"He goes into his faith, Islam, and he quotes from the prophet Muhammad and every time he says Muhammad—I don't know what he says, forgive me. I'm not Muslim; praise God, I'm not Muslim—but he says [makes nonsense noises], I don't know what it is," Meckler griped. "He's not speaking English. He's in America. Honestly, I find that offensive. I find it kind of revolting as a non-Muslim."
"He's speaking primarily to a non-Muslim audience and speaking in a foreign language, presumably Arabic, saying something about praising Muhammad," he continued. "I just don't think that kind of stuff belongs in the leadership of one of the largest cities in the United States of America."
"The fact that this guy is mayor of New York City is offensive to me," Meckler added. "It's unbelievable to me, but New Yorkers, you brought this on yourselves so it is what it is. That's your problem now. But it is really a problem for the whole country, and we need to push back against this, not just in New York, but across the rest of the country."
