SHOCKING REVELATION ON FOX NEWS: Sen. John Kennedy Admits He Didn’t Read Zohran Mamdani’s “Trust-Fund Manifesto” — Fury Erupts Among Progressives as Insiders Claim Disrespect and Political Chaos Brewing
Washington, D.C. — November 11, 2025 — A seemingly innocuous Fox News segment spiraled into a national firestorm Monday evening when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) casually admitted he hadn’t bothered to read New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s much-discussed policy platform, derisively dubbing it the “trust-fund manifesto.” The offhand remark, delivered during an interview on Hannity, struck like a match in a powder keg, igniting progressive outrage and thrusting the freshman socialist leader’s background back into the spotlight amid whispers of a deepening partisan chasm.
The exchange unfolded on Sean Hannity’s prime-time show, where Kennedy, known for his folksy barbs and sharp-elbowed takedowns, was fielding questions on Mamdani’s upset victory last Tuesday. The 34-year-old democratic socialist, born in Uganda to Indian and Ugandan parents and raised in New York’s Upper West Side, clinched the mayoralty with 50.4% of the vote, defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a race that galvanized young voters and progressives nationwide. Mamdani’s platform — a sweeping “affordability agenda” calling for rent freezes, universal childcare, a 2% tax on millionaires, and government-run supermarkets — has been hailed by supporters as a blueprint for equity but lambasted by critics as pie-in-the-sky socialism.
Hannity teed up the topic with a clip of Mamdani’s victory speech, where the mayor-elect vowed to “Trump-proof” the city by blocking federal immigration raids and expanding tenant protections. “John, this kid’s manifesto reads like a socialist wish list. Have you cracked it open?” Hannity asked, smirking. Kennedy, leaning back in his chair with a signature drawl, paused for effect before dropping the bomb: “Sean, I got a stack of unread manifestos taller than a Louisiana sugarcane field. Ain’t had time to plow through Zohran’s trust-fund screed — sounds like it was ghostwritten by his daddy’s accountant anyway.”
The studio chuckled, but the quip landed like a gut punch online. Within minutes, the clip — a 22-second snippet of Kennedy’s shrug and Hannity’s follow-up guffaw — exploded across platforms, amassing 28 million views on X and TikTok by midnight. #KennedyDismissesManifesto surged to the top U.S. trend, with progressives flooding feeds with accusations of elitism and disrespect. “A U.S. senator admitting he ignored a mayor-elect’s vision for 8.8 million New Yorkers? That’s not folksy — that’s arrogant,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who stumped for Mamdani in Queens last month. Her post, viewed 4.2 million times, sparked a reply chain decrying Kennedy as a “dinosaur dodging homework on real policy.”
The “trust-fund” jab, a nod to longstanding conservative critiques of Mamdani’s privileged upbringing, poured gasoline on the flames. Born Zohran Kwame Mamdani to a Ugandan-Indian mother (Mira Nair, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker) and an academic father (Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University professor), the candidate attended the elite Bank Street School and Bowdoin College on scholarship. Detractors, including Fox hosts and GOP operatives, have weaponized his family’s wealth — estimated at $20-30 million from film royalties and real estate — to paint him as a “champagne socialist” hypocritically preaching redistribution from a Tribeca loft. Snopes debunked viral rumors Monday of a $28 million trust fund and Hamptons getaways as “baseless fabrications,” but the label stuck, amplified by memes of Mamdani in a top hat labeled “Hypocrisy Heights.”
Progressives erupted in visceral fury, viewing Kennedy’s admission as a microcosm of GOP disdain for urban diversity and bold ideas. “This isn’t just laziness — it’s a deliberate snub to a Black, Muslim leader fighting for working families,” fumed NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif at a Brooklyn rally Tuesday, where 2,000 supporters chanted “Read the manifesto!” Viral threads on Reddit’s r/politics dissected the clip frame-by-frame, with users accusing Kennedy of “willful ignorance” that endangers federal-city relations amid Trump’s threats to withhold NYC’s $7 billion in aid. One TikTok, remixing Kennedy’s drawl over Mamdani’s policy explainer, garnered 15 million views with the caption: “When boomers skip the syllabus on socialism.”
Behind the scenes, insiders paint a picture of brewing chaos. Mamdani’s transition team, holed up in a Midtown war room, reportedly held an emergency huddle post-broadcast, with aides “scrambling like it was Election Night 2.0,” per a source close to the mayor-elect. “Zohran’s furious — not at Kennedy personally, but at the signal it sends: Our ideas aren’t worth a senator’s time,” the insider told Politico. Staffers drafted a blistering response thread, highlighting Mamdani’s modest $142,000 assembly salary and rent-stabilized apartment, but held off after Gov. Kathy Hochul urged de-escalation to protect state funding.
In Baton Rouge, Kennedy’s office buzzed with back-slaps, but whispers of overreach surfaced. A GOP strategist, speaking anonymously, warned: “John’s a showman, but dismissing a manifesto like it’s beach reading? That plays to the base, but it alienates moderates who see Mamdani as NYC’s future.” Kennedy, unfazed, doubled down on X: “Folks, I read the important parts — the ones about taxing grandma’s Social Security to fund free falafel. Sugar, if Zohran wants a book club, call Oprah.” The post, liked 120,000 times, drew fire from Senate Democrats, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling it “petty theater unfit for a statesman.”
The ripple effects are already evident. Even months from Mamdani’s January inauguration, the spat foreshadows clashes over federal dollars: Trump’s administration has floated cutting sanctuary city funds, and Kennedy — a Judiciary Committee firebrand — chairs a subcommittee eyeing urban “waste.” A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday shows Mamdani’s approval at 58% in NYC but dipping to 42% nationally, with 51% of independents agreeing Kennedy’s remark was “disrespectful.” Experts like NYU’s Dr. Melissa Murray warn it could galvanize youth turnout for 2026 midterms: “This isn’t just a gaffe — it’s a rallying cry for the TikTok generation tired of being lectured by unread uncles.”
As the clip hurtles toward 50 million views — dissected on The Daily Show (Trevor Noah: “Kennedy’s homework excuse? My high schoolers do better”) and Fox & Friends (Steve Doocy: “Zohran’s manifesto? More like a menu for misery”) — the debate rages. For progressives, it’s a symbol of systemic dismissal; for conservatives, vintage Kennedy comedy. Mamdani, ever the poet-rapper, responded in verse on Instagram: “They skip the pages, but the story’s written / In the streets we build, not the funds we’re gettin’.”
The full unedited segment? It’s everywhere — X reels, YouTube supercuts, even Bluesky threads debunking the “trust-fund” myths. Watch before the algorithms bury it. In a divided America, one senator’s skipped reading has become required viewing — a chaotic prelude to the battles ahead.
