New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing the heat on social media. The American politician was trolled by his fellow lawmakers, including Indian-origin Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, simply for urging residents to conserve electricity as The Big Apple grapples with its first major heat wave of the summer.

Blistering conditions intensified Tuesday (US time), and heat and humidity consumed New York while three NY cities hit or exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. The temperatures are expected to soar to 100 degrees Fahrenheit through Friday, a first since 2012.

What did Zohran Mamdani tell New Yorkers?

“New York: it’s hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool,” Zohran Mamdani wrote in a post on X. “Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you’re not using, and unplug what you can.”

“Our City is doing its part too: maintaining the 78 degrees rule in our buildings, dimming/turning off our lights during peak electricity demand, asking private partners to do the same, and powering down non-essential equipment,” he added. “A stable grid means the AC stays on, and lives are saved. Let’s ease demand — and get through the heat — together.”

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Additionally, the NYC mayor released a new video PSA, stressing the need to make a heat plan, check on neighbours and loved ones and take advantage of the resources available across all five boroughs, according to a press release published by the Office of the Mayor.

The official website even flashed a bright-red alert at the top, warning residents of “Extreme Heat in NYC” from July 1 to 5. “Take precaution. Cooling centres open citywide. Call 311 or visit nyc.gov/beattheheat,” the message stated.

In the meantime, the Mamdani administration’s expansion of emergency heat measures to protect the city dwellers during a historic holiday weekend heat wave included:

  • Extending hours at Olympic- and intermediate-sized outdoor pools until 8:30 p.m., even later than prior heat wave extensions.
  • Opening eight additional City buildings as cooling centers from noon through midnight July 3-5.
  • Opening 10 additional public library branches as cooling centers through the holiday weekend.
  • Expanding outreach by adding 150 volunteers, bringing the City’s total street outreach workforce to more than 600 people.
  • Asking all businesses to set thermostats to 78 degrees and encouraging all New Yorkers to conserve energy during peak demand.
  • Mobilizing 21 Cooling Outreach On-Location (COOL) vans to support New Yorkers in need and perform in-home wellness checks on older adults.
  • Opening additional cooling centers and real-time cooling center wayfinding on thousands of LinkNYC kiosks.
  • Creating pop-up cooling stations for outdoor workers and large-scale outreach to over 75,000 businesses to ensure workers are safe and protected during the heat.

Several conservative and far-right figures leapt into action, making it a point to roast the self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist for the temperature recommendation amid balmy conditions, even though the US Department of Energy also suggests that people keep their thermostats at 75 degrees to 78 degrees Fahrenheit at home. Moreover, Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, also shared the same message with New Yorkers to set their AC to 78 amid the then-ongoing heat advisory in July 2023.

Mamdani gets trolled for heat wave message

“This is what socialism looks like, folks,” Ohio gubernatorial candidate and former presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said on X. “The right answer isn’t restrictions or mandates. It’s drilling, fracking, coal, & nuclear. That’s how we’ll roll in Ohio. (And he sounds eerily just like Amy Acton during Covid).”

Yet another Indian-origin former presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, added, “Welcome to socialism.”

On the contrary, former advisor to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, came to Mamdani’s defence, taking a swipe at Haley’s comment: “Now this post from @NikkiHaley I don’t understand at all. A mayor of a city of 8 million in the throes of an epic heat wave urging citizens to moderate their energy usage to make sure the energy grid holds and ACs keep running seems like a responsible thing to do, doesn’t it?”

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Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who claims to have considered running against Mamdani for mayor, wrote, “78 degrees??? Welcome to communism people! Hope you enjoy!”

Some even questioned Mamdani’s recommendation, pointing fingers at the forever-illuminated Times Square in New York already consuming massive amounts of energy.

“Sorry but if Times Square stays on so does my AC. setting mine to 69,” a user wrote in retaliation.

Texas Republican Brandon Gill hit back, “Welcome to socialism, where the government demands you turn your house into a sauna because they can’t plan for the super unpredictable fact that it tends to get hot in the summer.”

MAGA personality and non-profit Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (FLAG) co-founder Nick Adams tweeted, “No thanks. This is America. We crank our A/C down to 60 whenever we please.”

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green joined the conversation as well: “This is the worst campaign ad for the Democrats. Set your air to 78 degrees? Bless your hearts New York City!! American energy should be so strong and plentiful that you never have to set it above 70 if you don’t feel like it. And this comes from the Deep South in Georgia!!”

Senator Ted Cruz wrote, “In a first-world country, you could turn on the A/C,” only to be fact-checked by community notes on X pointing out that his own state of Texas had previously appealed to Texans to curb their electricity use for the grid’s sake.

Former reality TV star and ex-Los Angeles mayor candidate took a dig at Mamdani too, saying, “Show us your thermostat, commie.”

What about Times Square?

Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, addressed the seemingly perennial stream of criticism directed at the iconic landmark and its ever-lit status in a statement to Newsweek.

“The electronic billboards in Times Square are as energy efficient as they can be, and the Times Square Alliance put out a reminder to all the screen operators requesting that they do everything they can to reduce their power usage during this heat wave,” he said.