No matter how much makeup I wore, people just kept saying "Yes, sir! Would you like tea with that, sir?" "Yes, I would like tea. Why don't you put it on my breasts?" "Certainly. Tea for this man's breasts! Anything else, sir?

The oath on the Quran may have made headlines, but the more significant question is not what book Mamdani swore on. It is what stories, alliances, and blind spots shape the political movements that shaped his rise to office.