Zohran Mamdani and Charisma

Charisma can accumulate capital, or it can redistribute emotional wealth

As a cult journo, I study toxic forms of charisma and their effect on followers. I have some thoughts about how Mamdani wields this magic in the opposite direction, and how this seems to embody his socialist platform and accelerate the movement logistics around him.

Toxic charisma is extractive in relation to those it attracts. It seduces people away from their own needs and agency. It is the psychic magnet used by gurus and tycoons to get capitalist accumulation flowing towards the top, where they sit as the hard, unresponsive magnet.

In toxic charismatic extraction, attention and money flow toward the centre but meet an emotional brick wall. The accumulation never changes the basic orientation of the leader. They don’t learn anything from followers except how to accelerate that flow.

They learn to accelerate the flow through hype, follower jealousy, making themselves scarce, mystifying their message so that only a few chosen followers can understand it. Absence increases mystique an…