--- title: "Elon Musk’s Brain Crashes When Asked Why He Thinks Zohran Mamdani Is a Liar" description: "Elon Musk visibly struggles to explain why he thinks New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a \"swindler.\"" date: "2025-11-07" modified: "2025-11-07" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-musk-zohran-mamdani-liar" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" --- # Elon Musk’s Brain Crashes When Asked Why He Thinks Zohran Mamdani Is a Liar ![Elon Musk visibly struggles to explain why he thinks New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a "swindler."]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Joe Rogan Experience* Noted deep thinker Elon Musk suffered a cerebral blue screen of death when he was asked to explain why he thought Zohran Mamdani was a liar. On an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience uploaded days before [Mamdani's victory](), Musk launched into a snippy rant about the newly elected mayor of New York City after complaining about the glowing press coverage he received. In Musk's view, Mamdani was nothing more than a "charismatic swindler." "You got to hand it to him, he does — he can light up a stage," Musk said of Mamdani. "But he's just been a swindler his entire life." But after a lengthy aside on the evils of socialism, the centibillionaire's gloating got derailed when Rogan sucker-punched Musk with a tough question: what has Mamdani actually done that makes him a swindler? "Ummm," Musk ponders, before stuttering into a series of words seemingly intended as an answer. "Well I guess if you say — uh, what, I mean, if you say, if you say to any audience whatever that audience wants to hear, uh, instead of, what, instead of having a consistent message, I would say that is a swindling thing to do." "Umm, and uhh, yeah," he adds, nodding his head. "Umm…" He takes a sagacious pause. "Yeah," he finishes. https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/1986427387840479579 Mamdani won the election for New York City mayor on Tuesday, beating his opponents, Democrat-castoff-turned-independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican eccentric Curtis Sliwa, by a landslide. He catalyzed voters by cultivating an authentic persona and keeping a consistent message on affordability, promising housing reform and an increased minimum wage. An ultrawealthy business tycoon like Musk would obviously have a lot of negative things to say about Mamdani's proposed policies, but it's odd that he's accused Mamdani of not having a "consistent message," since his clear messaging formed the bedrock of his successful campaign. Of course, we're generously assuming Musk was fielding a sincere critique and not just grasping at straws. It's plain to see that he couldn't cite any real examples of Mamdani's career "swindling," and instead BSed his way into something he hoped sounded profound instead. Life's tough when you can't ask Grok for all the answers. In any case, Musk hasn't been taking Mamdani's victory well. On his website X, formerly Twitter, he promptly began laying the groundwork for a conspiracy theory arguing that the mayor-elect's victory was fraudulent. "The New York City ballot form is a scam!" Musk wrote in a [tweet]() with a photo of a ballot, listing what he saw as suspicious flaws that are in reality standard ballot features. **More on Elon Musk:** [*Elon Musk Announces Plan to Control Climate by Surrounding Earth in Adjustable Satellites*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()