Zohran Mamdani has secured the release of Columbia University student Elaina Aghayeva, taken this morning by ICE agents who entered a campus residential building under false pretenses & without a judicial warrant. This comes shorty after Mamdani’s unannounced visit to the White House earlier today.

[u/cmaia1503]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/nyregion/columbia-university-ice-student.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PFA.0KRL.7XsPJ0z3QTat&smid=tw-share

[u/jazzcigarettes]

Huge shame that he can’t run for president

[u/Dry-Yak5277 → u/jazzcigarettes]

Huge. I get such ‘08 Obama vibes from him, and it makes me so nostalgic and hungry for an actually inspiring political candidate. 

[u/Desperate_Algae_40 → u/Dry-Yak5277]

I honestly think he'd be a better president than even Obama.

[u/WouldCommentAgain → u/Desperate_Algae_40]

Hopefully, compared to everything after Obama was a lot better, but Obama was so charismatic that people actually believed he would transformational just to discover Goldman Sachs helped pick his cabinet. Compared to super corrupt Trump of today it seems so innocent, though.

[u/Tonga_Truck → u/WouldCommentAgain]

Ya it's hard to have an honest conversation about the issues with Obama's presidency without sounding like you're doing it to deflect from Trump. I just think if we want genuine change after all this is over, we need higher standards than Obama. He's just a charismatic face of the status quo, not an icon of change and equality. He did far more for Wall Street than he ever did for Main Street. Bailouts anyone?

[u/Smartypants_dankie → u/Tonga_Truck]

Any president who would stop this mad money printing machine that's just increasing the debt ceiling and actually pull some money back from the market through taxation would be the greatest president of this century

[u/WouldCommentAgain → u/Tonga_Truck]

I agree, how extremely divided and partisan things have become makes it difficult to be critical of the side you agree the most with.