The mindset that there's one person who's going to save us is something that the left has to just get rid of. It doesn't matter whether it's Mamdani or Bernie or AOC. Putting anybody up on a pedestal like that just means that they're inevitably going to disappoint you, because they aren't gods, they're human, and the machine that they're a part of is so much bigger than they are.

No, he isn't "controlled opposition", but he also isn't some socialist ubermensch who can't ever be corrupted. What is important is the movement, not these figureheads.