Photo: Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News via Getty Images
You may have noticed there is a big nasty wave of heat overwhelming New York City right now — with temperatures reaching triple digits for the first time since 2012:
But the real heat dome, online, is about Mayor Zohran Mamdani asking New Yorkers to set their AC thermostats to 78 degrees to help protect the city’s overstressed power grid:
He reiterated his request on Thursday afternoon after the New York ISO issued an energy watch alert (which is a warning about the state suffering a lower energy supply).
To be clear, while 78 degrees is obviously many degrees cooler than the outside temperature right now, it’s still pretty balmy for hanging out inside. An AC set to 78 degrees is not so much cooling the air as reducing its warmth to a level that isn’t unbearable — just not terribly comfortable, either.
But also, you know, to the barricades!
Various figures on the right were quick to lambast the socialist mayor for his guidance, which is the exact same (mostly ignored) guidance public officials always send out during any heat wave. Like Eric Adams, that leftist! Or the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, which recommends that everyone set their AC between 75 and 78 degrees during heat waves (albeit when nobody is home) — or at least it had:
The New York Post and other outlets quickly highlighted all the partisan pushback to Mamdani’s request:
“78 degrees??? Welcome to communism people! Hope you enjoy!” wrote Barstool’s founder, Dave Portnoy, who recently said he’d consider running against Mamdani for mayor.
Conservative media figure Bonchie sarcastically asked, “Do you feel the warmth of collectivism yet?”
Locals were less than chill about the mayor’s advice as well.
“As a New Yorker I’ll be setting my AC to 62 degrees for the foreseeable future as a direct retaliation to your authority,” one replied.
“I have texted all my coworkers who voted for Zohran to send me a photo of their A/C set to 78,” another wrote.
Fox News collected some of the national pile on:
“Welcome to socialism, where the government demands you turn your house into a sauna because they can’t plan for the super unpredictable fact that it tends to get hot in the summer,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, posted on X.
“78 degrees?” conservative commentator Matt Walsh posted on X. “My AC does not go above 68 in the summer. This is America for God’s sake.”
“Turns out socialism actually isn’t free,” Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on X.
Socialism doesn’t stand a chance against zingers like these.
There was also stuff like this, of course (though it seems like a missed opportunity not to mention “cold, dead hands” in this context):
The Staten Island Advance teased a post about the guidance as “the surprising temp” Mamdani asked us to set our ACs to.
But again, as far as surprises go, this isn’t a very good one, since previous mayors have all said the same thing, including Rudy Giuliani back in 1999. But it just feels different when Mamdani says it, apparently, particularly after Europe’s resistance to air conditioning became a big thing online a week ago and because, you know, Mamdani is trying to turn New York City into a sweltering communist sweat lodge.
In other words:
This post has been updated.
