November 5, 2025
Popcorn ready: Khan enters, comments ignite
Ex-FTC chair Lina Khan joins Mamdani's transition team
Wall Street fuming, commenters say 'mayor isn’t a dictator' while fans call Khan the 'hardest worker'
TLDR: Lina Khan will co-chair NYC mayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition, signaling a tough stance on corporate power. Commenters are split between cheering her work ethic and warning the mayor’s limited control—especially over buses—could curb big promises, making this a test of ambition versus reality.
Lina Khan — the former head of the Federal Trade Commission (the federal agency that polices monopolies) — just joined New York mayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team, and the comments are serving drama with a side of policy 101. Supporters are hyped, with one fan claiming she’s “the hardest working person I’ve ever met”, painting Khan as the anti‑monopoly superhero swooping into City Hall. Critics, meanwhile, are tapping the brakes fast. The spiciest skepticism: “the mayor isn’t a dictatorship” — a reality check that some of Mamdani’s buzzy promises (like free buses) collide with state control of the MTA, not City Hall. Translation: bold vibes, limited levers.
Receipts rolled in too: one commenter dropped the transition team roster like a backstage pass. The broader mood? A split-screen. On one side, Wall Street hand‑wringing and “Big Tech beware” energy as Khan, known for tangling with Amazon and Meta, gets a city-scale platform. On the other, pragmatists predicting a quick lesson in what’s actually doable. Jokes about “free buses vs. free markets” popped up, and the irony of business bigwigs who slammed Mamdani now offering to help drew eye‑roll emojis. It’s reform versus reality — and the comments are already keeping score.
Key Points
- •NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani appointed former FTC chair Lina Khan as a co-chair of his transition team.
- •Khan said the election signaled a rejection of “outsized corporate power” in politics.
- •As FTC chair under Joe Biden, Khan pursued antitrust actions against companies including Amazon and Meta.
- •Mamdani’s transition website calls Khan “the nation’s leading antimonopoly champion.”
- •Khan will co-lead the transition with Maria Torres-Springer, Grace Bonilla, and Melanie Hartzog; business figures like Bill Ackman have offered to help the new administration.