YES: Pickles the seal just planted a big kiss on Mayor Mamdani’s cheek, and honestly, we get it.
Mamdani was at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island to announce a $2 million city investment to renovate the Sea Cliffs exhibit, the outdoor habitat that’s home to rescued sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals and penguins.Pickles, one of the aquarium’s harbor seals, clearly liked what they heard.Mamdani posted the video himself and joked that the project had gotten “a pretty clear seal of approval.” He thanked City Council member Kayla Santosuosso for having him, and Pickles too.
It’s a small thing. A mayor shows up in Brooklyn, puts real money into a place where families take their kids, and gets smooched by a seal for his trouble.Meanwhile, Wannabe-King Donald has spent the year doing the exact opposite.This summer he slashed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah by about 90% each, stripping protections from nearly 3 million acres of canyons, cliff dwellings and land tribes consider sacred. Why? Coal and uranium. He wants it open for mining.
Even 87% of Western Republicans want existing national monuments left alone, according to a 2026 poll. A federal judge just revived the lawsuit to stop him.So one guy is putting money into protecting animals and the places families love. The other is handing public land to mining companies.Pickles clearly has better judgment than the entire Republican Party.
