False prophets (or self serving scam artist demagogues) have always existed. So have gullible and greedy people that follow those demagogues. War, famine, disease and death were nothing new either. It's all just normal human behaviour, sadly enough.
One thing also leads to another: If a self serving demagogue gets too many followers, then it's going to lead to lawlessness and war, which are usually accompanied by famine and plagues, which result in lots of excess deaths. That situation is going to cause societal upheaval and maybe even a societal collapse, which the incumbent powers didn't want, so they created cautionary tales to hopefully teach the people how to recognize demagogues, to prevent those from getting too many followers in the first place.
It's going to depend on where they get their news from. If they primarily get their news from Fox News (the largest us TV channel), Facebook influencers/memes or other republican propaganda channels, then they will probably view Mamdani negatively. Pushing false narratives is how they've convinced people to vote against their own interests. With Mamdani being an actually successful actor of change, he's probably a prime target of those false narratives.
The 5 latest Fox News headlines concerning Mamdani:Ex-MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard blasts Zohran Mamdani as Mets dysfunction reflects New York chaos;This is going to ‘become a way of life,' NYC councilwoman warns;Gov Abbott extends off-ramp for NY billionaires fleeing Mamdani's policies;Kevin O'Leary: Mamdani is the best real estate agent for Miami Beach;GOP lawmaker warns New York will ‘suffer greatly’ under Mamdani’s policies.