Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa team up on video and hold hands

Curtis Sliwa held hands with a socialist on live TV, and the city didn't collapse. That may sound like the start of a joke, but Friday's flu shot photo-op between Sliwa and Zohran Mamdani, his rival from last year's mayoral race, is worth a little attention. It was political theater with a purpose, and that purpose is a lot less embarrassing than most of what passes for public service in New York.

Remember, these two spent months trading attacks in debates and mailers. Sliwa called Mamdani a far-left extremist with no plan for the city, and Mamdani said Sliwa was a right-wing stuntman. And on Friday they sat in chairs next to each other, rolled up sleeves, and did what a couple of grown-ups do about flu season. They set the bitterness aside for the price of a needle prick. That is not the same as endorsing each other's policies, and nobody should pretend otherwise. Mamdani still wants rent control and defunded police rhetoric, and Sliwa still wants to clean up the streets.

But there is something genuinely refreshing about watching two men who know voters didn't pick either of them actually behave like neighbors instead of enemies. New York politics is a contact sport, and the temptation is always to treat your opponent as a disease. On Friday, the only virus in the room was the flu. A little civility goes a long way, and it is especially welcome from a Republican like Sliwa, who could have easily skipped the event and let the cameras have Mamdani alone.

Sure, it was a photo-op. Both men got something out of it. But so did the public, which is more than we can say for most staged moments in politics. We need more of this, not less. Not because we all need warm feelings, but because political fights work better when the people involved remember they share a city, a planet, and a common interest in not getting sick. Sliwa got a shot in the arm. New York got a reminder that the other side is not the plague.