Well, that didn’t take long.
Just months after ascending to the mayoralty on a platform promising a socialist utopia, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has discovered a minor flaw in his master plan: math.
On Tuesday, the man who spent his campaign effectively declaring war on the concept of success stood before the cameras to announce that the Big Apple is facing a budget crisis of &#8220;historic magnitude.&#8221; Looking at a deficit larger than any seen since the Great Recession, Mamdani — who apparently believes money grows on trees as long as those trees are planted in Central Park West — is now begging Albany for a bailout.
&#8220;We cannot close this deficit with savings alone,&#8221; Mamdani lamented, sounding less like a revolutionary and more like a college student who just realized their parents cut off the credit card. &#8220;We need new revenue.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WARMTH OF COLLECTIVISM UPDATE: Mayor Zohran Mamdani declares a &quot;budget crisis,&quot; asks for a bailout from the state government, and pushes back his deadline for completing the city budget at least 10 days:
&quot;We cannot close this deficit with savings alone. We need new revenue, and… <a href="https://t.co/KR0FD5YqbE">pic.twitter.com/KR0FD5YqbE</a>
&mdash; Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BreitbartNews/status/2049208675957395678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Of course he does. But where, exactly, does the &#8220;People’s Mayor&#8221; expect that revenue to come from?
Back in June 2025, when asked by NBC’s Kristen Welker if billionaires have a &#8220;right to exist,&#8221; Mamdani didn’t stutter: &#8220;I don’t think that we should have billionaires,&#8221; he declared, citing the &#8220;inequality&#8221; of it all. He followed that up recently with a TikTok-style stunt, filming a &#8220;tax the rich&#8221; video in front of Ken Griffin’s $238 million penthouse, the most expensive home in America.
It was a $6 billion mistake.
Forty-eight hours after Mamdani’s performance, Citadel — the firm Griffin already moved to Miami because of this exact brand of fiscal insanity in Chicago — <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ken-griffin-is-mightily-pissed-off-with-zohran-mamdani.html#:~:text=In%20a%20Tax%20Day–themed,full%2Dtime%20in%20the%20city.">sent a memo</a> that should make every New Yorker shudder. The firm signaled it might kill its massive redevelopment at 350 Park Avenue. We’re talking about a 62-story skyscraper, 6,000 construction jobs, and 15,000 permanent positions.
Keep in mind, Citadel employees have already poured $2.3 billion in taxes into New York’s coffers over the last five years. But in Mamdani’s world, those people aren’t &#8220;carrying their fair share.&#8221;
Now, with the golden goose currently looking at real estate in Palm Beach, Mamdani is crying &#8220;crisis&#8221; and demanding a &#8220;structural reset.&#8221; Translation: He’s run out of other people’s money and is desperate for a state-funded life raft to save him from the consequences of his own rhetoric.
Florida real estate developers are likely sending Mamdani thank-you notes. By treating the city’s largest taxpayers like villains in a comic book, Mamdani hasn’t achieved &#8220;equality&#8221; — he’s achieved an exodus. New York is learning the hard way that when you tell the people who pay the bills that they shouldn&#8217;t exist, they eventually take the hint and the bills go unpaid.
But don’t worry, New Yorkers. At least you have the &#8220;meaningful savings&#8221; Mamdani promised — right before he asked for a deadline extension because he can’t make the numbers work.
Welcome to the Socialist Paradise.
Watch your step on the way out.

Mayor Mamdani And Governor Hochul Make FIFA World Cup Announcement

Socialist Buffoon: Mamdani Begs For Money, Cites ‘Budget Crisis’ After Attacking The Rich

New York City

Socialism

Zohran Mamdani

Grinning hell-spawn and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced his new socialist plan to destroy first New York, then the country, then the world, by way of taking revenge on God for casting him out of heaven and hurling him into the bottomless pit of eternal flames, where he was immediately elected Mayor of New York.
Mamdani’s new socialist plan of destruction was celebrated by his supporters with a tasteful human sacrifice, followed by an orgiastic dance around the golden statue of a goat, while Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, set a Jewish effigy on fire and called on the dark forces of the underworld to trod the nation of Israel and its people into dust. When Mr. Effigy complained to the mayor that he did not like being set on fire and, frankly, felt Rama Duwaji was being kind of antisemitic, Mr. Mamdani replied that his wife was a “private person,” and therefore could not be condemned for the bubbling blood-drenched froth that issued from her mouth when she went into ecstasies at the thought of millions of Jews being crushed to dust.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/andrew-klavan-ep-1276?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-974735 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Mayor and also Satan’s glove puppet Mamdani’s plan begins with spending $30 million in taxpayer money to build a government grocery store in Harlem, where taxpayer subsidies will bring down the price of its food, allowing the store to drive local minority-owned grocery stores out of business so that the owners will be impoverished, then homeless. The price of the store, the food subsidies and new homeless shelters will be raised by taxing billionaires who will immediately exit the city en masse, reducing New York’s tax income to minus four dollars so that the government grocery shelves will be empty, and the impoverished people of Harlem will be forced to eat first cats, then rats, then cockroaches, then one another in what the mayor of New York and Prince of Lies warmly hailed as a “traditional socialist meal.”
Mamdani pledged the escaping billionaires would be hunted down by winged creatures of no recognizable description, after which a wall would be built around the city to keep them from trying to escape once again from the warm embrace of collectivism.
After that, the Malignant Spirit and Mayor said he would continue to devise new methods to fund his plans to destroy the globe with new taxes on earwax, daydreams, and friendly greetings, levied on any wealthy or upper middle class or middle class or starving former Harlem grocery owner who lives in New York or once lived in New York or once watched a movie that took place in New York or knew somebody who had. The exact value of the taxable items would be determined by a committee of bureaucrats selected for their ability to never have worked a day in their lives or otherwise created even a single dollar of wealth. These bureaucrats would be paid millions for their service, the salaries to be raised by taxing the benign invisible spirits who hover protectively over the cradles of newborn babes.
Many Republicans predicted that the socialist plan would destroy every hint of prosperity in the city, as anyone but a living tarpit of wickedness would know. But Mayor and living Tarpit of Wickedness Mamdani said he was unconcerned, because New York Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than two to one, and some 66% of Democrats look favorably on socialism, these being the same 66% of Democrats who look favorably on assassinating their political opponents, tearing the limbs off unborn babies then selling their remaining body parts, and repeatedly harassing total strangers to make them atone for the sins of white people, which include colonialism, the Grand Ole Opry Christmas Special, and the manufacture of electrical plants, which they invented, to power the manufacture of all the medicines and devices they invented to make possible modern life, which they also invented.
The smiling King of Demons and New York Mayor said he would continue to unveil his socialist plans until God apologized for hurling him into hell and agreed that from now on he would be called God instead and would be allowed to dine on the souls of his constituents until they were damned forever or re-elected him mayor of New York, whichever came last.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>.

NYC/Mamdani

Inside Mamdani’s Hellish Plan To Destroy NYC

Andrew Klavan

It is better to give the next generation ownership of America’s future instead of handouts President Trump told attendees of the Trump Account Summit on Wednesday.
Over the next fifteen years, the United States Treasury and a plethora of fortune 500 companies will be putting about $4 trillion dollars of wealth into the hands of young Americans through Trump Accounts which are investment accounts for children under the age of eighteen with a $1000 seed investment from the government. The accounts will give children ownership in the American economy from birth.
“Trump Accounts represent the triumph of capitalism over socialism,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Through Trump Accounts, our President is creating an ownership economy where all citizens become shareholders in America’s wealth.”
Bessent called Trump Accounts the greatest merger in world history, the merger of Wall Street and Main Street and that it will forever change the relationship Americans have with the United States economy. Children won’t be able to take money out of their accounts until eighteen, so theoretically as America’s economy grows so will the value of children’s Trump Accounts.
“People are going to turn to socialism if they aren’t part of the system,” Counselor to the Treasury Secretary, Joe Lavorgna, told the Daily Wire. “This is a way to directly get them involved and partake in United States economic growth and prosperity, so they have no reason to move away from capitalism and move toward a subpar inferior system if they can actually benefit from capitalism.”
While the program has seen support across both sides of the aisle, some critics argue it will widen the wealth gap with the account predicted to total $5,000 when a child turns eighteen without additional investments from parents and employers versus $300,000 with additional investments. “I think that is a terrible criticism and it shows how out of touch anyone who says that is. Because if they say only $5,000 … huge numbers of families in America don’t have $500 to meet a medical emergency.” Bessent added, “You don’t want a wealth gap? Go to Venezuela, go to Cuba. Nobody owns anything.”
Marking the Trump Account launch day, seven different companies announced they would be matching contributions to their employees who opened the account including JPMorgan, Steak ‘n Shake, Bank of America, Broadcom, Intel, Coinbase, Comcast, and Turning Point USA. Past companies who previously announced employee match contribution programs were Charles Schwab, Uber, Charter Communications, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, Mastercard, Visa, Block, Robinhood, SoFi, Chime, Russell Investments, and Dell Technologies.
World famous rapper Nicki Minaj also unveiled she will be pledging money to help fund her fans&#8217; Trump Accounts. Minaj did not announce which fans will be eligible for the contribution.
Minaj said, &#8220;If I had access to something like this my whole life would be different. So now I&#8217;m thinking about those kids who are bright and aren&#8217;t born with a bank account or wealthy relatives or parents but they have so much to offer this world. Now they get to have some sort of hope.&#8221;
In addition to wealth creation, the White House says Trump accounts will create a real-time laboratory of financial literacy for all Americans as students are able to watch their investment accounts grow when they log in to their accounts. Bessent said two-thirds of Generation Z cannot answer more than half of the basic financial literacy questions on the Nation’s Personal Finance Index and that the real-time Trump Account education will give Americans the opportunity to course correct financial literacy.

gettyimages-2258679584-594×594

White House Says Trump Accounts Are Antidote To Socialism

Donald Trump

Economy

Politics

Based on her previous comments, New York City’s newly minted &#8220;Tenant Director&#8221; Cea Weaver will waste no time telegraphing the Mamdani administration’s radical agenda: the systematic dismantling of private property rights in favor of Soviet-style collectivism.
Weaver, a high-ranking operative within the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), was hand-picked by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to lead the city’s housing policy. Her appointment follows Mamdani’s chilling inaugural pledge to &#8220;replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism&#8221; — a phrase that sounds more like a translation from a 1917 Bolshevik pamphlet than a speech by an American mayor.
In her previous comments that have sent shockwaves through the city&#8217;s middle class, Weaver explicitly framed the abolition of property rights as a racial imperative. Breaking from the traditional language of urban planning, Weaver pivoted to a divisive, race-based attack on homeowners.
&#8220;The reality is that for centuries, we have really treated property as an individualized good and not as a collective good,&#8221; Weaver stated, echoing the core tenets of Karl Marx. She went on to warn that the transition to &#8220;shared equity&#8221; would specifically target &#8220;white families&#8221; and &#8220;some POC (people of color) families who are homeowners,&#8221; forcing them into a &#8220;different relationship to property&#8221; than the one protected by the U.S. Constitution for nearly 250 years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NYC Mayor Mamdani&#39;s Tenant Director, Cea Weaver:
&quot;We&#39;ll transition from treating property as an individual good to a collective good. Whites especially will be impacted.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/RZSdCs8oEa">pic.twitter.com/RZSdCs8oEa</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/2008031475057439076?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In a previous social media post, Weaver said, &#8220;homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as &#8216;wealth building&#8217; public policy.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Mamdani’s newly appointed tenant advocate director thinks home ownership and private property is white supremacy <a href="https://t.co/eIHPSGzRet">pic.twitter.com/eIHPSGzRet</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2008003090650456074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
To those familiar with the Communist Manifesto, Weaver’s previous rhetoric is a textbook example of class — and now race — warfare. By categorizing the family home as a &#8220;collective good&#8221; rather than a private asset, she has raised concerns about possible state-sanctioned seizures and the destruction of generational wealth.
By singling out white families, Weaver has used the &#8220;social justice&#8221; playbook to justify what is effectively a policy of collective punishment. Under the guise of &#8220;equity,&#8221; New Yorkers fear they could be punished for achieving the American Dream, treating homeownership not as a milestone of success but as a &#8220;privilege&#8221; to be socialized by the state.
By attacking the &#8220;individualized good,&#8221; Weaver attacked the very concept of the sovereign individual. As Margaret Thatcher famously noted, &#8220;there is no such thing as society,&#8221; only individuals and families. Weaver’s stated vision could seek to erase both, subsuming the family unit into a faceless, state-managed &#8220;community use&#8221; project.
As the New York City administration moves toward &#8220;universal rent control&#8221; and &#8220;shared equity&#8221; models, the message to New Yorkers is clear: Your home is no longer your castle — it is a municipal resource, and if you belong to the &#8220;wrong&#8221; demographic, you could be first on the list to lose it.

NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Makes Announcement On The Eve Of His Inauguration

Marxism In The Metropolis: NYC’s New ‘Tenant Czar’ Has Targeted White Homeowners, Private Property

Racism

Whites

Socialism is back. We see it with the election of Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York. We also see it in polling from the <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/81-say-they-cant-afford-pay-higher-taxes-next-year">Cato Institute</a> that suggests many young Americans view socialism favorably: “Among Americans under 30, 62 percent feel favorable toward socialism…”
Beyond the obvious economic and political dangers of socialism, one component receives relatively little attention: the culture of work.
People who live and work in socialist societies often report being far less satisfied and motivated than those who work in relatively free markets. When a nation’s government controls businesses, they lose a competitive advantage. As a result, employees who derive dignity from achievement and contribution experience disappointment.
At the same time, people uninterested in hard work are more likely to be coddled and protected. This often perpetuates an environment of mediocrity.
Talk to any driven person who has ever worked in a socialist country, or in an industry controlled by government regulation, and you’ll hear this sentiment. Hard work is not rewarded. Mediocre employees can’t be let go. Innovation is harder to sustain. Work becomes a matter of showing up, biding your time, and accepting that upward mobility is not possible.
I work with a young man who took great risks to escape a socialist country, and I have other colleagues who have lived in socialist countries. Their experiences convey a muted sense of hope that most people have about their employment.
Anecdotes aren’t proof, but they often show you what certain systems tend to produce. A vivid lesson about the dangers of socialism on the culture of work comes from a surprising source: people who have worked in “socialist-like” industries that exist within free markets.
When traveling for business, I’ve spoken to many flight attendants about their work experiences. The vast majority work in heavily unionized environments, and many have told me there is little incentive to do their job well other than their intrinsic desire to make people happy. Their careers are determined by seniority, and chronically underperforming colleagues are tolerated, rarely addressed, and almost never dismissed.
The fantastic flight attendants I met can’t be recruited by competitors — or even move to airlines that pay more or treat employees better — because they’d have to start over at the back of the seniority line. So the next time you experience great service on a flight, show some respect knowing they are often doing what they do out of love for others, not because they are rewarded.
The purpose of work should be to give people the freedom to provide for their families, use the gifts that God has given them, and experience the dignity of serving others well. When leaders organize work with these purposes, they give individuals incentive to tap into their best potential.
However, when organizations tolerate poor performance and remove the extrinsic rewards of achievement, they do a terrible disservice to the dignity of customers and employees alike. It’s important to understand that even underperforming employees lose dignity in socialist societies and organizations as they are prevented from experiencing the tough love necessary to become the best versions of themselves.
This is the real tragedy of socialist workplaces: people rarely become the best versions of themselves. In other words, they settle.
Despite all of this being true, why do large numbers of Americans still say they have a positive view of socialism? I believe there are three reasons.
First, many have never really experienced the impact of socialism. To them, socialism is merely a theory that involves more sharing and kindness. For example, according to actress Amanda Seyfried, socialism means <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/actress-amanda-seyfried-calls-socialism-gorgeous-idea">“taking care of each other.”</a>
Second, many people who say they like socialism already work in socialist organizations and have settled. They are accustomed to roles where competition is muted, and pay and advancement are constrained by rules, not results.
Finally, too many Americans work in very large organizations that mimic some aspects of socialism via crony capitalism and corporate welfare. Their industries are protected by lobbyists and elected officials who thwart authentic capitalism.
When addressing the false hope of socialism, we must not attempt to split the difference. In fact, we must advocate for more competition in all industries, as well as for real consequences for people who consistently underperform. Additionally, we must push for the enforcement of antitrust laws that prevent dangerous monopolies and oligopolies.
Perhaps most important of all, America must support one of the best sources of employment, dignity, and innovation in our society: small businesses. These small companies, where most Americans work, still have great incentives to find new ways to please customers and to attract and retain great employees. But in socialist countries, there is less capital and fewer incentives for entrepreneurs to take risks and start small businesses.
If America truly wants to defend human dignity, we can’t romanticize systems that smother the very drive that makes people come alive. Socialism doesn’t just weaken economies; it weakens people. America doesn’t need more managed mediocrity. It needs the freedom that lets workers, and the work itself, succeed.
* * *
Pat Lencioni is one of the founders of The Table Group, a pioneer of the organizational health movement, and the creator of <a href="https://www.workinggenius.com/about?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=21520445429&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD4dDHRyei0FFfuRCa63VdPO11RDk&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwlaTGBhANEiwAoRgXBSUpr89SSKKSTeoiFk-LdSAKpBsTFlfYYrEIm9MHWtUL1HjC7imP1RoC65MQAvD_BwE"> The Working Genius</a>, which helps leaders understand workplace efficiency. He is the bestselling author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” as well as 12 other books, which have sold over 10 million copies and been translated into more than 30 languages.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Mamdani Takes Reins Of New York City After Historic Election Win

Why So Many Americans Romanticize Socialism — And Why They’re Wrong

Communism

Democratic Socialism

Employers

Gen Z

Labor Unions

Millennials

Young Americans aren’t just drifting toward socialism. They’re running toward it, convinced that the American dream skipped their generation. Candidates openly embracing socialist labels are winning elections in major cities, and rhetoric that was once confined to radicals is becoming mainstream. The irony is that the very policies they think will save them are the ones that pushed them to the edge in the first place.
At first glance, none of this makes sense. Socialism has produced disaster everywhere it has been tried. Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any system in human history. So why are the children of its success so eager to abandon it?
The easy explanation blames TikTok, activist professors, and influencers who distrust Western civilization and condemn capitalism. There is some truth in that, but it misses a deeper and far more important cause. It confuses the spark with the fuel.
Beneath the slogans is a generation that feels economically cheated. Many young Americans no longer believe they will achieve the stability their parents took for granted. They face higher tuition, heavier debt, steeper housing costs, and a stagnant job market. Upward mobility feels elusive. The milestones of adulthood feel delayed or impossible.
A whole generation was raised to believe they deserved certain outcomes, and now those outcomes aren’t materializing. They look at the system around them and see barriers, not opportunities. And when people believe a system is rigged against them, they don’t try to fix it. They try to tear it down.
Capitalism becomes the obvious villain. If America runs on capitalism, and America feels broken, then capitalism must be the cause. And if capitalism is the cause, socialism must be the solution.
But what if their diagnosis is wrong? What if the system crushing young Americans isn’t capitalism at all, but the layers of socialist-style policies woven into the economy over the past century, policies that subtly push wealth upward and shift long-term obligations downward?
America has built an economy where one generation’s comfort is paid for by the next generation’s sacrifice. Over the last century, the United States has added an expanding array of redistribution programs to its market system. These programs were often passed in the name of compassion and fairness, but their structure consistently produces unintended consequences. Chief among them is a subtle, ongoing transfer of wealth and opportunity away from the young. That intergenerational transfer, not capitalism, is the real source of the resentment so many young people feel.
To be clear, we’re talking about generational systems and policies, not the moral character of individuals. No generation is monolithic. But the economic structures we’ve built have produced consistent patterns that burden the young generations far more than prior ones. 
Here are three examples.
<h3>1. Student Loans: A Program Intended to Help that Ended Up Doing the Opposite</h3>
Federal student loans were created to help lower-income students attend college. In practice, they allowed universities to raise tuition year after year with impunity. If students can always borrow more, colleges can always charge more. The result has been runaway tuition, bloated bureaucracies, and an entire ecosystem built on the assumption that young people will take on enormous debt to obtain a degree whose value steadily erodes as more people have one.
Universities prospered. Administrators prospered. Students did not. Many began adulthood burdened by debt so large that it delayed every milestone from homeownership to marriage to starting a family.
This isn’t capitalism. It’s a government-engineered system that transfers wealth upward and locks the young into financial servitude through a student-debt burden that is nearly impossible to escape.
<h3>2. Social Security: A Safety Net That Became a Generational Burden</h3>
Social Security began as a modest safety net. It has become a demographic time bomb. With declining birth rates and rising life expectancy, fewer workers now support a growing number of retirees. Younger Americans pay heavily into a system they know won’t give them the same benefits.
The trust fund they’re told exists is filled with IOUs, because previous generations already spent the money. Today’s young workers aren’t contributing to their own retirement. They’re funding someone else’s.
Again, this isn’t capitalism. It’s the socialization of what was once the personal responsibility to save for your own retirement, now transformed into a compulsory system whose costs fall increasingly on the younger generation.
<h3>3. Government Debt: One Generation Enjoys the Benefits, the Next Pays the Bill</h3>
Government debt isn’t like personal debt. Individuals repay their own loans. Governments create social debt that hands the bill to future taxpayers. Jefferson warned that one generation has no moral right to bind another with debt. Yet that is precisely what we’ve done.
When borrowing finances bridges or innovation, future generations share in the benefit. But when it finances entitlements or political consumption, future generations inherit only the cost, through higher taxes, inflation, and a rising cost of living.
Now put the pieces together.
Student loans transfer prosperity upward. 
Social Security transfers income upward. 
And government debt transfers obligations downward.
The younger generation isn’t imagining things. They’re up against a system that limits their progress while shielding older generations from the consequences of past decisions. It’s no surprise they’re angry. It’s no surprise they want dramatic change.
What is surprising is the conclusions they’re drawing and where they’ve aimed their anger. Socialism now looks appealing, and capitalism gets blamed for problems created by socialist-style policies. Young Americans aren’t wrong to feel betrayed. But they are wrong about who betrayed them.
Capitalism isn’t the culprit. Intergenerational redistribution is. Policies designed to protect the vulnerable have, in practice, stacked the deck against the young. Intentional or not, socialist-style programs have loaded a massive financial burden onto the rising generation.
Unless we acknowledge the real source of this injustice, we won’t have any chance of correcting it. And if we don&#8217;t correct it, the crisis simmering beneath the surface will eventually erupt.
We’re approaching a turning point. A society cannot survive if its young are convinced their future has been taken from them. While their frustration may be misdirected, it isn’t baseless. And until we confront this generational injustice, the revolt against capitalism won’t fade. It will intensify, fueled by a volatile mix of youthful anger and misguided ignorance.
There’s still time to chart a different course. If society can finally acknowledge the injustice, and the young can understand how socialist-style policies have undermined their economic future, we can avoid the tragic outcome of a generation that destroys the very system that remains its best chance for a prosperous future.
* * *
Rabbi Elie Feder, PhD, and Rabbi Aaron Zimmer host the “<a href="https://www.physicstogod.com/">Physics to God</a>” podcast.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Harvard Holds 374th Commencement

Young Americans Aren’t Wrong To Feel Betrayed But Capitalism Isn’t The Culprit

Affordable

Capitalism

National Debt

Social Security

Student Loans

wealth

Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani (D-NYC) raised eyebrows with a recent addition to his transition team: sociology professor and author of &#8220;The End of Policing,&#8221; Alex Vitale.
Mamdani had to dial back his own anti-police rhetoric during his mayoral campaign, apologizing to New York City police officers for previous comments when prompted by Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, but his selection of Vitale appears to be a sign that he&#8217;s reverting back to his original positions.
&#8220;I&#8217;m excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Mamdani Transition Team to work on community safety issues. A New Era for NYC,&#8221; Vitale <a href="https://x.com/avitale/status/1993053108663198202">announced via X</a> on Sunday.
As critics quickly pointed out, Vitale&#8217;s position has always been decidedly anti-cop. His book, &#8220;The End of Policing,&#8221; imagines a word where &#8220;modern policing&#8221; is broadly replaced by a combination of decriminalization and community empowerment. He argues that policing is designed to reinforce inequality, and that giving police officers diversity training is not enough to bridge the gap.
He has called for the decriminalization of offenses such as prostitution and drug use, and advocates for private corporations or government programs that would provide permanent housing for the homeless population. In addition, he has repeatedly attacked Israel, claiming that Israelis are &#8220;occupying&#8221; land belonging to Palestinians — and tied that in to his negative views on policing as well, complaining that American police should not be training with Israelis: &#8220;I’m not happy with these exchanges of policing to Israel. Israel is engaged in an occupation.&#8221;
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Video circulated of Vitale, in an interview, referring to police as &#8220;violence workers&#8221; and adding, &#8220;if you don’t want racism and violence, don’t get the police involved.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 New Mamdani Transition Team Member Says Cops Are “Violence Workers” and NYPD–Israel Training Trips “Pervert American Politics”
Alex Vitale — author of The End of Policing, sociology professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY Graduate Center, and now officially part of Zohran… <a href="https://t.co/n6REJNfbjH">pic.twitter.com/n6REJNfbjH</a>
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) <a href="https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1993101611804049914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The overall assessment, as shared by a number of people via X, is that Mamdani had simply reverted to the same anti-police, anti-Israel socialist that his opposition had spent the entire campaign warning people he was.
&#8220;The biggest risk of a Mamdani mayorship? Mass exodus from the NYPD. This occurred in SF under the radical left DA, Chesa Boudin. When police aren&#8217;t supported, they quit, retire early, or never join in the first place,&#8221; one <a href="https://x.com/michelletandler/status/1943321480466424104">posted</a>.
&#8220;Huge step backwards for Mamdani. This guy wants to defund and abolish policing. You can find him wherever prep school lefties congregate, zero working class New Yorkers adhere to these ideas,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/lhfang/status/1993123594474566090">another added</a>.

Residents Cast Ballots In New York City Mayoral Election

Mamdani Names ‘End Of Policing’ Author Who Called Cops ‘Violence Workers’ To Transition Team

Crime

Defund The Police

New York Police Department (NYPD)

The House of Representatives on Friday voted on House Concurrent Resolution 58, officially denouncing socialism — the so-called “soft-communism” creeping into our cities and threatening the very fiber of American life. Nearly 200 Republicans and 86 Democrats voted in favor of the resolution, as 98 Democrats stubbornly clung to the idea that socialism has a place in the land of the free.
Meanwhile, New York’s socialist mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, was visiting the White House.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) delivered a speech that was part history lesson, part warning siren. “Let me educate our colleagues on the other side of the aisle,” she stated. “Socialism is communism-lite. Socialism is the first step to communism. Socialism is the antithesis of the American Dream. It steals from those who work, rewards no one but the state, and is the exact thing millions of immigrants fled when seeking the American Dream. Venezuela, Cuba, and other socialist experiments are cited as cautionary tales of empty shelves, starvation, and economic ruin — a living lesson in what happens when governments seize control of production.”
“Sadly, New York City chose to learn the hard way what socialism is,” she declared. “And we, those of us who did not vote for this guy, are going to pay the price. But it&#8217;s up to all of us to fight back, to educate our youth, and to contain this ugly monster so it does not spread and destroy our country.”
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Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) wasn’t shy either. He stated, “History is clear. Socialism kills people — at least the deaths of tens of millions, crushes religious liberty, and destroys free markets. Our founders built this nation on a revolutionary idea that individual liberty and not government control is the source of human achievement. They understood that when the government owns the economy, they soon seek to own the people, socialism is a death machine, crushing liberty, crushing faith, crushing the free market — essentially, everything our Founders warned us about.”
California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, predictably, waved her hands and shouted, “It’s not that simple,” accusing Republicans of conflating socialism with authoritarianism. Her solution? Point at Trump’s investments like a red herring while insisting socialism isn’t the real problem.
Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar fired back:
<blockquote>
If there is someone who has seen the horrors of socialism up close within the Democratic Party, it is in the House, and it&#8217;s the honorable Congresswoman Maxine Waters. I would love for you to support this resolution specifically because Madam Waters, for decades, traveled to Cuba dozens of times to visit Fidel Castro personally, whom you consider your friend. Congresswoman Waters was in Havana, and she saw the destruction of biblical proportions that Castro caused on that island. At the time in 1960, it had the highest per capita income in the Western Hemisphere.
At that time, Madam Waters knew that thousands and thousands of Cubans were escaping on rafts, exposing their lives and their children to be eaten by sharks. She knew that Cubans were being beaten on the streets of Havana, discriminated against by Fidel Castro, Mr. Speaker. And for that reason, I am bringing up all these facts because Madam Waters knew that the Cuban jails were full of political prisoners, and the Cubans did not have the same privileges that we are having right now. At that time, Madam Waters never raised her voice to denounce the voice of socialism.
</blockquote>
The resolution passed, and the message was clear: socialism is incompatible with the principles that built this nation. Freedom, prosperity, and opportunity aren’t negotiable; they are what separate America from the economic graveyards of failed socialist states.

Capitol Building of the United States. It houses the chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate I

House Passes Anti-Socialism Resolution As Mamdani Visits White House

Congress

House of Representatives

Moments after being declared the winner of the New York City mayoral race, Democrat socialist Zohran Mamdani opened his victory speech with a nod to one of the most infamous radicals in American history.
Mamdani, 34, quoted Eugene Debs, a far-Left activist from the early 20th century who was stripped of his American citizenship after being convicted of sedition in 1918. Like Debs, Mamdani has embraced radical policies, including broad promises to provide a range of free services to New Yorkers. 
&#8220;I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity,” Mamdani quoted Debs as saying. 
Debs, who <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bernie-sanders-documentary-eugene-debs/">supported</a> the violent communist revolution in Russia in 1917 and was deeply influenced by Karl Marx, had his citizenship restored by a joint resolution of Congress in the 1970s. From 1900 to 1920, Debs ran for president five times. He <a href="https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5725/#:~:text=Every%20human%20being%20is%20entitled,rule%20and%20working%2Dclass%20slavery.">described</a> capitalism as a &#8220;monstrous system&#8221; and said that his Socialist Party was defined by a &#8220;militant&#8221; spirit and &#8220;revolutionary&#8221; goals.
Mamdani, who has not been shy about his embrace of socialism, promised in his victory speech to freeze rents for more than two million New Yorkers, provide free, fast busing, and offer universal childcare. 
“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands,” he said. “The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I utter his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.”
Among Mamdani’s campaign <a href="https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform">promises</a> are opening city-run grocery stores, &#8220;expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide,&#8221; raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030, and ‘Trump-proofing’ New York by resisting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
&#8220;We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about,&#8221; he said Tuesday night.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;We will prove that there is no problem to large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about.&#8221;
Those are terrifying words. <a href="https://t.co/EY0qypP3Qy">pic.twitter.com/EY0qypP3Qy</a>
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/libbyemmons/status/1985932221522591825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mamdani’s speech focused heavily on class warfare and identity politics. He said his election showed that the city was a place “where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong.  Not just in the five boroughs of the city, but in the halls of power. No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”
He also took aim at the “billionaire class,” which he has promised to raise taxes on to pay for his programs. 
“As has so often occurred, the billionaire class has sought to convince those making $30 an hour that their enemies are those earning $20 an hour,” he said. “ They want the people to fight amongst ourselves so that we remain distracted from the work of remaking a long, broken system. We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us.”
Mamdani also took shots at President Donald Trump during the speech, referring to him as a “despot.”
“If we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,” he said. “After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump, how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
Trump, who urged New Yorkers to back former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo who ran as an independent, has suggested that he would slash funding to New York City if Mamdani were elected. 
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday.

MixCollage-05-Nov-2025-07-47-AM-5903

Mamdani’s Party: NYC’s New Mayor Celebrates Win By Channeling America’s Marxist Icon

Elections

In a moment ripped straight from the sidelines at Talladega, Governor Kathy Hochul claimed on Monday that when a crowd of New Yorkers began chanting &#8220;Tax the rich!&#8221; at a rally for mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, all she&#8217;d heard was, &#8220;Let&#8217;s go Bills!&#8221;
Hochul gave the implausible explanation when she was asked about the chanting and whether she would stand firm on not raising taxes despite Mamdani&#8217;s repeated calls for higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers — and on corporations that do business in the city, whether they are located within the city limits or not.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Kathy Hochul oddly drags Buffalo Bills into ‘tax the rich’ chant that overwhelmed her appearance at Zohran Mamdani rally <a href="https://t.co/tTLLtrO6Nv">https://t.co/tTLLtrO6Nv</a> <a href="https://t.co/1vBIiNrzL6">pic.twitter.com/1vBIiNrzL6</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1982874181663375694?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Given the reception that you received last night at Zohran&#8217;s rally where people were chanting, &#8216;Tax the rich, Tax the rich,&#8217; are you going to hold the line on raising taxes even if it means losing an endorsement or getting a primary challenge?&#8221; the New York Post&#8217;s Stephen Vago asked.
&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t hear what they were chanting,&#8221; Hochul claimed, before adding, &#8220;I thought they were saying, &#8216;Let&#8217;s go [Buffalo] Bills.&#8217; I wasn&#8217;t sure. When you&#8217;re up there, I heard some noise. I heard a lot of cheers. But later on it became clear to me that there&#8217;s a — I know there&#8217;s a passion for that.&#8221;
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Hochul left out the fact that she was in New York City at the time — where they have two NFL teams — and therefore a little over six hours away from Buffalo, New York, by car. She went on to say that she really hoped Democrats could harness the &#8220;energy&#8221; behind those cheers in order to win back control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) shot back, &#8220;The #BillsMafia won’t forget. What a trainwreck @KathyHochul is every single day.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BillsMafia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BillsMafia</a> won’t forget
What a trainwreck <a href="https://twitter.com/KathyHochul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KathyHochul</a> is every single day. <a href="https://t.co/dBgS5giRI2">https://t.co/dBgS5giRI2</a>
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) <a href="https://twitter.com/EliseStefanik/status/1982901908508754197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Others pointed out how similar that moment was to the time the &#8220;Let&#8217;s go, Brandon&#8221; chant was born — when NBC reporter Kelli Stavast heard a crowd of NASCAR fans at Talladega chanting &#8220;F*** Joe Biden&#8221; and claimed she believed they&#8217;d been chanting &#8220;Let&#8217;s go, Brandon&#8221; to cheer on winning driver Brandon Brown.

New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Holds Election Rally With Bernie Sanders And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

WATCH: Hochul Says She Thought Socialists Chanting ‘Tax The Rich’ At Her Were Saying ‘Let’s Go Bills’

Kathy Hochul

Let's Go Brandon

New York

Taxes

Wealth Tax

Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner was a member of a radical Left group whose members have been linked to a slew of attacks, including an assault on an ICE facility that was designated a terrorist attack this month as part of a crackdown on Antifa.
Maine&#8217;s Democrat Senate primary was upended after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/politics/kfile-graham-platner-maine-senate-candidate-deleted-reddit-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a> reported that Platner had called himself a &#8220;communist&#8221; in posts on the Reddit forum r/SocialistRA, where he wrote that if people &#8220;expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.&#8221;
The forum name refers to the Socialist Rifle Association, a group whose members have been repeatedly linked to violent political crimes.
On July 4, a group of militants allegedly swarmed law enforcement at an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas and “opened fire at the unarmed DHS correctional officers.” One of them, Benjamin Hanil Song, is charged with shooting a police officer in the neck. Song was a member of the Socialist Rifle Association’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, a fellow group member told <a href="https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-07-22/shooting-at-alvarado-ice-facility-other-attacks-the-new-normal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KERA</a>.
Last week, the Department of Justice charged two suspects in that attack, Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts, with providing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-hits-antifa-with-very-first-terrorism-charges-in-anti-ice-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">material support to terrorists</a>, calling their crew an &#8220;Antifa Cell.&#8221; It was the first use of the terrorism statute against domestic extremists since Trump ordered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ups-the-ante-orders-cabinet-to-label-antifa-a-foreign-terror-organization" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crackdown</a> on far-left political violence. Arnold, like the founders of the Socialist Rifle Association, is transgender and goes by the name Autumn Hill.
Membership in the Socialist Rifle Association isn&#8217;t required for users to post on the Reddit forum. But a New England publication, the <a href="https://robinsonreport.substack.com/p/ex-marine-graham-platner-taught-military" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robinson Report</a>, revealed that Platner explicitly described his membership in the group.
&#8220;Check out the Maine SRA chapter, we&#8217;re quite active,&#8221; he wrote in April 2020. In August 2020, he said &#8220;my local SRA chapter&#8221; does &#8220;lots of range days, firearms education classes, and developing mutual aid networks in our community.&#8221;
Images of the Maine chapter training include a man in a pink tutu shooting a gun, and one who — though the group blurred the faces of its members — has facial hair matching Platner&#8217;s, Robinson reported.
Platner, who would face off against Republican Senator Susan Collins in the general election and has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), said he made the comments after a difficult time period serving in the military.
“When I got back from Afghanistan in 2011, I stayed in the Army for another year. I got out in 2012. Some of the worst comments I made, the things that I’m — I think are least defensible, that I wouldn’t even try to defend, come from that time,” he said.
The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/socialist-rifle-association-linked-to-numerous-violent-attacks">chronicled</a> Socialist Rifle Association members charged with crimes of political violence.
In October 2021, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.353608/gov.uscourts.flnd.353608.2.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Alan Baker</a> of Florida was sentenced to 44 months in prison for threats. After the pro-Trump Capitol protest on January 6, 2021, Baker offered “cash rewards for information leading to the verified identification of an and every individual in this video. Don’t worry, I wont ne [sic] going to the cops. We have decided to handle this ourselves.” Baker told prosecutors that he was a <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59305500/81/united-states-v-baker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">member</a> of the Socialist Rifle Association, and said, “I believe that the philosophy of an anarchism leads to socialism. And I believe that the government should provide for everyone’s housing, healthcare, food. I even believe that the government should distribute weapons to people who are loyal citizens.”
On January 20, 2025, the day Donald Trump was sworn in as president, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.185254/gov.uscourts.ord.185254.1.1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adam Matthew Lansky</a> allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon. He returned to the same dealership a month later and shot it up using a semi-automatic rifle with a suppressor, according to court documents. “Lansky is a competitive shooter and a former member of the Socialist Rifle Association. He is skilled and well-practiced in the use of firearms and combat scenarios. The [improvised incendiary devices] used by Lansky were all manufactured by him,” prosecutors <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69768879/22/united-states-v-lansky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
On March 18, 2025, in Las Vegas, Paul Hyon Kim set on fire and shot up five Teslas, leaving a Molotov cocktail inside one, <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69803347/1/united-states-v-kim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charging documents</a> said. Tesla had, of course, been treated as a political symbol by the left because of Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump. The court papers said, “Kim has an Instagram page where he follows the Socialist Rifle Association’s page. In a post from October 2018, on the Reno Socialist Rifle Association’s Instagram page, is a picture of a subject that appears to be Paul Kim training with firearms.”
A <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialistRA/comments/cf9i4r/wait_is_the_sra_mostly_tankies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> of Socialist Rifle Association members found that it was 30% anarchist, 30% Marxist-Leninist or Maoist, 30% Democratic Socialist, and 10% other.
The Socialist Rifle Association was incorporated in Kansas in 2019 by Alexander Tackett, who later began identifying as a woman named Alex Norma Tackett. A website for a queer bookstore he owned <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221207035629/https://sweetreadsict.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “Lilith [it/she] &amp; Alex Tackett [she/it] are a trans lesbian couple living in Wichita with their six-year-old son.”
The group&#8217;s co-founder was Faye Ecklar, who explained that “I believe firearms ownership is necessary because as a transgender socialist, half the country wants me dead, and the other half is happy to watch. Plus, the means of production won’t seize themselves.”
Platner has faced a wave of negative publicity since his old Reddit posts resurfaced, much of which centers around the Democrat&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/graham-platner-has-known-about-his-tattoos-nazi-connotations-since-2012">Nazi chest tattoo</a>.

Socialist Rifle Association card and one of its members

Maine Dem Graham Platner Belonged To Socialist Group Linked To ICE Attack, Tesla Bombings

Maine

Susan Collins

Terrorism

Many Americans outside New York City are wondering why Zohran Mamdani, a young, media-savvy socialist, is the favorite to win the mayoralty of our most iconic metropolis.
It’s easy to ridicule Mamdani and his promises of a socialist utopia. But to counter the threat of resurgent socialism at the local and national level, we must understand why he appeals to our young people.
It’s partially that young people are scared. They’re afraid that the American dream — a good job, a house, financial security, health care, and a secure retirement — is out of reach, so the socialist message of controlled rent, free services, loan forgiveness, and other largesse is beguiling. They don’t really care who’s going to pay for it.
Older Americans realize the problem with this kind of mentality. For us, the argument against communism and socialism is, well, duh. Because we’ve seen it. But for millennials and Gen Z, there is no personal connection.
Unfortunately, they don’t learn much about it in their history courses either. Not only are they deprived of facts and unlikely to read long textbooks, but the woke curricula used in public schools expose students to much liberal dogma and “critical theory,” instead of just teaching them the dates and facts and how to draw conclusions from them.
To the extent that young Americans relate to the tyrannical regimes of the 20th century, it is to smear their political enemies as “Nazis.” This is, of course, a nonsensical attack.
But it also masks a bleak historical reality. As bad as the Nazis were, they were outdone in sheer scale of offense by the communists. Joseph Stalin starved <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0051/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> to death with his agricultural and economic policies. His internal political purges killed <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2010/09/naimark-stalin-genocide-092310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over a million</a> more Soviet citizens.
In China, Mao’s supposed “Great Leap Forward” into communist utopia during the 1960s killed roughly <a href="https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/chinas-great-leap-forward/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30 million</a> people. A few years later, another <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2019/10/violence-unfolded-chinas-cultural-revolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1.6 million</a> perished in the Cultural Revolution. Pol Pot slaughtered <a href="https://www.cambodianmuseum.org/remembering-the-killing-fields" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two million</a> of Cambodia’s tiny population.
It may be too late for many millennials and members of Gen Z to grasp the lessons of these tragedies. Perhaps the only thing that will teach them that total state control never delivers prosperity and human flourishing is first-hand experience with “true socialism” in action.
But we still must continue the fight against socialism — and we can’t do that on the fumes of the past.
To combat the persistent threat of socialism, we must first offer a hopeful message by growing the economy, supporting family formation, re-basing education, and restoring fiscal discipline.
Second, we need to better inform the next generation by returning the school curriculum to basics and stripping it of Marxist theory. We should start by changing “Social Studies” back to History. That’s the proper framing — just teach what happened to K-12 students and leave the theories and ideologies until college or graduate school.
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For those lessons to hold, it is essential that states like California, Illinois, and New York don’t bail out their cities for the consequences of socialist policies they voted for. Implemented unchecked, these will most likely reduce the tax base, increase debt, kill economic growth, and end in bankruptcy.
More importantly, the federal taxpayer must never assume the debts of the states. Mamdani wants to spend <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/09/27/us-news/mamdani-pledges-to-pump-another-100-million-for-free-lawyers-for-migrants-facing-deportation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$100 million</a> on lawyers for illegal immigrants, up to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/03/nyregion/new-york-mamdani-free-bus.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$800 million</a> on free buses, and millions on free child care, subsidized city grocery stores, public housing, and more. Maybe he’ll be able to tax city residents enough to pay for it. If not, it should be New York’s problem, not all of America’s.
Simon Hankinson is a Senior Research Fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, and author of the forthcoming book “The Woke Ten Commandments (You Must Not Obey)” from Academica Press.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-POLITICS-NEW YORK-MAMDANI

Here’s Why Millennials Are Drawn to Mamdani — And What We Can Do To Change That

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