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>
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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

Democratic Socialism

Donald Trump

Elections

New York City

Politics

Socialism

Zohran Mamdani

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:
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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>
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&#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;
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
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;
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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>
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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

Communism

With the baby boomers dying off, many people ask me, &#8220;What is Gen Z like, and what does it mean for the future?&#8221; But with the baby boomers dying off, I don’t have time to answer — and anyway, what’s it to me?
However, there is a new poll out on how these Gen Z whippersnappers see things, and the results are very encouraging in the sense they’ll allow me to die happy in the knowledge that the rest of you are screwed.
The poll of around 3,000 respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 was specially designed to elicit information from young people by posing its questions in the form of emojis and inarticulate whining noises and then pretending to take the answers seriously. The results had a margin of error of 79%, because the young people had no clue what the hell they were talking about and then changed their minds when they found out what life was really like.
The young people were asked such questions as: What do you value most? Is America headed in the right direction? What the hell do you know, you nose-ringed freak? And why don’t you get a job and find your own place to live, you’re 20-years old already, for crying out loud? The respondents were then divided by gender using a buzz saw and a surgical needle threaded with fishing line. Then the genders were separated politically by riot police with tear gas and rubber bullets. Finally, the survivors sat around smoking weed until the women fell asleep and the men, of course, had sex with them.
The results of the poll show that among young men, the number one thing they valued most was having children. The number four thing they valued most was getting married. Numbers two and three were avoiding paying child support and using pig’s blood during a paternity test before changing their names and moving out of state.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1249-a-bend-in-the-arc-of-history?contentProgram=The%20Andrew%20Klavan%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" 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>
Among women, the number one thing they valued most was their jobs, the number two thing they valued was emotional stability and the number three thing they valued were anti-depressants. These women also valued making TikTok videos expressing completely nonsensical opinions in a smug voice while smiling like Anthony Perkins in the last frame of “Psycho,” and secretly wishing some guy would marry them and tell them what to do because they’re obviously out of their minds.
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The poll also revealed ingrained differences between young men and women when it came to political issues. For instance, 56% of young men feel that Donald Trump is doing an excellent job as president, while 82% of young women also have political opinions but nobody bothered to write them down because, let’s face it, who cares?
The biggest political divide between the genders was on immigration. Young women felt that it was a crying shame to deport an upstanding pillar of the community just because he had come here illegally, and had drunkenly crashed his car into an elementary school, then escaped before the police discovered the child tied up in his trunk. Young men didn’t answer the question because they were too busy watching cool videos of ICE agents slamming fat Mexicans into the sides of their jalopies while screaming the f-word.
One surprising result in the poll is that young people increasingly favor socialism. They listed their primary reasons as — one — they’d have a lot of time to play “Candy Crush” while they were standing in line to get a loaf of bread. Two, they’ve seen the mini-series “Chernobyl” and it looked really cool when people’s flesh started to melt like in a science fiction movie only real. And three, under socialism, there would be no corporations and everything would be free, so you could just pick up a new iPhone any time you wanted … wherever it is that iPhones come from.
All in all, the results of the poll demonstrated that Generation Z is called Generation Z for a good reason: namely, nothing comes after Z.
* * *
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 for Pre-Order. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

People waiting in line to enter in a store – Social distancing concept

New Poll: Gen Z Likes Socialism, Willing To Wait In Line For Loaf Of Bread

Andrew Klavan

Gen Z

Humor

Poll

Satire

The fallout continues over ABC’s indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel&#8217;s late-night show after his comments on Charlie Kirk, an exclusive Daily Wire investigation dives into the Socialist Rifle Association, and ICE ignites a fresh surge in deportations.
It’s Friday, September 19, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">ABC-Ya: Network Benches Kimmel Over Kirk Remarks</h2>
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Topline: ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel&#8217;s late-night show “indefinitely” for his remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The outrage: The Kimmel comments that really sparked outrage came on Monday night, five days after Kirk’s killing.
Despite reports that the suspected shooter held left-wing political views, Kimmel <a href="https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1968476012871925903">said</a> this: “Hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox and the FBI have described the accused shooter as “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.” The suspect had described Charlie Kirk’s conservative views as “full of hate,” and he was in a romantic relationship with his male trans-identifying roommate.
Yet on Tuesday night, even after the backlash, Kimmel <a href="https://youtu.be/aHT7ICvMtlA">doubled down</a>: “Meanwhile, many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk …”
TL;DR: Kimmel made false statements that he certainly should have known were false in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death.
What ABC saw: The network acted after some heavy pressure from the major broadcasting companies that air Kimmel’s show on ABC affiliates. On Wednesday, Nexstar Media Group, which carries Kimmel on 23 ABC stations, announced it would pull episodes starting Wednesday.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, another major affiliate operator, demanded an apology to the Kirk family and a donation to Turning Point USA before it would put Kimmel back on the air. On Friday night, its ABC stations, along with those of Nexstar, will be airing a memorial for Kirk instead of Kimmel.
Behind the scenes, ABC reportedly tried to get that apology from Kimmel. But he refused, feeling he had nothing to apologize for. He also allegedly planned to take even further aim at Donald Trump supporters during his monologue on Wednesday night.
View from the FCC: As this played out, FCC Chair Brendan Carr pointed out that broadcast networks are different from print media or cable in that they require licenses from the federal government to operate. Knowingly making false, defamatory statements violates the FCC’s rules.
But that said, there is no evidence that Carr or the FCC has taken any formal action against ABC. And that’s a contrast with the Biden administration, which took formal action against conservative media.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">A Socialist Gun Club?</h2>
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Topline: The Department of Justice under the Biden administration focused heavily on what it called right-wing “domestic terrorism,” and now President Trump is signaling it will focus on radical left-wing movements, such as &#8220;ANTIFA,&#8221; which Trump said he is designating a &#8220;major terrorist organization.&#8221;
Introducing the SRA: The Socialist Rifle Association was founded in 2019 and by the following year, counted 10,000 “comrades.”
It operates through state-based chapters across the country, and says it educates and trains leftists on the use of firearms to protect against “fascists.”
The group was founded by two transgender men, one of whom goes by “she/it.” According to an internal survey, one-third of members identify as anarchists, one-third as Marxist-Leninists, and one-third as LGBTQ. 
It issues membership cards featuring Karl Marx’s face. But perhaps more than anything, it’s wrapped up with transgender politics. Four of its 13 national leaders go by “they” pronouns. 
Links to political violence: A Daily Wire review of federal court records found that membership in the Socialist Rifle Association is a common link in four high-profile incidents of political violence.
A couple of months ago, nearly a dozen people, many of them who identify as transgender, were charged with committing an armed assault on an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas. Benjamin Hanil Song, who was charged with shooting a police officer in the neck in that incident, was allegedly a Socialist Rifle Association member.
Two separate incidents of firebombing Tesla dealerships, one the day of President Trump’s inauguration, were committed by Socialist Rifle Association members, according to prosecutors.
Link to Kirk slaying?: The Socialist Rifle Association told The Daily Wire that Kirk’s suspected assassin is not a member. But it declined to say whether his boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, was, citing confidentiality. The group has a chapter in Utah, where the suspect is from.
Follow the money: It’s structured as a nonprofit incorporated in Kansas, but its federal tax-exempt status was revoked after it failed to file paperwork with the IRS for years. It’s still been operating, so that’s one avenue that perhaps the federal government will look at.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">The New Deporter-In-Chief</h2>
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Topline: According to a new report by The Daily Wire, the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign is surging – with nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants already removed from the country.
The Trump administration has set a lofty goal of one million deportations per year, a target that has never been achieved before. The pace stands at 389,000 illegal immigrants deported so far under this administration. While that&#8217;s not close to one million, it’s a huge advance compared to previous administrations. It even exceeds the record of former President Barack Obama, who was described as the “deporter-in-chief.” It also exceeds President Biden&#8217;s final year in office. 
The Trump administration has hired 10,000 new immigration agents to expedite the process. However, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons recently told The Daily Wire that efforts to encourage self-deportations will undoubtedly reach the goal of one million deportees. The administration has already seen, according to DHS, two million of those.

MRN 9.19.25 Thumbnail V1

Morning Brief: Kimmel Suspended, A Socialist Gun Club & Deportations Surge

Morning Brief: Kimmel Suspended, A Socialist Gun Club, And Deportations Surge

Charlie Kirk

Chicago

Department of Homeland Security

Deportations

Guns

Illegal Immigation

Jimmy Kimmel

Media

Morning Wire

CNN reported this week that the popularity of socialism among Democrats has soared from a paltry 7% approval in 2010 to more than 36% in 2025.
“Look at this, net popularity of socialism among Democrats,” CNN pollster Harry Enten proclaimed. “You go back to 2010, it was plus seven points. Look how high it is now, up like a rocket, up to plus 36 points. That&#8217;s a jump of nearly 30 points on the net popularity scale among Democrats in just 15 years.”
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Re: Mamdani/Hochul, Dems see socialism as five letter word: &#8220;great&#8221;.
The net popularity of socialism is up 29 pts since 2010 with Dems. Capitalism, however, has a net negative rating with Dems.
This should leave the GOP/Trump salivating as socialism remains unpopular overall. <a href="https://t.co/9txWvJQVuJ">pic.twitter.com/9txWvJQVuJ</a>
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1967974926503088548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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A recent <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/694835/image-capitalism-slips.aspx">Gallup poll</a> bolstered the notion that Democrats are turning toward socialism, noting, “For the first time, less than half of Democrats (42%) view capitalism positively &#8230; Stability in U.S. adults’ opinions of socialism obscures Democrats’ more positive views of it over time, from 50% rating it positively in the initial 2010 reading to roughly two-thirds in three readings since 2019.”
Speaking of the disparate views of Republicans, Democrats, and independents, Gallup pointed out, “Democrats are the only partisan group of the three that views socialism more positively than capitalism — 66% to 42%, respectively. Independents are modestly more pro-capitalism than pro-socialism (51% vs. 38%), while Republicans are overwhelmingly so (74% vs. 14%).”
“This is where the danger is for Democrats, because if socialism plays in Democratic primaries, it does not play in the general electorate,” Enten continued. “Net popularity among all adults, capitalism is on the positive side of the ledger at plus 12 points. Socialism way, way, way underwater at minus 18 points. So, that&#8217;s capitalism running away by 30 points over socialism. &#8230; something may play in Democratic primaries. It may play in the very Democratic city of New York. But among the general electorate, Republicans are salivating at the idea that they can run against a Democratic socialist being the mayor of New York City.”
At a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bernie-and-mamdani-push-socialism-smear-israel-at-town-hall?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Bernie+And+Mamdani+Push+Socialism%2C+Smear+Israel+At+Town+Hall">town hall</a> earlier this month, New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Vermont’s socialist-in-chief, Senator Bernie Sanders, displayed their devotion to socialism. Rather than discuss real solutions for New York’s public safety crisis, housing shortages, or spiraling budget deficits, Mamdani and Sanders devoted most of their energy to blaming the usual scapegoats: billionaires, corporations, Republicans, and of course, President Donald Trump. Mamdani railed against Trump’s tax legislation — calling it a “wealth transfer” — as if the city’s poverty and housing crisis suddenly began in 2016. He glossed over New York’s decades of Democrat mismanagement, choosing instead to indict the president for everything from hunger to homelessness.
According to Sanders, the United States is now an oligarchy run by cartoon villains, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Rupert Murdoch. He lamented the “six media conglomerates” that supposedly control everything Americans read and think — somehow omitting the overwhelming liberal slant of most mainstream outlets.
For notable examples of how socialism fails, one need look no farther than countries that implemented socialist or communist policies, such as Venezuela, once one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries, which has suffered hyperinflation (up to 1,000,000% in 2018) and massive shortages of food and medicine; the Soviet Union, where its Marxist-Leninist communism led to famines (e.g., Holodomor in Ukraine) and economic stagnation by the 1980s; Cuba, which has chronic economic stagnation, or North Korea, where 2-3 million people died of starvation in the 1990s.

Bernie Sanders to host Mamdani at Fighting Oligarchy rally in New York

Radical Left On The Rise: Democrats Embrace Socialism, Handing GOP A Political Gift

Democrats

If the Left ever needed a masterclass in emotional pandering, grievance politics, and anti-Israel obsession, it got one on full display on Saturday at a town hall featuring New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and Vermont’s socialist-in-chief, Senator Bernie Sanders.
At a town hall that was less about governance and more about political theater, Mamdani kicked off with a tired refrain: “No faculty member should be disciplined for supporting Palestinian human rights.” But make no mistake—this wasn’t a plea for academic freedom. It was a thinly veiled endorsement of radical, anti-Israel activism. Mamdani, who had heretofore refused to denounce the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) resolution threatening to expel members who aren’t sufficiently anti-Zionist, is perfectly comfortable siding with a movement that promotes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign and demonizes Israel at every turn.
When previously asked about the DSA’s explicitly anti-Zionist platform — which threatens to expel members for cooperating with pro-Israel organizations like AIPAC — Mamdani had weaseled his way out, saying he took his orders from New Yorkers. Loosely translated, he was saying that he would not dare criticize the radicals whose endorsements he would certainly need.
At one point in the town hall, Sanders parroted the scurrilous lie often purveyed by mainstream media, railing, &#8220;We should not be spending tens of billions of dollars on the government of Israel that is currently starving children to death.&#8221;
Rather than discuss real solutions for New York’s public safety crisis, housing shortages, or spiraling budget deficits at the town hall, Mamdani and Sanders devoted most of their energy to blaming the usual scapegoats: billionaires, corporations, Republicans, and of course, President Donald Trump. Mamdani railed against Trump’s tax legislation — calling it a “wealth transfer” — as if the city’s poverty and housing crisis suddenly began in 2016. He glossed over New York’s decades of Democrat mismanagement, choosing instead to indict the president for everything from hunger to homelessness.
Sanders, for his part, descended into demagoguery that bordered on parody. According to him, the United States is now an oligarchy run by cartoon villains like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Rupert Murdoch. He lamented the “six media conglomerates” that supposedly control everything Americans read and think—oddly omitting the overwhelming liberal slant of most mainstream outlets. The irony of a man who has spent over 40 years in public office raging against “the system” seems to escape him entirely.
On immigration, Mamdani criticized Uganda — his country of origin — for agreeing to accept U.S. deportees. But the real villain, he said, was Trump. Sanders added that deporting illegal immigrants was akin to behavior seen in “two-bit dictatorships.” The idea that a sovereign nation might enforce its immigration laws is apparently unacceptable in their utopia.
The overarching theme of the evening wasn’t policy. It was resentment. Resentment toward wealth, toward Israel, toward police, toward American institutions. Mamdani and Sanders painted a picture of America and New York as dystopian nightmares ruled by elites—without offering any coherent roadmap out. Free child care, free buses, universal rent control, and unlimited legal aid for immigrants were all promised. But how to pay for it? They didn’t say.
Of course they didn’t.
In the end, Mamdani and Sanders continue to divide New Yorkers by class, race, religion, and political allegiance — while offering little beyond slogans, scapegoats, and socialist fantasy.

Sen. Bernie Sanders Holds New York Town Hall With Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani

Bernie And Mamdani Push Socialism, Smear Israel At Town Hall

Bernie Sanders

Israel

Young Americans and other ignoramuses seem to be moving to the political Left. A new poll shows that 62% of Americans aged 18 to 29 now hold a favorable view of socialism — and the percentage is even higher among 18- to 29-year-olds who wear rings in their noses because they couldn&#8217;t locate their ears.
In on-the-street interviews with young people or just people with enough tattoos to qualify as glitches in the evolutionary progress of humankind, the subjects interviewed gave various reasons for their leftward shift.
For instance, one young man named Sketchy Boardslide told a reporter, “I believe in socialism because if you ran a metal wire into my left ear, it would come out my right ear without touching anything in-between. As a result, I’m so shallow that my shallowness goes down very deep, a sentence that doesn’t even make any sense, which should give you some idea of just how incredibly stupid I am. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to guide my battery-powered skateboard to a voting booth in order to help elect someone who will destroy every vestige of what good men hold dear, whatever a vestige is. Bye, Felicia.”
A woman we interviewed who is either between 18 and 29 years old or just so ignorant it’s hard to tell the difference, told our reporter, “When I look at all the inequality and suffering in the world, I care so much it really makes me feel good about what a warm-hearted person I am. Believing in socialism is a way for me to express the precious tenderness of my heart without actually having to do anything for anybody, because that would take time away from making videos about opening boxes of cosmetics while pouting with surgically modified lips so big they look like a cross between a gravy boat and some unidentifiable kind of roadkill. If I vote socialist, everyone will admire my compassionate nature until the country collapses in a catastrophe of poverty and oppression and is overrun by barbarians so that I become part of some savage’s harem, which has been a big fantasy of mine ever since I read a novel in which all the men had bat wings and did rough sex with women who were beautiful, fragile fairies but really strong in some kind of magical way.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show">WATCH: The Andrew Klavan Show</a></h3>
Pollsters have found that the move toward socialism among young people and other dunderheads has opened up a gender gap between women, who make good money and are completely miserable, and men who scratch their armpits in public and are working on developing an organizational chart of the Marvel Comics Universe. Some psychologists say the divide may be caused by sex differences that have been socially constructed in every society that has ever existed and ever will until the end of time.
For instance, studies show that young women experience higher levels of anxiety and stronger feelings of vulnerability, while young men are far more likely to chase women down the street, shouting, “Hey, baby, give me some of that hot stuff, the way they do it in porn,” diverse sex traits that some scientists believe may be mysteriously connected.
One gender scientist, Dr. Bartholomew Creepy, says these sex differences, which are not at all innate but simply socially constructed everywhere always and forever, may give clues to why young women are increasingly socialist, while young men believe Spiderman is actually a real person but you never see him because we don’t live in his section of the multiverse. In a speech to a convention of middle-aged men who subscribe to Teen Vogue for some reason, Dr. Creepy said, “Young women have been shown to exhibit higher levels of agreeableness and tender-heartedness which are conducive to socialism when combined with their almost total inability to reason. I hope to deliver deeper insights into this phenomenon in my latest study of young women with its focus on their uncannily smooth and shapely legs.”
Older people, conservatives and anyone else with a lick of sense are hoping to avoid the consequences of the leftward trend among the young by praying for death to mercifully carry them away before the next election.
* * *
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 for Pre-Order. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Portrait of confident male hipster standing against pink background

New Poll Finds People With Nose Rings Love Socialism

Social Issues

Young people

New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani —who openly espouses socialist positions and makes statements reminiscent of Karl Marx — received harsh criticism after a video surfaced showing him saying that in the past, he had stopped working and relied on his parents’ money.
“I worked until January, and then I took time away from my job, and one of the major reasons I could do so was because I knew that if I ran out of my savings, my family would be able to support me,” he stated.
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&quot;I knew that if I ran out of my savings my family would be able to support me&quot; — Mamdani 
Must be nice! <a href="https://t.co/22CJRQwNqk">pic.twitter.com/22CJRQwNqk</a>
&mdash; Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) <a href="https://twitter.com/LevineJonathan/status/1945133193654342115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mamdani’s father is a hard-Left professor at Columbia University, and his mother is a successful filmmaker who once owned a $2 million Chelsea loft in New York City, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/03/real-estate/as-mamdani-targets-nycs-wealthy-in-tax-plan-spotlight-turns-to-mothers-2m-chelsea-loft/">New York Post</a>. “Mamdani attended <a title="https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/03/26/before-zohran-mamdani-made-waves-in-nycs-mayoral-race-he-was-a-kid-growing-up-on-the-uws" href="https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/03/26/before-zohran-mamdani-made-waves-in-nycs-mayoral-race-he-was-a-kid-growing-up-on-the-uws" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bank Street, a prestigious Manhattan private school</a> that now costs as much as $66,000 a year for elementary school students, before graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, one of the city’s best public schools. Next, he studied Africana Studies at Bowdoin College, a private liberal arts school in Maine,” Forbes noted.
Mamdani’s own job history is sketchy, to put it mildly. “Mr. Mamdani’s résumé is comparatively slight,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/nyregion/mamdani-age-mayor-young.html">reported.</a> “The son of a renowned filmmaker and academic, he bounced among gigs — working on one of his mother’s movies, as a rapper, a campaign organizer, a part-time tutor and a foreclosure counselor — before winning a seat in the Assembly in 2020.”
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people&#8217;s money,’ -Margaret Thatcher,” Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich wrote on X.
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“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people&#39;s money.”
-Margaret Thatcher <a href="https://t.co/62uMphEupI">https://t.co/62uMphEupI</a>
&mdash; Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) <a href="https://twitter.com/KatiePavlich/status/1945145597972881827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“The one thing my parents told me: if you aren&#8217;t working and you don&#8217;t have money, we cannot and will not support you. This guy is very comfortable with other people&#8217;s money,” New York Post columnist Kirsten Fleming echoed.
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The one thing my parents told me: if you aren&#39;t working and you don&#39;t have money, we cannot and will not support you. This guy is very comfortable with other people&#39;s money. <a href="https://t.co/COZ6anlNWH">https://t.co/COZ6anlNWH</a>
&mdash; Kirsten Fleming (@KirFlem) <a href="https://twitter.com/KirFlem/status/1945142358317670550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Classic Socialism: Once I blow through my money, I’ll take yours,” former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright wrote.
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Classic Socialism: Once I blow through my money, I’ll take yours. <a href="https://t.co/TjLlaP82HQ">https://t.co/TjLlaP82HQ</a>
&mdash; BDW (@BryanDeanWright) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDeanWright/status/1945152396331569530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“A true silver spoon socialist right here,” the X account Western Lensman commented.
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A true silver spoon socialist right here
&mdash; Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1945146288464384418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mamdani has <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/zohran-mamdani-campaign-andrew-cuomo-new-york-city-mayoral-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed building</a> a network of city-run, subsidized grocery stores and nationalizing utility companies. “The Democratic nominee estimates his agenda will cost taxpayers $10 billion annually. His solution for financing the hefty price tag is to increase taxes on big corporations and the wealthy,” Time Magazine <a href="https://time.com/7298149/nyc-socialist-zohran-mamdani-capitalism-essay/">reported.</a>
In 2021, at a meeting of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mamdani-under-fire-over-resurfaced-2021-video-endorsing-socialist-goals">stated</a> in a video, “Right now, if we&#8217;re talking about the cancellation of student debt, if we&#8217;re talking about Medicare for all, you know, these are issues which have the groundswell of popular support across this country. But then there are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it&#8217;s BDS or whether it is the end goal of seizing the means of production, where we do not have the same level of support at this very moment.&#8221;
“Mamdani’s socialism nomenclature is no joke or aspiration,” billionaire Bill Ackman wrote in response. &#8220;It is the business plan of a movement that he is leading and, for now, winning.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/ZohranKMamdani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZohranKMamdani</a> in his own words a three-minute must listen. 
Mamdani’s socialism nomenclature is no joke or aspiration. It is the business plan of a movement that he is leading and, for now, winning. 
Don’t rely on my summary. Listen to him speak his own words. <a href="https://t.co/QLeWGETkIu">https://t.co/QLeWGETkIu</a>
&mdash; Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1939664169730494931?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mayoral Candidate For New York Zohran Mamdani Holds Primary Election Night Party

‘True Silver Spoon Socialist’: Mamdani Mocked For Admitting He Relied On Family Money

Democrat

Mayor

A new poll shows Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani holding a commanding 10-point lead in New York City&#8217;s mayoral race this week, with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams trailing in fourth place.
The Slingshot Strategies <a href="https://www.slingshotstrat.com/media/slingshot-mayoral-poll-general-election-7-9">poll</a>, conducted between July 2-6, showed socialist Mamdani capturing 35% of registered voters, with former Governor Andrew Cuomo at 25%, Republican Curtis Sliwa at 14%, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams trailing with just 11%.
Adams faces an uphill battle with a dismal 28% approval rating and 62% disapproval. By contrast, Mamdani enjoys a net favorable rating of +4 (40% favorable vs. 36% unfavorable), while even the scandal-plagued Andrew Cuomo outperforms Adams, with 44% viewing him favorably and 46% unfavorably.
Other polls have found similar results, including a pro-Adams <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/04/us-news/new-pro-adams-poll-still-has-nyc-mayor-trailing-cuomo-by-double-digits/">poll</a> that still showed Mamdani leading with 41%, followed by Cuomo at 26%, Adams at 16%, and Sliwa at 10%.
Adams&#8217; support has collapsed even among his traditional base, with only 16% of black respondents saying they would back the mayor in the general election, compared to 35% for Mamdani and 32% for Cuomo, according to the poll.
The current contest represents a significant fracturing of Democratic power, with incumbent Mayor Adams – who campaigned as a moderate, pro-police Democrat – now being challenged from both the far-Left in Mamdani and the establishment wing in Cuomo.
While Mamdani&#8217;s 35% support is far from a majority, Slingshot founding partner Evan Roth Smith <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/eric-adams-nyc-mayoral-election-chances-are-under-water-poll/">emphasized</a> to the New York Post that the electoral math looks increasingly difficult for Adams.
&#8220;The problem is the ballot is set. And the strongest Mamdani alternative in this poll is Andrew Cuomo, who just lost to him decisively in the Democratic primary,&#8221; Smith noted. “And the Mamdani alternative that seems to have the most momentum as a fresh alternative is Eric Adams, who’s polling barely in the double digits and seems to have lost credibility everywhere in the election.”
Adams has faced widespread dissatisfaction with his administration, which has faced multiple federal investigations and criticism over the handling of the migrant crisis and public safety issues.
Despite being a Democrat, Adams performs best among Republican voters, receiving 26% support compared to Mamdani&#8217;s 7%, although Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa leads that demographic with 43%.
“There’s simply not enough Republican support for someone who is a sitting Democratic mayor of New York,” Smith added. “So it’s really, really difficult when someone is polling at 11% and the ballot isn’t changing to see what the path to victory is.”
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Assemblyman from Queens, has positioned himself as an unapologetic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/zohran-mamdani-says-he-has-many-critiques-of-capitalism?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Zohran+Mamdani+Says+He+Has+%E2%80%98Many+Critiques+Of+Capitalism%E2%80%99">socialist</a>. He has advocated for rent control, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and reallocating police funding to social services – policies that have raised concerns among moderate Democrats and the business community.
“You have a large number of largely white, largely outer borough homeowners who are not necessarily Democrats, who are skeptical of Mamdani,” Smith explained. “The problem is getting those voters together behind either Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams seems to still be a pretty tall order, and becomes even more difficult since they’re both in the race.”
Cuomo and Adams have engaged in public <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/09/zohran-mamdani-leads-general-election-poll-00443469">feuding</a>, with each calling for the other to drop out to consolidate opposition against Mamdani, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/andrew-cuomo-falls-to-radical-socialist-zohran-mamdani-in-nyc-mayoral-primary?author=Tim+Rice&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Andrew+Cuomo+Falls+To+Radical+Socialist+Zohran+Mamdani+In+NYC+Mayoral+Primary">won</a> the Democratic primary with 56% to Cuomo&#8217;s 44% in the final round of ranked-choice voting.
Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro dismissed the poll in a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/eric-adams-nyc-mayoral-election-chances-are-under-water-poll/">statement</a> to the New York Post, saying, “just weeks ago, Andrew Cuomo was ahead in multiple polls and then went on to lose the primary by double digits.”
“The latest Slingshot poll is just another example of how out-of-touch and unreliable political polling has become,” he said.

NYC Poll Collage

Mamdani Surges To 10-Point Lead In NYC Mayoral Race, Adams Craters To Fourth Place: Poll

Andrew Cuomo

Democratic Party

Eric Adams

News

Polls

CNN&#8217;s Bakari Sellers attempted to draw down on Republican commentator Scott Jennings during a Monday evening panel discussion, bristling when Jennings assessed New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani in the same way that President Donald Trump had: &#8220;a communist.&#8221;
Both Sellers and Jennings addressed the issue on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;NewsNight&#8221; with host Abby Phillip, discussing a recent video that showed Mamdani throwing around Marxist terms such as &#8220;seizing the means of production&#8221; and using government funds to buy up housing developments that would eventually be community-owned.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🔥<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottJenningsKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottJenningsKY</a> battles Bakari Sellers who is riled up over the idea that Mamdani is being called a &#8220;communist.&#8221;
Sellers: He’s a socialist.
Jennings: He’s using the language of the Bolsheviks, is he not?
Sellers: No, he’s not. He’s a socialist.
Jennings: Seizing the means… <a href="https://t.co/EtDWGUpiMv">pic.twitter.com/EtDWGUpiMv</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1940372469996745060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Calling him a communist is not far off base, when he talks about seizing the means of production,&#8221; former White House spokesman (under former President George W. Bush) Pete Seat said. &#8220;That is a Communist Party plank. He is talking about doing that. So I don&#8217;t have any problems with calling him what he is.&#8221;
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&#8220;And I don&#8217;t have any problem calling Donald Trump a felon,&#8221; Sellers replied. &#8220;Or charged with rape. Or the fact that he doesn&#8217;t pay his vendors. Or the fact that he&#8217;s racist because he got — he illegally [unintelligible] &#8230; and you&#8217;re right, you may have a Democratic socialist elected as mayor of New York City.&#8221;
&#8220;So you agree with Pete that he&#8217;s a communist?&#8221; Jennings asked.
&#8220;He&#8217;s not a communist,&#8221; one of the other panelists said off-camera.
&#8220;He&#8217;s a socialist,&#8221; Bakari said.
&#8220;He said &#8216;seize the means of production,'&#8221; Jennings said.
His voice rising a few pitches, Sellers repeated, &#8220;He&#8217;s a socialist! I&#8217;m not a socialist, but he calls himself —&#8221;
&#8220;He literally uses — he&#8217;s using the language of the Bolsheviks, is he not?&#8221; Jennings asked.
&#8220;No, he&#8217;s not,&#8221; Sellers tried again. &#8220;He&#8217;s a socialist, not a communist.&#8221;
&#8220;Seizing the means of production?&#8221; Jennings raised an eyebrow.
&#8220;That&#8217;s called socialism,&#8221; Sellers said. &#8220;Not communism.&#8221;
Phillip cut in then, bringing the debate to a close.
All evidence to the contrary, Mamdani has repeatedly stated that he is not a communist, but rather a &#8220;democratic socialist.&#8221;

‘Language Of The Bolsheviks’: CNN Panel Is All Fun And Games Until Someone Calls Mamdani ‘Communist’

'Language Of The Bolsheviks': CNN Panel Is All Fun And Games Until Someone Calls Mamdani 'Communist'

baka

Scott Jennings

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