New York mayoral candidate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/zohran-mamdani">Zohran Mamdani</a> is handsome, charismatic, and a master influencer on social media. He is currently leading the race for the New York mayorship by 22 points. And now he finds himself at the forefront of a significant leftward lurch in the Democratic Party. 

A recent <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/694835/image-capitalism-slips.aspx">Gallup poll</a> shows that 66% of Democratic voters view socialism positively compared to 42% for capitalism, a stunning 24 point differential. Mr. Mamdani belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the socialist organization opposing Democratic moderates.
He doesn’t merely belong to it. By his own words he is such a vehement proponent of this collective that he advocates setting up safeguards to resist any watering down of the DSA vision once their candidates reach office. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA13mlaiw1w">Mr. Mamdani’s speech at the DSA Convention on August 4, 2023</a>, he laid out his plan to have committees of socialists in office work together in order resist “corruption” from moderating influences of fellow &#8220;electeds&#8221; (3:15) and that “wherever we want to contest power we must not send that person into that chamber alone, we must make sure they remember they are a member of this organization” (13:40). He closes by declaiming, “solidarity forever and socialism forever” (14:08).
In an <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/zohran-mamdani-interview/">interview</a> with The Nation on February 18, 2025, he reiterates these commitments unequivocally, stating: “My political home is NYC DSA.”
In a statement issued on June 27, 2025, the DSA <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-npc-statement-on-zohran-mamdanis-primary-win/">reaffirms their side of this ideological pact</a>, stating that Mr. Mamdani “never ran as an individual, but as a representative of a working class socialist movement.”
By his and his party’s own definition, Mr. Mamdani is not a Trojan horse for DSA policies. He is the incarnation of them.
Many New Yorkers believe that President Trump should be held accountable for Project 2025. Shouldn’t the same be true for Mr. Mamdani as it pertains to the platform of the very socialist organization he calls home?
Given our digital churn of accusation and recrimination, our atomized culture, and our different information silos, it is difficult at times to understand what we are voting for and what we are voting against. The nation — and New Yorkers — deserve a clear exploration of the policies and beliefs of their leading candidate.
Below are ten bullet points, drawn directly from the DSA’s 2021 National Convention platform and fact-checked by two different AI large-language models:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">End Capitalism: DSA seeks to dismantle capitalism, replacing it with worker-controlled production and resource distribution.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Nationalize Key Industries: Public ownership of energy, railroads, and potentially banking to ensure democratic control.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Abolish Prisons: Eliminate prisons, replacing them with restorative justice systems.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Defund and Abolish Police: Redirect police budgets to social services and ultimately dismantle police forces.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Abolish White Supremacy: Dismantle systemic racism and white supremacist structures through policies like affirmative action, wealth redistribution, and cultural reeducation.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Universal Basic Income (UBI): Provide guaranteed income to all, funded by wealth taxes, to reduce inequality.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Open Borders: Decriminalize immigration and abolish ICE, allowing unrestricted movement across borders.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Reparations for Black and Indigenous Communities: Pay reparations to address slavery and colonization, estimated at trillions.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Cancel All Student Debt: Forgive all student debt (over $1.6 trillion) and provide free public education at all levels.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">International Solidarity, Anti-Imperialism, and Anti-Militarism: Promote global working-class solidarity by opposing U.S. imperialism, ending military interventions, slashing defense budgets, and redirecting funds to international aid.</li>
</ul>
Conclusion: These policies are considered extreme for their radical restructuring of economic, social, or foreign policy systems, high costs, or potential for societal disruption, setting them far outside mainstream U.S. political consensus.
* * *
One section of the 2021 platform titled “Abolition of the Carceral State” decries policing and prison as “white supremacist institutions” and “active instruments of class war.” 
Additionally, it makes promises to:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“free all people from involuntary confinement”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“disarm law enforcement officers, including the police and private security”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“constrain, diminish, and abolish the carceral forces of the state” in order to “achieve collective liberation”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“defund the police by rejecting any expansion to police budgets or scope of enforcement while cutting budgets annually towards zero”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“end investment in police training or facility renovations”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“repeal the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“decertify police unions and associations”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“end all misdemeanor offenses…and cut funding to prosecutor’s offices”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“end pre-trial detention, civil commitment, and imprisonment for parole violations”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“repeal truancy laws, ending all suspensions and expulsions”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“repeal local ordinances that criminalize people involved in the sex trades, drug trades, and street economies”</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“cease all funding for contracting, procurement, and in-house development of technologies including CCTV, biometric capture and databases, predictive policing platforms, AI, and risk profiling algorithms”</li>
</ul>
It is troubling indeed to imagine a New York that has released all inmates from jails and prisons, disarmed the police, defunded police departments to zero, decriminalized drug dealers, and ceased all funding for technologies designed to keep the city safe — just to name a few initiatives from a slender pie slice of the DSA platform. 
Also troubling to imagine is the impact this will have on families and children, workers and small businesses, first responders and emergency services, and tourism and taxes.   
In 2024, the DSA updated its platform, removing the vast majority of specifics and boiling down each of their major policies to a single graphic and two sentence fragments. 
For example, they reduced their policy statement on police and incarceration, from 981 words…
…to 16.
<div id="attachment_976111" style="width: 586px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-976111" class="size-large wp-image-976111" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-576x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Democratic Socialists of America" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-02-59-PM-1598-2048x2048.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" />Credit: Democratic Socialists of America</div>
The above policy “statement” has removed 98.37%  of what used to be there.
And every other section of the DSA platform has undergone similar shrinkage.
There are certainly various conclusions to be drawn from this, but it seems not unreasonable to conclude that the abbreviated blurbs are designed to euphemize, obfuscate, and conceal. 
On August 28, a mere three weeks ago, Mr. Mamdani <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/nyregion/mamdani-dsa-socialist-mayor.html">scrambled to distance himself</a> from a few of the DSA’s most radical positions, but despite countless interviews and appearances he has refused to adequately clarify, qualify, or explain the vast majority of positions of the movement that he claims defines him. Nor has he denounced his repeated ironclad vows to resist moderation and fight to enact DSA policies acting an instrument of the collective.
Don’t New Yorkers deserve to know what precisely they are voting for?
Don’t Democrats in general deserve to assess whether the DSA platform represents a winning message that aligns with American values and voters? Because these positions clearly do neither. And if Mr. Mamdani wins, the Democrats are going to have to answer for his positions and performance for election cycles to come.
Many in the party claim that no matter what Democrats do, President Trump and Republicans label them radical extremists in order to win elections. What will make this significantly easier?
The fact that in this case it’s true.
A victory for Mr. Mamdani will embody and solidify the most extreme positions within the Democratic party — positions that are clearly outside the norms of American politics.
Is it possible, many wonder, to even define American norms anymore?
It is.
In September of 2024, with a small post-partisan team, I conducted nationwide polling with a sample of 1,285 that found that the vast majority of Americans agree on virtually every major issue. 
The results are something to behold.
<div id="attachment_976113" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-976113" class="size-large wp-image-976113" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-464-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Gregg Hurwitz" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-464-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-464-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-464-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-464-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-464-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Gregg Hurwitz</div>
<div id="attachment_976115" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-976115" class="size-large wp-image-976115" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-4745-1024x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Gregg Hurwitz" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-4745-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-4745-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-4745-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-4745-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/MixCollage-23-Sep-2025-03-07-PM-4745-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Gregg Hurwitz</div>
For this moment, one of these in particular is worth pausing for: I believe in gratitude, not grievance: 86% agree.
What I find most alarming in Mr. Mamdani’s camp is that I don’t see a crumb of gratitude over there. Not for America. Not for the city that welcomed him and his family and gave them opportunities to work and thrive. Not for the private and selective schools like Bank Street School for Children and Bronx Science that educated him. Not for the law enforcement community who kept him safe. Not for the systems that guarantee the freedoms he rightly enjoys.
No gratitude.
Just grievance.
In our own lives and relationships we know intuitively, as is true at a larger scale, that nothing good grows from the seed of grievance.
Imagine another approach. Imagine how powerful America would be if we unified gratefully around our vast agreement and drew from the brilliance, resources, and brainpower of our entire nation. Imagine how much stronger we would be to navigate the complex changes ahead. Imagine how we could compete and lead on the world stage.
Every moment in our current reckoning can represent a turning point. We can keep moving to greater extremes as Mr. Mamdani is planning to do. Or our leaders can reject radicalism, step closer to one another and the 80-100% of us who agree on virtually everything, and own the future.
* * *
Disclaimer: Mr. Hurwitz is volunteering with various organizations in an effort to defeat Mr. Mamdani.
* * *
Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of 26 thrillers including the Orphan X series. His novels have won numerous literary awards and have been published in 33 languages. Gregg currently serves as the Co-President of International Thriller Writers (ITW). Additionally, he’s written screenplays and television scripts for many of the major studios and networks, and is an award-winning documentary producer. Gregg also wrote comics for AWA (including the critically acclaimed anthology NewThink), DC, and Marvel, and poetry. Currently, Gregg is working against polarization in politics and culture. To that end, he’s penned dozens of Op/Eds and pieces for The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Bulwark, Salon, and others, and pieces of creative content which have won numerous industry awards and achieved several hundred million views on digital TV platforms. He also helped write the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Mamdani-Article-v2

Do New Yorkers Understand What They Are Voting For?

Andrew Cuomo

Democratic Socialism

Democrats

Elections

Leftists

Mayor

New York City

Zohran Mamdani

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.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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

Politics

Socialism

In a move that underscores the growing arrogance of the Democratic Party’s far-left flank, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani refused to endorse sitting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for re-election just one day after she publicly backed his candidacy — a gesture that cost her political capital among moderates and independents.
After weeks of hesitation, Hochul, the embattled Democrat, finally bent the knee and endorsed Mamdani over the weekend. She published an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/opinion/hochul-endorsement-mamdani.html">op-ed</a> in The New York Times, making the case that unity against Donald Trump was more important than her ideological rift with Mamdani — a radical democratic socialist who backs higher taxes, defunding the police, and “reimagining” capitalism.
But Mamdani, true to form, wasted no time revealing just how transactional the endorsement would be. Speaking to reporters on Monday, he <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/09/15/mamdani-declines-to-immediately-back-hochuls-reelection-after-she-offers-him-coveted-endorsement/">casually brushed aside</a> the idea of returning the favor. “My focus is on November,” Mamdani said, refusing to endorse Hochul’s 2026 re-election bid. He offered perfunctory gratitude for her support — then pivoted back to his talking points.
The message was clear: Mamdani is happy to accept Hochul’s help, but he has no intention of helping her fend off what could be a brutal primary challenge from her own left flank — or a general election fight against Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who’s already blasting Hochul for supporting “a raging antisemite communist.”
Hochul didn’t simply endorse Mamdani out of genuine alignment. She did it as a calculated gamble — to shore up support among progressives ahead of a likely challenge from Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado and to boost turnout in NYC. And yet, Mamdani couldn’t even offer her the bare minimum in return.
This one-sided “alliance” is exposing the very rift that is tearing the Democratic Party apart. Hochul admitted in her own op-ed that she and Mamdani were “unlikely allies” and that they “don’t see eye to eye.” She explicitly distanced herself from his most extreme proposals — including hiking taxes on the wealthy and gutting the NYPD — while also noting concerns over antisemitism.
Meanwhile, other prominent New York Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have still refused to endorse Mamdani at all.
Stefanik wasted no time capitalizing on Hochul’s endorsement, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stefanik-rips-hochul-for-backing-raging-antisemite-communist-zohran-mamdani?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Stefanik+Rips+Hochul+For+Backing+%E2%80%98Raging+Antisemite+Communist%E2%80%99+Zohran+Mamdani">torching</a> the governor for “putting jet fuel on commie Mamdani” and vowing to save New York from the radicalism she said is destroying the state.
Hochul handed Mamdani a lifeline in the name of party unity. In return, he handed her political disrespect and strategic silence.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of today’s Democratic Party: “moderates” grovel to radicals as the radicals grind them down.

MixCollage-16-Sep-2025-09-55-AM-4884

Hochul Endorses Mamdani. The Very Next Day, He Refuses To Endorse Her.

Elise Stefanik

Kathy Hochul

The FBI broadens its investigation into Charlie Kirk’s assassination, New York mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani scores a major endorsement, and the White House threatens Brazil after its Supreme Court sentences the “Trump of the Tropics.”
It’s Tuesday, September 16, 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="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;">FBI Probes Larger Plot In Kirk Assassination</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-972675 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Kirk-Probe-Widens-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Kirk-Probe-Widens-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Kirk-Probe-Widens-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Kirk-Probe-Widens-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Kirk-Probe-Widens-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Kirk-Probe-Widens.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
Topline: As conservatives rally following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the FBI says it’s investigating radical left-wing groups for potential ties to the killer. 
Among those being investigated is the far-left pro-transgender group Armed Queers Salt Lake City. It deleted its Instagram account shortly after the shooting, but a membership form online listed its core principles, which included “the armed and militant protection of queer and trans communities,” “trans liberation,” and an “organized revolutionary movement.”
The Bureau is also investigating a number of social media accounts that seemingly displayed foreknowledge of the assassination. In one instance, a leftist X user wrote a week before Kirk’s killing: “it’d be funny if someone like Charlie Kirk got shot on September 10th.” According to FBI Director Kash Patel, suspected assassin Tyler Robinson told at least one person beforehand what he planned on doing.
What they’re saying: White House Deputy Chief Stephen Miller vowed to channel his “righteous anger” to go after “networks” of leftists in a special edition of The Charlie Kirk Show hosted by Vice President JD Vance on Monday.
“It is a vast domestic terror movement, and with God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have&#8230; throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks&#8230; and we will do it in Charlie’s name,” Miller <a href="https://x.com/avaricum777/status/1967627688711250054">said</a>.
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Establishment Dems Begin To Fall In Line With Mamdani</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-972677 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Hochul-Backs-Mamdani.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
Topline: New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has endorsed far-left NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a sign that the Democratic Party establishment is moving behind the 33-year-old radical.
Hochul notably kept her distance from him during the New York City mayoral primary – Mamdani is an open democratic socialist and has some extremely far-left ideas, including the establishment of <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/05/us-news/socialist-nyc-mayoral-candidates-city-run-supermarket-plan-under-fire/">government-run grocery stores</a>. But Hochul’s flip could draw other prominent Democratic leaders into Mamdani’s camp.
Hochul said in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/opinion/hochul-endorsement-mamdani.html">op-ed</a> in The New York Times that she’s backing Mamdani because of his focus on “affordability” and resisting President Donald Trump.
Step back: Mamdani is favored to be New York City’s next mayor, barring some major shakeup – so Hochul will likely have to work with him. She is also running for re-election in 2026, but is so disliked by folks in the NYC suburbs and most of upstate New York that some politicos <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/09/14/us-news/ny-gov-kathy-hochul-expected-to-endorse-zohran-mamdani-this-week-sources/">believe</a> she’s trying to lean harder on the urban vote, where Mamdani has strong support.
Trump weighs in: On the heels of Hochul’s endorsement, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115207991871277413">labeled</a> Mamdani the “‘Liddle’ Communist” and described his frontrunner status as a “rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City.”
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Lengthy Prison Sentence For Jair Bolsonaro Strains U.S.-Brazil Relations</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-972679 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Trump-Of-The-Tropics-Convicted.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></div>
Topline: After a two-week public trial, Brazil’s five Supreme Court justices sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison after he was found guilty of an attempted coup. The Trump administration is now threatening severe consequences.
Expert opines: Andres Martinez-Fernandez, senior policy analyst for Latin America at The Heritage Foundation: “This is a case which has a lot of question marks around it, and particularly with this sentencing, which is dramatic, over 25 years, for this person who just a few years ago was occupying the top office in Brazil, is very controversial at the moment. So a lot of Congress in Brazil and others are exploring very actively the need to take action to bypass this sentencing.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in response to the ruling that the United States would “respond accordingly to this witch hunt.”
Martinez-Fernandez: “There&#8217;s a disconnect, I think, that a lot of people see, and this administration certainly sees, between the pursuit of justice and the political priorities that we see the supreme court in Brazil pursuing … and that’s what the administration is really seeking to counter, leveraging the United States&#8217; economic heft and influence in that country. But, it&#8217;s clearly going to be a very significant challenge here.”

Morning Brief: Kirk Probe Expands, Hochul Backs Socialist Mamdani & U.S. Rips Bolsonaro Sentence

Morning Brief: FBI’s Kirk Probe Widens, Hochul Backs Mamdani, U.S. Rips Bolsonaro Prison Sentence

Brazil

Charlie Kirk

Jair Bolsonaro

Marco Rubio

Media

Morning Wire

United States

Actor Michael Rapaport expressed his disdain for repeat offenders being released in New York City as a way of protesting the election of far-Left NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
“I’m sorry you’re a psychopath. I’m sorry you’re mentally ill. But I don’t need you walking around me. I don’t need you walking around my wife. My wife was groped in New York City in broad daylight,” the 55-year-old comedian said.
Rapaport went on to relay the story of how his wife and her friend went to see a show in the city. After they left, they were walking down the sidewalk when a man approached her and “rubbed up on her.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I don’t want my Wife walking around men that have been arrested 14 times sorry.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nyc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nyc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/crime?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#crime</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ZohranMamdani?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ZohranMamdani</a> <a href="https://t.co/M53okIJXoI">pic.twitter.com/M53okIJXoI</a>
— MichaelRapaport (@MichaelRapaport) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelRapaport/status/1966882635042746739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Violated my wife in New York City,” the actor seethed during a clip from his podcast that he shared on X.
“I don’t want people like that walking around my wife,” he added. “I don’t want people that have been arrested 14 times, for whatever reason, walking around my wife, walking around my kids. Nor should you, and it has nothing to do with politics.”
“Put them in a f***ing zoo,” Rapaport concluded.
The comments were filled with followers applauding the celeb, likening his rant to a red pill moment.
“Watching a liberal metamorphosis into a conservative after life happening to them is like watching a caterpillar turn into a beautiful butterfly,” one person <a href="https://x.com/harr72247/status/1966914027600441545">wrote</a>.
“I love to see Michael’s complete 180 transformation. That’s what happen[s] when you start to see things for how they are and not what you’ve been told they are,” another <a href="https://x.com/TexasTraderOne/status/1967071669689696534">said</a>.
Once an outspoken liberal and critic of Donald Trump, Rapaport, who is Jewish, has come out publicly in support of Israel following the October 7 attacks and has begun to distance himself from the Democratic Party. Besides being a pro-Israel advocate, the comedian has also spoken about crime before, filming a viral video documenting retail theft at a Rite Aid in NYC in 2022.
Days ago, Rapaport spoke out against the way many people were reacting to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
&#8220;Any public person that would, in any way, shape, or form, support, laugh at, excuse, the public killing of Charlie Kirk, is sick. Really, really, really twisted,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/michael-rapaport-blasts-liberals-cheering-163223626.html">said</a>.

Michael Rapaport

Michael Rapaport On Repeat Offenders In NYC: ‘Put Them In A F***ing Zoo’

Michael Rapaport On Repeat Offenders In NYC: 'Put Them In A F***ing Zoo'

Celebrities

Crime

Entertainment

U.S.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is eyeing a 2026 run for New York governor, tore into sitting Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul for endorsing far-left NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — branding the frontrunner as a “raging antisemite communist” and accusing Hochul of enabling policies that are wrecking the Empire State.
Appearing on Fox &amp; Friends on Monday morning, Stefanik launched a fiery attack, stating, “Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America, and it was only a matter of time before she bent the knee for this raging antisemite communist.” She added that Hochul now “owns” Mamdani’s extreme agenda, which includes stances of defunding the police, abolishing prisons, eliminating private health insurance, and legalizing prostitution.
Stefanik didn’t hold back on the consequences of Hochul’s hard-left pivot, saying the governor has “embraced communism” and “put jet fuel on commie Mamdani.” She blasted Hochul for pandering to her radical base while ignoring the will of New Yorkers, the majority of whom Stefanik says reject Mamdani’s views and want “common sense” leadership.
“She owns all of his heinous positions that will make New York less affordable and more dangerous,” Stefanik said, pointing to skyrocketing taxes, collapsing public safety, and mass outmigration. “They’re not leaving because of the weather,” she noted. “They’re leaving because of the policies.”
Stefanik’s remarks follow her formation of the “Save New York” PAC, which aims to elect Republicans statewide in 2025 and lay the groundwork for her expected gubernatorial bid. With potential GOP challengers like Rep. Mike Lawler stepping aside, Stefanik is increasingly seen as the frontrunner should she decide to enter the race.
Slamming Hochul’s alignment with Mamdani’s radical proposals, Stefanik said the governor has “embraced tax hikes, defunding the police, government-run grocery stores, and decriminalizing sex work,” warning that such policies will “further destroy New York.”
Stefanik pointed to recent polling to bolster her case, noting that Hochul is hemorrhaging support among independents and on Long Island. “Sixty percent of voters on Long Island want someone new,” she said, adding that “no state moved more to the Republican direction than New York in 2024.”
The congresswoman argued that New Yorkers — regardless of party — are waking up to the extremism of the state’s Democratic leadership. “The vast majority of New York City and New York residents do not want communism. They do not want antisemitism,” she said.
As the state gears up for a volatile 2026 cycle, Stefanik is positioning herself as the GOP’s answer to what she calls a collapsing Democrat Party that’s been hijacked by the radical left.

Stefanik Rips Hochul For Backing ‘Raging Antisemite Communist’ Zohran Mamdani

Congress

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

The sister to the ruling emir of Qatar — a country which has funded the terrorist group Hamas and hosted its leaders at the time of the October 7, 2023, massacre — has been a prime funder and career-maker for socialist Zohran Mamdani’s filmmaker mother, Mira Nair, who hates Israel.
Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani has backed Mamdani’s mother since at least 2009, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/31/us-news/qatar-bankrolled-years-worth-of-films-by-zohran-mamdanis-mom/">reported</a>.
In addition,  Sheikha Al-Thani has “taken to <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/jewishinsider.com/2025/06/prominent-qatari-royal-boosts-zohran-mamdani-sheikha-al-thani/__;!!F0Stn7g!CWZBs6aisnBm2A4D8X4d3T-Q40ZfiTORaypA3e6tQRMjO6yVX2BPmG1gpfLmqdx_bDO--dx43X57ifOye9h_$">promoting</a> Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy on social media, boosting news of <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/x.com/Olivia_Reingold/status/1933546647323037948__;!!F0Stn7g!BBM6xQRbiLEFEdM4OG6Gtn64VNuZlHjVI3vLMfnWGhmzOTcX2P2a17790wn0LGIIZmhXbrBk41x3tDiKa-22$">favorable polling</a> on Instagram and posting fire emojis under a <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.tiktok.com/@zohran_k_mamdani/video/7518459081326071071__;!!F0Stn7g!BBM6xQRbiLEFEdM4OG6Gtn64VNuZlHjVI3vLMfnWGhmzOTcX2P2a17790wn0LGIIZmhXbrBk41x3tEmmMa0E$">TikTok video</a> of him embracing Nair,” the Post noted.
As far back as July 2013, Nair refused to serve as guest of honor at the Haifa International Film Festival, <a href="https://usacbi.org/2013/07/usacbi-commends-mira-nair-for-her-support-of-bds-and-cultural-boycott/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">referring</a> to Israel’s &#8220;occupation” of the land and its “apartheid,&#8221; adding, “I stand w/ Palestine for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) &amp; the larger BDS Mov’t.”
In September 2024, roughly one year after the Hamas massacre of over 1200 Israelis, Sheikha Al-Thani <a href="https://dohanews.co/sheikha-al-mayassa-discusses-culture-family-and-politics-in-exclusive-interview/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">stated</a>, “Qatar has a special commitment to the Palestinian cause. While some Arab countries have shifted their stance, Qatar remains steadfast in its support. We recognize our vital role and maintain a clear, dedicated policy toward this issue.”
The Post delineated some of the ways the sheikha has helped Nair: the Doha Film Institute, which she founded, funded a “bootcamp” between 2010 and 2014 to train students at Nair’s Maisha Film Labs in East Africa and in Doha; the same institute paid the entire $15 million budget of Nair’s 2012 film “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” which revolves around a Pakistani immigrant who supposedly was mistreated by U.S. authorities after 9/11, and the Qatar National Museum, which Sheikha Al-Thani chairs, made the first film it commissioned Nair’s film “Nafa.”
“The country’s most high-profile support for the auteur came in 2022, when state-owned <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=5759373814150198&amp;id=553133748107590&amp;set=a.753474428073520__;!!F0Stn7g!CWZBs6aisnBm2A4D8X4d3T-Q40ZfiTORaypA3e6tQRMjO6yVX2BPmG1gpfLmqdx_bDO--dx43X57iXjll1Di$">Qatar Airways</a> and Qatar Creates — another of the sheikha’s pet projects boosting the country as a cultural destination — produced an extravagant Nair-directed stage adaptation of her Golden Globe-nominated film “<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.instagram.com/p/Ck3Y4jlKO0o/__;!!F0Stn7g!CWZBs6aisnBm2A4D8X4d3T-Q40ZfiTORaypA3e6tQRMjO6yVX2BPmG1gpfLmqdx_bDO--dx43X57ibahn1fE$">Monsoon Wedding</a>” as part of the World Cup festivities,” the Post pointed out.
Sheikha Al-Thani’s mother, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, <a href="https://x.com/thestustustudio/status/1945247695507218533">wrote on social media</a> that the Jews would disappear from Israel as she praised Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas terrorist who masterminded the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, “The name Yahya means the one who lives. They thought him dead, but he lives… He will live on. And they will be gone.”
Sheikha Moza also chairs the Qatar Foundation, which has poured billions of dollars into Western institutions. In 2009, the Qatar Foundation’s Faculty of Islamic Studies opened an academic center named after Sheikh Yusuf al‑Qaradawi, who stated, “O Allah, take your enemies, the Jews… do not spare a single one of them… kill them, down to the very last one.”
“In January 2008, he<a href="https://www.memri.org/tv/sheik-yousuf-al-qaradhawi-allah-imposed-hitler-upon-jews-punish-them-allah-willing-next-time-will"> said</a> on Al-Jazeera TV that Allah had imposed Hitler upon the Jews to punish them, and called for a second Holocaust, saying, ‘Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers’ – i.e. the Muslims,” MEMRI <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/reports-leading-muslim-brotherhood-anti-semitic-jihad-inciting-religious-leader-yusuf-al?utm_source=chatgpt.com">reported</a>.

‘Queen Of Katwe’ – BFI London Film Festival Gala Screening

Israel-Hating Qatar Funded Films Made By Mamdani’s Anti-Israel Mother

Qatar

The Left has decided that they are done with normal male masculinity. 

Democrats are learning that soy is not a nutritional base for all things.
They’re learning this from Zohran Mamdani, who is likely the next mayor of New York City.
Democrats have been claiming that he&#8217;s the hot new thing in the Democratic Party, that he will lead the way to a bright new socialist future for America, starting with the most powerful financial capital on planet Earth.
But since we’re speaking about power, about a supposed socialist “strongman” in Zohran Mamdani, we should note that he’s going to be hard-pressed to be a strongman.
On Saturday, Mamdani showed up at the annual Men&#8217;s Day Open Streets event in Brooklyn, where a bunch of dudes were weight-lifting. Mamdani is 33, in the prime of life, and <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1959432709224435823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1959432709224435823%7Ctwgr%5E7601b39cb46b542c1c7c113cc55412bc04dbd7ca%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2025%2F08%2F23%2Fus-news%2Fzohran-mamdani-fails-to-bench-press-meagre-weight-while-trying-to-show-off-at-annual-mens-day-in-brooklyn%2F">tried to bench a bar</a> with two reputed 45-pound weights, a total of 135 pounds.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lolll Mamdani tried showing off at a “men’s day” event by doing the bench press and couldn’t do a single rep without help <a href="https://t.co/JNG2SLBfI9">pic.twitter.com/JNG2SLBfI9</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1959432709224435823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Credit: @LibsofTikTok/X
If you are going to do something like this and you&#8217;re a public figure, you’d better know your limitations.
There must have been some time in his life when Mamdani was in a gym.
Maybe not.
If you don&#8217;t know how much you can bench-press, a public event in front of a giant crowd of people in the middle of a mayoral race is not a great time to try it out.
Let’s be clear: a decent amount of weight for a man to bench in the prime of his life is his own body weight. Mamdani looks like he weighs more than 135 pounds.
In any case, 135 pounds is not a lot of weight to bench-press.
For the record, I&#8217;m not a bench-press enthusiast; I max out at around 200 pounds. But I can lift 135 pounds 15 times, because that&#8217;s not a lot of weight.
So Mamdani had a heavily-muscled guy helping him try to lift the bar. Twice. They barely made it.
When he kicked a stranger’s soccer ball at the event, Mamdani had to take off his designer boots.
For the vast majority of normal men, this would be very, very embarrassing.
But the Left has decided that they are done with normal male masculinity. 
Done With It.
They have decided that the future of the Democratic Party is going to be an extraordinarily feminized party, not just because an outsized share of Democrats are now single women, but also because the kinds of men the Democratic Party wants to attract are not the kinds of men who lift heavy weights.
This is why you&#8217;ve seen, over the course of the last several years, a spate of articles talking about how lifting and going to the gym has become Republican-coded. There&#8217;s no reason it should be Republican-coded, except if you mean that testosterone is Republican-coded, and the idea that you should stay healthy and that you should lift is Republican-coded.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2266-the-ben-shapiro-show?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
This leads to this question: Why would someone want this kind of weak and feminized America?
The media clearly do. There&#8217;s a piece from Axios titled, “<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/08/24/trump-american-identity-citizenship-immigration">Trump’s Identity Project</a>.” They write:
<blockquote>The MAGA movement&#8217;s obsession with American identity and Western civilization is shaping federal policy far more than in Trump&#8217;s first term — fueling a reckoning over who belongs and what history should be remembered. </blockquote>
I have a question: Why shouldn&#8217;t we all be a little obsessed with American identity in Western civilization? I thought that&#8217;s what America is about: what it means to be an American. A huge part of that is being the apotheosis of Western civilization. 
What are we supposed to represent? Non-Western civilizations, Third-World civilizations?
Axios continues, “In MAGA&#8217;s telling, America is the heir to ancient European civilizations, built on a Judeo-Christian foundation of white identity, meritocracy, traditional gender roles and the nuclear family.”
Notice how they slide in “white identity.” The idea of a Judeo-Christian foundation of white identity is a bizarre amalgam of two exclusive beliefs. Judeo-Christian identity is absolutely, by definition, not white identity.  Look at the history of the Catholic Church. Look at the history of Protestantism. Look at the billions of Christians all over planet Earth. And you tell me, are they all white? I don&#8217;t think so. Judaism is a Middle Eastern religion. It began in Israel, and plenty of Jews have dark skin.
Monotheistic religion is, by its very nature, non-racially based.
American identity, Axios and the media are telling me, has nothing to do with Biblical values, meritocracy, traditional gender roles, and the nuclear family.
That would come as a shock to every single one of the American founders.
Meritocracy, for the Left and the media, is apparently all about racism. But you cannot simultaneously hold to a belief in a meritocracy and to a belief in white identitarianism. Those two things are mutually exclusive. If you are for a meritocracy, that means that the person who is most meritorious, regardless of color, is the person who should get the job, who should advance in society.
Traditional gender roles are a part of Judeo-Christian foundations, of Biblical belief, and a foundational part of science, because it happens to be the case that men and women are different.
This is why dudes are making fun of Zohran Mamdani for not being able to lift as much as a pregnant lady could. There is something bizarrely effeminate about Mamdani’s performance.
It&#8217;s strange and it&#8217;s weird — and Democrats love it.
Perhaps they&#8217;re into the sort of androgynous Mamdani candidacy.
All of this does speak to the Democratic Party and the move to the Left that is being fostered by this effete set of liberals at places like Axios or in the New York City primary.
The results of this are very clear. If you get rid of things like biblical values, traditional masculinity, and the nuclear family, what do you end up with?
It’s not something most Americans want.

MixCollage-25-Aug-2025-01-57-PM-2771

Mamdani Can’t Lift. Unsurprising.

Ben Shapiro

Opinion

weightlifting

In a hilarious incident at the annual Men’s Day event in Brooklyn on Saturday, New York Democrat mayoral socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani tried to prove his manly prowess, and was left looking like the helpless girl tied to the railroad tracks in old-time movies.
Mamdani, 33, apparently eager to show off his physical strength, attempted to bench press 135 pounds, and had to have a heavily-muscled accomplice behind him help him complete the rep — twice.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Lolll Mamdani tried showing off at a “men’s day” event by doing the bench press and couldn’t do a single rep without help <a href="https://t.co/JNG2SLBfI9">pic.twitter.com/JNG2SLBfI9</a>
&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1959432709224435823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Following Mamdani’s public humiliation, rival candidate and mayor Eric Adams, 64, shared a video from the same place showing him doing repeated bench presses with the same weight, commenting on X, “64 vs 33. A lifetime of hard work vs. a silver spoon. The results speak for themselves. The weight of the job is too heavy for &#8216;Mamscrawny.&#8217; The only thing he can lift is your taxes.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
64 vs. 33. A lifetime of hard work vs. a silver spoon. The results speak for themselves.
The weight of the job is too heavy for “Mamscrawny.” The only thing he can lift is your taxes. <a href="https://t.co/HR6fDPKn0B">pic.twitter.com/HR6fDPKn0B</a>
&mdash; Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) <a href="https://twitter.com/ericadamsfornyc/status/1959444242352267682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Another mayoral candidate, former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, chimed in, “It’s easy to talk, it’s hard to carry the burden. This guy can’t bench his own body weight, let alone carry the weight of leading the most important city in the world.”
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It&#39;s easy to talk, it&#39;s hard to carry the burden. 
This guy can&#39;t bench his own body weight, let alone carry the weight of leading the most important city in the world. <a href="https://t.co/kKB61LGojY">https://t.co/kKB61LGojY</a>
&mdash; Andrew Cuomo (@andrewcuomo) <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewcuomo/status/1959432881643638957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mamdani’s underwhelming performance prompted swimmer and outspoken women’s rights advocate Riley Gaines to share a video of herself bench pressing 165 lbs, writing, “165lb relatively easy reps on bench when I weighed 130lbs. Take note,  @ZohranKMamdani.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
165lb relatively easy reps on bench when I weighed 130lbs
Take note, <a href="https://twitter.com/ZohranKMamdani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZohranKMamdani</a> <a href="https://t.co/TNyv28VkgE">pic.twitter.com/TNyv28VkgE</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1959686839385870822?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“I&#8217;m not saying we should judge politicians for how much they can bench but I&#8217;m absolutely judging a politician for how much he can bench,” she quipped on X.
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I&#39;m not saying we should judge politicians for how much they can bench but I&#39;m absolutely judging a politician for how much he can bench <a href="https://t.co/IkgsxegoQ2">https://t.co/IkgsxegoQ2</a>
&mdash; Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1959690987359637801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Zohran Mamdani can’t bench press 135 lbs,” comedian Tim Young wrote. “So like a good socialist, someone else basically does all the work for him and he celebrates like he did it himself. Yikes.”
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Zohran Mamdani can’t bench press 135 lbs…
So like a good socialist, someone else basically does all the work for him and he celebrates like he did it himself.
Yikes. <a href="https://t.co/Cc0AYYeuTN">pic.twitter.com/Cc0AYYeuTN</a>
&mdash; Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimRunsHisMouth/status/1959714102994948604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Zohran Mamdani Celebrates Union Endorsement As He Campaigns For New York City Mayor

Biceps In Airplane Mode: Mamdani Crushed By 135 Pounds In Painful Public Defeat

bench press

New York

According to polls, the increased amount of support for New York Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is coming from people under the age of 35. 
Mamdani has never held a real job in his entire life. If you were looking for the definition of a career useless person, this would be the guy. 
You might say to yourself: How does a person with effectively no résumé, who worked for his mommy and was a rapper, wind up as the Democratic nominee in New York City?
But to misunderstand that is to misunderstand everything about Gen Z.
I&#8217;m not a politician, so I don&#8217;t have to pretend that the concerns of Gen Z are legitimate. I understand that if you&#8217;re a politician, then you have to placate people when they emotionally explain to you why their life is so difficult. Sometimes people do have difficult lives with real challenges in the world.
But when I hear from Gen Z that the American dream is dead to them, all I can think of is this: You have got to be kidding me.
I&#8217;ve read many pieces over the last couple of years now that Gen Z has it tougher than any generation in modern history. I thought to myself, “I&#8217;m going to vomit.”
How many serious wars have they had to live through? Zero. Zero serious terrorist attacks. They have lived in the most prosperous time in human history and the healthiest time in human history.
But because their rent is too high in New York City, while they concomitantly hold some sort of nonprofit jobs, they whine.
I don&#8217;t mean everyone in Gen Z complains without reason — there are many people who are suffering, who have a disease, who have health problems, who have been dealt a rough hand by life.
Those are not the people I&#8217;m talking about.
The generational complaint that somehow Gen Z has it worse than the millennials or Gen X or the boomers, or the Greatest Generation, ignores literally all of American history, all of it.
But if you&#8217;re a politician, you can make bank by pretending that these people have legitimate concerns and they&#8217;re not just being ungrateful and bratty. For these folks, Mamdani is an avatar.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2259-nyc-s-whiny-brats-pick-a-mayor?elementPosition=5&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
He has no resume. He grew up absolutely loaded with wealth, and currently is taking advantage of a rent-controlled apartment in New York City. He is currently living in a rent-stabilized apartment where the rent is $2,500 a month. The market rate would be $8,000 per month. He earns $147,000 a year and is campaigning on housing affordability in New York City.
You might think to yourself, “That&#8217;s crazy. How are all of these socialists in New York City supporting somebody who&#8217;s so clearly a hypocrite?”
But that misses the point: So many folks in America look to their politicians as aspirational figures. I think a lot of people who love President Trump view him as an aspirational figure, somebody who&#8217;s very wealthy and very powerful, somebody who&#8217;s made more of himself than otherwise he might have had at the beginning. Yes, he grew up rich, but he made himself into a brand name available all across the world for literally decades, and then became President of the United States twice.
It&#8217;s an aspirational thing.
But what if the Gen Z aspiration is to be a career loser who lives off of their parents’ income until they get some sort of cush government job living in a rent-stabilized apartment? What if that is the actual aspiration? What if people look up to Zohran Mamdani not in spite of the fact that he is a loser, but because he is a loser?
A lot of New Yorkers now have jobs and backgrounds very similar to Mamdani’s.
And this is the central point. 
Armin Rosen noted in <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/zohran-mamdanis-fantasy-island">Tablet Magazine</a>:
<blockquote>New York is thought of as the sink-or-swim epicenter of American capitalism, but that’s not true anymore. The city is home to more than 600,000 jobs in <a href="https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/pdf/critical-role-of-nonprofits-in-new-york.pdf">the nonprofit sector </a>and a roughly equal number of <a href="https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2025/08/new-york-city.pdf">jobs in government</a>. Nonprofits now employ nearly 17 percent of the city’s total private-sector workforce, compared to 10 percent nationally. Wage growth in the nonprofit sector healthily outpaced the rest of the private sector statewide in New York between 2017 and 2022, 29.3 to 25.3 percent.</blockquote>
Wage growth in New York City is healthy because it&#8217;s all done off of government grants.
All of those nonprofits are not independently raising their money. They&#8217;re getting money from the government. Thus, they&#8217;re effectively second-order government employees.
When you look at the stats in New York, you understand just why Mamdani is so successful. You have well over 50% of the population that is working for some sort of government-orchestrated, government-organized, or government-funded segment of the economy.
In other words, the people who are getting money from the government are not the people who are paying for the government. They&#8217;re all Zohran Mamdani types. They&#8217;re living off the largesse of government.
Meanwhile, all of the rent across New York City has been rent-stabilized. 50% of all of the units across New York City have been rent-stabilized. One million units have been rent-stabilized, which means that there&#8217;s an artificially low supply of new construction in New York City. That means the prices go up. 
Mamdani is complaining about “affordability.” It should be pointed out that it&#8217;s all left-wing policies that made things unaffordable. Additionally, of the people who are in New York City trying to afford those rent-controlled, rent-stabilized apartments, a huge number of them are on the government dole, so they are earning from both ends. The government is stabilizing their rent, and at the same time, the government is likely subsidizing their salary.
This is why I&#8217;m irritated when I hear from Gen Z about how tough things are in places like New York.
We should point out that there has been this mindset that has settled in among the American population that you are supposed to die where you were born. 
This is not a typically American idea. There are people on the Right who believe this. There are people on the Left who believe this. But it is not a traditional American idea. The traditional American idea, if you go back to the very beginning, was to cross an ocean with nothing to guarantee what was going to happen. People went into the wilderness, built a crappy house, and tried to start a business. And if that didn&#8217;t work, they would abandon that place and move further to the west, across mountain ranges, across rivers.
That was the original American idea.
Traditionally, when it was too expensive to live in a place, Americans went somewhere else.
But Americans are not doing that anymore. Instead, the reason so many New Yorkers seem warm on socialism is that many New Yorkers are already living a form of socialism. They are living the Zohran Mamdani lifestyle, where they are being supported by the government in a wide variety of ways, ranging from the regulatory to the actual subsidy.
So when they say things are so hard in New York City, and the answer is more redistribution from the people who are earning all of the income and paying all the taxes, the answer should be NO.
At some point, there&#8217;s going to have to be a call for some level of responsibility on the part of young people.
I grew up in a 1,100 square-foot house with one bathroom and shared a bedroom with my three sisters until I was eleven. I did have the ultimate privilege: a solid two-parent household.
And you know what? It was a fine life. I&#8217;m grateful for that life.
I&#8217;m telling this story because there is this dumb assumption that if you talk about mobility in America and the capacity of people to make smart decisions and to make the kinds of moves that will be necessary to achieve success, the immediate accusation is that it was only true for you, it&#8217;s not true for anybody else.
But it&#8217;s not only true for me. It is true for a huge majority of Americans. If you make smart decisions in America, and if you stop whining for five seconds, and if you go out and make better decisions for yourself, you can make a better life for yourself.
So many politicians make bank off this idea that America is dying, that the American dream is dying. Who does better because of that?
Politicians.
This is how they gain power, because every time they fail, they turn around and they say, “The system has failed. Give me more power.”
This is how you end up with Zohran Mamdani or Bernie Sanders.
It&#8217;s not going to work out for anyone who believes this garbage. It&#8217;s not going to work out for the city of New York. It&#8217;s not going to work out for the country.
The only person who can make your life better in the end is you. You are the person who makes your life better, not Mamdani, not Bernie Sanders.
Most Americans are not dreaming of a government job, making a decent salary, and living in a rent-stabilized apartment.
That is not the American dream.
It never was.

NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Holds Press Conf. On Political Opponents

NYC’s Whiny Brats Pick A Mayor

Federal Government

Gen Z

Renters

How is it possible that Jews in New York could support a mayoral candidate that labels Israel genocidal and calls for the “intifada to be globalized?”
The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/nyregion/zohran-mamdani-jewish-voters-gaza.html">New York Times</a> would have us believe that there are many such Jews. I have trouble believing anything the NYT prints on this subject given the overwhelming evidence that they lie, distort and manipulate when it comes to Jews and Israel, as proven by their recent story about starving children in Gaza based on an altered photo, and their infamous lie about a bombed hospital in October 2023. So, it’s no surprise that in their Mamdani story, two of the five Jews interviewed work for the Mamdani campaign.
Even without such distortion, however, it is true that some Jews voted for Mamdani in the Democrat primary, and will vote for him again in the general election. 
I am an Orthodox Jewish film director, author and influencer, which is to say, a visible Jew both on the street and online. So, I’ve been getting asked, “What’s the story with your fellow Jews? How could they vote for a man who hates Israel and hates the Jews?”
To understand this, you first need to know something about Jews, namely, that we’re all different. We’ve been around for so long, and lived in so many countries, and fallen into so many different categories, that there is no such thing as a typical Jew.
Non-Jews, whether they love us or hate us, tend to lump us all together. They’re not entirely wrong because we’re not primarily a religion or a nationality – we’re a family. Now, every family contains different types of and categories of people, but the family remains distinct because relatives resemble each other physically, intellectually, temperamentally and spiritually.
Jews are not only a family, but we are also uniquely bound to God through the Torah and its system of commandments, as well as our shared destiny and connection to the Holy Land of Israel. The question is, why would a Jew who inherits our unbroken wisdom tradition stretching back 3,700 years turn his back on it?
Some chafe at the demands of the commandments. Others simply think they have a better idea, be it a credo they dreamed up or an “ism” to which they subscribed. And some turn their backs on our family to fit in at work, school, cocktail parties or online.
In seeking to curry favor with the Jew-hating mob, these Jews do enormous harm.
They often open their statements about Israel with, “As a Jew…” and then they parrot lies about Israel fabricated by the Gaza Ministry of Health, an entity created by Hamas to serve as the media arm of their terrorist organization. One glance at a fact-based website like StandWithUs.com, or even at a simple map of the region renders the bulk of these lies comically inept. After all, how can one Jewish state among 56 Muslim countries – most of which were not Muslim before the sword brought Islam to their lands – be labeled the “colonizer?”
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Statistically, Jews are well-educated, high-achieving and score above average on IQ tests. Why then do some Jews fall for these obvious fabrications? One reason is that siding with Jew-haters against Israel makes them feel virtuous, and we must never underestimate the power of feeling virtuous. That feeling is so addictive that they indulge in it even at the cost of lives: when the As-a-Jews speak out against Israel and get quoted by the enemies of Israel, they strengthen the hearts of Hamas terrorists.
Senior Hamas official <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/08/03/palestinian-state-is-one-of-the-fruits-of-october-7-emboldened-hamas-credits-its-violence-for-gains-as-released-hostage-video-spurs-outcry/">Ghazi Hamad</a> said on Al Jazeera that the recent push by multiple nations to recognize Palestine as a state is the fruit of October 7. In other words, their plan is working. Why would any government reward a terrorist state for the murder and rape of Israeli civilians? Because Hamas claims, “Israel commits genocide, and even the Jews admit it.” And as long as that plan is working, Hamas will keep firing rockets from their children’s bedrooms so they can shriek with victim-glee when Israel inevitably counter strikes. This is how the Hamas death cult operates. This is the modern version of that ancient evil, child sacrifice.
And the murderous phase of the present cycle is lasting longer than it would otherwise because those As-a-Jews give cover to our enemies. Their virtue-signaling costs lives.
Now let us recall that despite our family resemblances, Jews are all different. Most Jews are not As-a-Jews.
In my <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-connections-with-and-attitudes-toward-israel/">Orthodox community</a>, Jews are overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, even when they disagree with its government, and we also oppose communism, socialism, and any &#8220;ism&#8221; that privileges people based on their genes rather than merit. In this time of elevated danger to the Jewish people, we’re also profoundly grateful to live in a country that rejects antisemitism like every other racism, and to have allies who can see through Hamas/Iran lies about Israel. Increasingly, we’re also exercising our Second Amendment right to bear arms – with care and training – to protect our families. God forbid the Jew haters who daily chant violence against us come to kill us, we will not be a soft target.
The percentage of Jews who subscribe to these societal views drops significantly when we look at Jews in non-Orthodox denominations, collectively known as liberal Judaism. This term should not be confused with liberal politics, because there are many religiously liberal Jews who are politically conservative. It’s true that religiously liberal Jews do tend to be politically liberal but even so, they are not Mamdani Jews. If they’re affiliated with a synagogue, they tend to support Israel and feel a visceral connection to the Jewish people.
Mamdani Jews are usually those who’ve untethered themselves from Torah entirely. Either they’ve never been exposed to Judaism, or they’re actively against it. They’ll give many reasons why, but their disconnection allows them to generate their own system of morality, and to fit in with the Jew-haters who lionize them. At least for a while. Historically, such Jews get attacked in the end just like the rest of their family.
The Jew-haters offer new and different reasons for their hatred in every generation: we’re too stand-offish or we’re too assimilated, we’re too rich or we’re too poor, we’re stateless or we have a Jewish state. Perhaps the simplest reason is that we’ve lived in exile for so long, that we’ve learned how to arrive on a new shore, identify what success looks like in that culture, and attain it in one generation, even while retaining our ancient traditions and transmitting them to our children. Invariably, we succeed by contributing to the nation that hosts us.
The Mamdani Jews go awry because they jettison the guard rails of Torah and tradition while retaining otherwise positive Jewish qualities like studiousness, generosity of heart, and sympathy for the underdog. Without the Torah’s holistic system for living, these lovely traits can cause an individual’s moral system to skid off the rails and cause great harm.
This process is summed up by an old adage: one who is kind to the cruel will end up being cruel to the kind. In this case, Mamdani Jews support the Hamas death cult because they’re moved by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-hamas-photo-propaganda-dupes-the-west-and-fuels-bds?author=Alyssa+Rosenheck&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=72&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=How+Hamas+Photo+Propaganda+Dupes+The+West+And+Fuels+BDS">pictures</a> of sickly children, and they shut their eyes to the evidence that the sickly child’s well-fed siblings have been cropped out by cynical terrorists and their willing accomplices in the media. The result is more innocent lives lost, not less.
We try desperately to open the eyes of our brethren to these facts, yet they remain clenched shut.
Perhaps they keep their eyes shut because if they were to absorb these facts, they would have to open their eyes to many more. They’d have to make an accounting of their choices in a life untethered from Torah and Jewish tradition – a fearless moral inventory – and such a process is not for the faint of heart.
I pray these Mamdani Jews will remember who they are, and the family they come from, before our enemies force them to remember with a globalized intifada. In the meantime, I hope the rest of the family will join our allies and vote against <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/zohran-mamdani-and-the-jews-14af43f4?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAiXzeTg6rT_DtLVtkWHw22Y7q0ybjI7ZcoEh0OYYjwlT5NyVSaIVojQJVPeQu0%3D&amp;gaa_ts=689cb022&amp;gaa_sig=lT5KNgm62Sfsp4Z8hzGOleVUIcosspzZlBFzbQN9sOr_1OBrZLQwnJiF8THoYFxy3dKjy7fyQE7t-62e3mVs5g%3D%3D">Mamdani</a> because he is an enemy of the Jews, meritocracy, Israel, and America.
* * *
Salvador Litvak is the director of &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnkqomKfd90">Guns &amp; Moses</a>,&#8221; coming back to theaters across America <a href="https://www.fathomentertainment.com/releases/guns-moses/">Sept. 7-11</a>, and the author of his bestselling book, &#8220;Let My People Laugh: Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time!&#8221; Learn more at <a href="http://salvadorlitvak.com/">salvadorlitvak.com</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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