The most polished, eloquent, and articulate voice on the Left right now is no longer the greasy used-car salesman Gavin Newsom. It’s the next mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani. He has Obama‑level charisma and speaking ability, which is terrifying, because it means his political career won’t stop with New York City. I watched the mayoral debate between Mamdani and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo— of daytime Emmy fame for delivering pandemic briefings while murdering nursing homes residents with his COVID policies. But after being cast out by his party over #MeToo allegations, this was meant to be Cuomo’s big political comeback. It will not be. Last night’s debate made it painfully obvious the fix is in. The moderators gave subtle advantages to Mamdani, like allowing him to respond to questions last, giving him ample time to think through his responses and hear what his opponents said. They even joined in on the beat-down of Cuomo over not being pro-Islamic enough. The fact that Cuomo could not name a single mosque he had visited, Mamdani said, “is why so many New Yorkers have lost faith in politics.” Wow. It’s not the crime, the trash piling up in the streets, the homelessness, crumbling infrastructure, noise, illegal parking, or the absolute unimaginable infestation of rats that have overrun the city. It’s because Cuomo can’t name a mosque. Those problems, by the way, Mamdani openly admitted urgently need to be solved... including the rats. In fact he ranked New York’s rat infestation as one of the top two problems in the city (the other being noise). Yet in almost the very next sentence, when asked how he would pitch corporations on relocating to New York City, he looked in the camera and said with a straight face, “The quality of life.” Because nothing says quality of life like a medieval infestation of plague rats. The debate was so absurd, I kept waiting for an announcer to declare, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” But that didn’t happen. Instead, when asked how he’d pay for his utopia of free buses, free childcare, city-run groceries, and state-sponsored everything, Mamdani pointed to a shining beacon of fiscal competence and economic magnetism: New Jersey! He said, if New Jersey can tax corporations more, why can’t New York City? Because nothing says high growth, business-friendly fiscal responsibility like New Jersey. When the discussion turned to crime, Mamdani blamed Donald Trump. But the solution is definitely not Trump sending in the National Guard. That was only a good solution when Governor Kathy Hochul did the exact same thing last year. Insead Mamdani wants to hire a legion of social workers to stop New York’s violent criminality, and pay for everything by raising taxes. Apparently he’s completely blind to all of the people and businesses who have fled the city over high taxes, rampant crime, and... rats. I get into all of this, and many other jaw-dropping debate moments, in today’s podcast. And I also discuss why this doesn’t have to be America’s future. There are actually places that are solving problems— and no, not New Jersey. Look at Florida. It went from heavily indebted to budget surpluses in about fifteen years. Today the state is so fiscally stable that they’ve paid down half of their debt, and now they’re talking about eliminating property taxes altogether. There’s already no state income tax in Flodia, yet the government still manages to keep crime under control, maintain functioning infrastructure, and enjoy a booming economy. America’s problems are substantial. Florida is a great example of how they can be solved. New York City is proving to be an astonishing tale of how they can become much worse. Which way will the country go? You can listen to the full podcast here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76MOBLG3xOQ The podcast transcript is available here.
