When the history books are written, Zohran Mamdani will surely mark the start of a new chapter in American politics.
He looks likely to win the race for New York City mayor in November — yet even if he loses, socialists have won the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party.
This story won’t end well for anyone in America.
Republicans like me have been warning about the rise of socialism among Democrats for years.
In 2016, Bernie Sanders came closer to the party’s presidential nomination than many expected. In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress with the wind at her back.
That same wind carried Mamdani, an official member of the Democratic Socialists of America, to a crushing victory in this year’s mayoral primary.
But the real — and most alarming — shift is among “moderate” Democrats.
Instead of steering their party down a different road, Joe Biden gave the socialist wing some of its biggest demands, from open borders to a massive expansion of the welfare state, to huge swaths of the Green New Deal and taxpayer-funded student loan forgiveness.
Now former Vice President Kamala Harris and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have both endorsed Mamdani, kowtowing to the left instead of offering an alternative. And Dem leaders like Chuck Schumer are too cowardly to openly oppose him.
An August Gallup poll showed that a staggering 66% of Democrats now favor socialism over capitalism.
For the first time since 2010, less than half of the party has a positive view of capitalism.
Young people in particular are flocking to the socialist banner because they’re desperate for a shot at the American Dream. Is it any wonder that they’re looking to politicians like Mamdani who promise to make life affordable?
As the mother of two kids in their 20s, I see my own children wondering how they’ll make it in America. It breaks my heart.
The irony is that socialism can’t give young people the relief they need. As Winston Churchill once said, “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,” and Mamdani’s policies will prove it again.
Each city-run grocery store would cost millions of taxpayer dollars a year to stay open, even as they cripple small businesses that pay taxes today.
His free buses would cost $652 million year, at least. His free and subsidized child care would have an annual price tag of at least $6 billion.
But nothing is truly free, and while Mamdani is promising to hike taxes only on the very rich, there’s no way he can pay for his agenda without tax hikes on everyone.
European countries show who really pays for the kind of welfare state socialists want. Compared to Americans, the European middle class generally pays about $12,000 more per person in taxes, just to fund entitlements.
Yet by soaking the middle class, European countries have sabotaged their economies into stagnation.
Joe Biden also proved that giving in to socialist demands hurts the people it purports to help: His multitrillion-dollar spending binge spiked inflation to its highest levels in four decades, while taking the national debt to a staggering $36 trillion.
If Mamdani wins and enacts even a portion of his agenda, New Yorkers will soon pay the price.
But the rest of America won’t be far behind. Democrats will move even further to the left, in a kind of socialist bidding war.
Today, it’s tax the rich; tomorrow it will be abolish the rich (Mamdani has already said there should be no billionaires).
Today, it’s rent control; tomorrow, it will be free rent and canceling mortgage debt.
Even if Mamdani loses, I don’t see Democrats pulling themselves out of this socialist spiral.
Hochul said when endorsing Mamdani that she shares his desire for affordability, but if supposed moderates think socialism is the answer, then the Democratic Party is truly lost.
The American people’s only hope is for Republicans to offer a real alternative.
Rather than experiment with heavy-handed government meddling in the economy, we must show that government is largely the cause of the affordability crisis: The lack of housing in our cities. The rising cost of groceries. Student loans that can’t be paid off.
We need to state, without apology, that getting government out of the way is the only way to lift up the next generation.
Democrats are promising the opposite, and they’ll own the destruction that inevitably follows, in New York City and everywhere else.
The least Republicans can do is give Americans a better option.
Nikki Haley was a Republican presidential candidate in 2024, US Ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
