Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth, for the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street. Last week, Zoran Momdani secured the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor. The 33-year-old assemblyman gained a lot of traction in the final days of the primary contest to beat former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by seven points. As one article put it, Momdani chose, quote, TikTok over talk shows, first wooing influencers and young people before eventually even winning most of the upper-middle-class white vote.
Momdani ran as a Democratic socialist, a political party that U.S. voters have never yet put into power. That made his win even more shocking considering that New York City is one of the most capitalist cities in the world. And Momdani has promised to establish government-run grocery stores, provide free bus fare and free child care, to freeze low-rent buildings, to hike minimum wage to $30 an hour, to shift the tax burden to, and I quote here, richer and wider neighborhoods, and to use $65 million of taxpayer money to pay for transgender surgeries. In addition to his radical social and economic policies, Momdani's ideologies about Israel and the West should also be noted.
After Tel Aviv, Israel, the New York metro area is, after all, the largest Jewish community in the world. And since the massacre on October 7th, two years ago, the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, protesters in New York and elsewhere have threatened and intimidated Jews, voicing their support for both Palestine and Hamas with genocidal chants like From the River to the Sea and Globalize the Intifada. In Mamdani's first social media post on the United States, On October the 8th, the day after the attacks. He blamed not Hamas, but the Israeli government for the attacks. And when pressed in interviews about the chance, he claimed that globalized intifada only reflects a desire for equality and equal rights.
But he also said that as mayor, he'd arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu if he ever came to New York City. Still, perhaps most shocking about this nomination is that less than 25 years after thousands of New Yorkers died at the hands of Islamists on 9-11, voters have now put a proud Muslim in line for executive power. But Mamdani isn't a Westernized or liberal Muslim. He's a Muslim in the mold of London or other European politicians who secure for Islam privileged status through anti-blasphemy laws and socialist policies. For example, his campaign promises included an 800% increase in funding for hate crime programs.
He's an example of the unusual alliance between the far left and radical Islam that's been a feature of European politics for some time now. According to one Australian Muslim cleric, Islamists vote for the left, even supporting abortion and pro-LGBTQ policies, because the left is easier to manipulate. And perhaps that's the reason, or perhaps it's just because how deeply progressives actually hate the West. Whether or not Mamdani becomes mayor in November, the fact that such an inexperienced politician with an unabashed socialist and Islamic agenda has gotten this far politically this fast, that's significant. Worldview matters, and not just in politics, but in every other aspect of life, especially public life.
And that includes for citizens. The ability to recognize ideas and their consequences is an essential aspect to good citizenship. Also, to paraphrase Lewis, solid policies and principled public servants built on what's true are needed, if for no other reason than bad ones exist. and they need to be countered. New York City is no exception.
For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Paget. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for a version of this commentary that you can either print out or share with others, visit us at breakpoint.org.
