Guess What? NYT Says Mamdani Is Not a Socialist!

The New York Times is engaged in whitewashing Zohran Mamdani’s record as a radical socialist. 

Presumably, this is because President Trump has been attacking him as a communist, and if there is anything that smells like catnip to a liberal journalist, it is the opportunity to contradict what President Trump says. 

This is an actual sentence in a news report from The New York Times.

Truly insane. pic.twitter.com/agtBmEprVm

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 31, 2025

Mamdani has been calling himself a socialist for as long as he has been a public figure. And not just a “Democratic Socialist,” the current buzzword used to claim that Real Socialism™ has never been tried, but as a “Feminist Socialist” and other varieties. He regularly quotes Marx, talks about “seizing the means of production” and eliminating private property, and is a member of both the New York City and national Democratic Socialists of America. 

But Mamdani and his supporters are now dancing around and claiming that you should pay no attention to anything Mamdani or his supporters have ever said; stay focused on his platform, because as we all know, politicians are bound contractually to do only what is in their platforms, and always accomplish what they say they will. 

I think it is safe to say that the average New York Times reader is queasy about a socialist–really a communist–winning the mayoral race. It’s one thing to mouth noises about social justice and all that, but if you look at the ads in the Times, you will notice that its readership is very wealthy, likely works in a high-income White Collar job, and is more interested in virtue signaling than actually having their property seized. And while Mamdani couldn’t quite accomplish that, a dedicated socialist could do quite a bit of damage beyond that done by Bill de Blasio. 

But the Times is largely reconciled to Mamdani winning, so they are trying to redefine what his victory will mean. 

In the eyes and barbed language of his enemies, Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner for mayor of New York City, is the Democratic nominee in name only.

President Trump has called him a “100 percent communist lunatic.” Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is running as a third-party candidate and polling second, has sought to highlight Mr. Mamdani’s roots as a democratic socialist, suggesting that his positions are “dangerous” for New Yorkers.

Mr. Cuomo used both of his appearances on Fox News last week to criticize Mr. Mamdani’s left-leaning views, warning that they would be a “death knell for New York City.”

“New York City people are not socialists,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Neither, actually, is Mr. Mamdani: He is a democratic socialist, which means his beliefs are similar to those of socialists but not exactly the same.

Blah blah blah. Soon enough, the reporter, Jeffrey Mays, tells us that Mamdani isn’t really even a democratic socialist. He just wants equity, like any Democrat. 

Mr. Mamdani’s plan to pay for his proposals borrows from a traditional Democratic method: increase taxes on the rich. He would also increase the top corporate tax rate, but has proposed nothing remotely close to a socialist-like takeover of private companies.

The closest Mr. Mamdani gets to socialism is in his belief in treating people more equitably.

Asked recently about what democratic socialism meant to him, Mr. Mamdani, in a CNN interview, referenced the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and said “there must be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country. And that is what I am focused on is, dignity and taking on income inequality.”

Yep. Mamdani is MLK! 

Seizing the Means of Production is, of course, not just a socialist goal, but a throughly Communist & Marxist one. Mamdani is a Communist. https://t.co/UihxzZwQCi

— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) June 30, 2025

Much of the defense of Mamdani boils down to this: if it isn’t in his platform and if he hasn’t said it in the past couple of months, you can’t look at his earlier positions to figure out what he will do. 

Zohran Mamdani: I’d prefer if we abolished private property. pic.twitter.com/fR1vrJneol

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 17, 2025

When asked about where he differs from the Democratic Socialists of America, he declines to answer. According to his defenders, it’s unfair to assume that he meant what he said in the past, even if he refuses to admit that he changed his mind. 

Just in case you were not convinced by my analysis that Mamdani is a hardcore Marxist . . . Here is one of his prior declarations: “We will slowly buy up the housing on the private market and convert properties into communes” https://t.co/cbqECAv2fd

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 2, 2025

It’s a lot of handwaving, and if waving of hands can make a person fly, he and his defenders would be soaring. 

But it doesn’t work that way in the real world. Joe Biden didn’t run on opening the borders and welcoming over 10 million illegal immigrants. He even denied that the border was open as president. So the “believe everything I am saying right now” demand is ridiculous, and only applies when liberals say it. 

The Times will take the most anodyne Trump statement and spin it into a dark declaration of authoritarian intent. Zohran Mamdani says “seize the means of production,” and they find no commonality between that and socialism. 

The paper of record. Sheesh. 

BONUS TWEET:

Yesterday, @diana_nerozzi translated the Minneapolis shooter’s manifesto, which showed that the shooter wanted to kill Catholics specifically

Today, the NYT insists that we “may never know” the shooter’s motive pic.twitter.com/EXzNDZ5OWv

— John Hasson (@SonofHas) August 31, 2025

Trust nothing you read in the Times. It is trash. 

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