The surprising victory of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary has sent shock waves throughout the political punditry world. Mamdani, a 33-year old socialist with a shocking record of defending antisemitism, not only defeated his well-funded, high-name recognition opponent, Andrew Cuomo, he trounced him.
In what should now be a cakewalk to victory in the general election (given NYC voter registration reality), the nation’s largest city will have elected the most radical, far left, explicitly socialist candidate in American history to such a high-profile office.
Post-election commentary contains the expected narrative: Mamdani was young and energetic, Cuomo was old and boring; Mamdani spoke to what voters care about, Cuomo failed to connect; social media is authentic, Super PAC’s reflect corporate corruption.
There are nuggets of truth in all of this, and whatever it means for the Democratic Party is not that important to this center-right conservative. What I believe is important is the message for the center right in this country, especially those of us who believe in movement conservatism: This is what we will get nationally if we do not repudiate right-wing populism.
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Mamdani ran in promising to force Halal chicken and rice to sell for $8 instead of $10. He promised to make public transportation free. He wants the city to run a chain of grocery stores. He wants free universal childcare. He wants a freeze on rents going higher.
He wants a $30/hour minimum wage. He promised to raise taxes on corporations and wealthy earners in Manhattan (under-taxed as they are, apparently). It was a brutally honest campaign – he ran a fever swamp campaign of left-wing populist delusions. And it worked.
The reason I say this is a warning for the right is not because the right is fighting these arguments and failing to prevail; it is because the modern moment of right-wing populism is essentially borrowing from these arguments, but with less magnitude and force, and finding out the hard way that state power and grotesque economic interventions will always be done with more drama by the left than the right.
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Our worldview has been compromised by a school of thought that state power is a good thing, that merely having the right enemies is enough to legitimize government overreach, and that two can play at the game of messianic promises when it comes to the economy.
Wage controls, price controls, and soak-the-rich class warfare – verifiably failed policies for reasons conservatives could historically explain – are now standard fare in the “new right” playbook. They have their appeal as various constituencies in American life who believe the country is not working for them seek out “popular” solutions for what ails them.
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The traditional views of limited government, individual responsibility, strong families, churches and communities, and a robust defense of free enterprise are considered obsolete; a new focus on making promises that cannot be kept behind governmental power and coercion is deemed the “new normal.”
And the result is Zohran Mamdani. Right-wing populism is never going to stop with merely anti-woke populist figures. Once the bargain has been made – once the concession is granted that, yes, the government ought to be the key arbiter in economic life – the left-wing populists are going to win the day.
History’s lessons on the failures of these draconian policies are irrelevant. “The people wanted a King.” And once the right decides their job is to outdo the left with nanny-like promises of what the government can do “for the people,” we are well on our way down the slippery slope.
And that slippery slope will not stop with a Zohran Mamdani in the NYC mayoral mansion. It could very well end with an AOC or Mamdani in the White House.
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