New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is no run-of-the-mill Democrat. He is a democratic socialist, and he’s proud of it. During his inaugural speech, the new bigwig of the Big Apple refused to bow to the Democratic Party establishment, declaring: “I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist.”
He promised to govern “expansively and audaciously” in what fellow democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called a “new era for New York City.” And he certainly did hit the ground running. Freshly sworn in, the new mayor signed numerous executive orders, one of which revokes most of his predecessor’s orders.
By the way Mamdani went scorched earth on the legacy of Eric Adams, you might be forgiven for thinking the former mayor had been a MAGA Republican rather than a fellow Democrat – but that simply highlights how radical the new man in charge actually is. No one is safe, not even other party members. A new era, indeed.
Attacking Adams – Not Quite Friendly Fire
Zohran Mamdani’s executive order rescinds anything issued by Adams after September 26, 2024, the day he was indicted by a federal grand jury on corruption charges, though the case was later dropped. “That was the date that marked a moment when many New Yorkers decided politics held nothing for them,” Mamdani said at City Hall on New Year’s Day.
Mamdani is also deleting Adams’ tweets. His senior spokesperson, Dora Pekec, told the press the new administration was deleting the tweets from the X account, but that it was also archiving them. Still, accessing the archived posts isn’t a particularly user-friendly process, and so, for most people, they’re simply gone. Many of the deleted tweets seem to be in line with simply erasing the previous administration from history. Mamdani killed Adams’ Office of Rodent Mitigation and Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology, and many of the now-missing tweets were extolling the former mayor’s war on rodents and the power of cryptocurrency.
This has sparked backlash from numerous people and organizations for various reasons, most interestingly from the National Jewish Advocacy Center. Among the first posts deleted referenced fighting antisemitism. Israel’s Foreign Ministry roasted the new mayor – a Muslim – on X as well: “On his very first day as New York City mayor, Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel.”
The restrictions referenced in this post come from one of Mayor Adams’ now-revoked executive orders forbidding city officials and agencies – not civilian citizens – from boycotting or divesting from Israel. The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism included “demonizing Israel and holding it to double standards” or denying that the Jewish people have a national homeland. Yet another Adams order overturned by Mamdani directed the NYPD to increase enforcement around religious sites and establish protest-free buffer zones near churches, synagogues, and mosques.
The Mamdani Era
But a radical attack against the legacy of his fellow Democrat and erasure of both protections and exhortations against antisemitism are just a part of how Mayor Mamdani is ringing in his “new era” for New York City. He explained his plan to bring “affordability and abundance” to the Big Apple.
During his inaugural address on Thursday, Zohran Mamdani – the first Muslim to hold the office or to swear in on a Quran, as well as the youngest mayor in over a century – vowed to remain unapologetically a democratic socialist. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical,” he declared. “There are many who will be watching,” he added. “They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved.”
His plans to make the city more affordable include free bus services, frozen rent rates, universal child care, and a higher minimum wage, among other ideas that clearly demonstrate how democratic socialism is still just socialism.
You may recall the “Fight for $15” movement of the previous decade – which, of course, kicked off in New York City. While the actual outcome is debatable and hard to pin down, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that around 1.3 to 1.4 million jobs were lost as many of the companies were forced to offset the increased wage for entry-level jobs by reducing the number of jobs they offered. As well, many small to mid-sized businesses simply folded entirely.
Now, just seven years after minimum wage hit $15 in the Big Apple, Mamdani wants to double it. His “30 by 30” campaign would see incremental increases over the next several years: $20 in 2027, $23.50 in 2028, $27 in 2029, and finally $30 in 2030 – with “automatic adjustments” in following years tied to cost of living and productivity.
Of course, the immediate effects of this policy will seem – much like free child care, free bus service, and a freeze on rent increases – quite beneficial to the residents and workers of New York City. And, as Jimmy McMillan has been telling New Yorkers and the world since 2013, the rent really is too damn high. But the wage increases will only benefit the workers who get to keep their jobs. Those laid off to cut costs enough to afford doubling the minimum wage get promoted to parking lot and see their wages “increase” to a whopping zero dollars per hour. Fat lot of good it’ll do them.
As well, the people watching everyone else’s kids and the folks driving the free buses – never mind fueling them up or maintaining them – are still being paid. But instead of coming directly out of the pocket of those using the services, it’s spread out over the entire working population through taxation – which kind of tanks the whole affordability goal.
It must be said, however, that Mamdani didn’t lie. He promised to govern expansively and audaciously as a democratic socialist and to do so “without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe.” These policy plans certainly fit that description.
He also promised “never, not for a second,” to hide from his fellow New Yorkers. Well, at least they’ll know who to blame when the bill comes due.
