Barack Obama Bernie Sanders AOC Turned Away From Socialism Post Election Will Zohran Mamdani
- Charles I. Guarria
- Nov 5
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 6
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani now has to follow through on his promises. Will he?
There has been a string of Democrats and/or card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America of recent vintage that have touted left, far-left, Socialist agendas, only to take the oath and move back towards the center of the Democratic machine or allow the Democratic Party to roll over them.
President Barack Obama was endorsed by the Chicago wing of the DSA when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat in 1996. He was tacitly given the DSA nod in his 2008 run for the White House.
However, as President of the United States, Mr. Obama was a huge advocate of war, through drones, to the tune of 540 strikes killing 3.797 people (including Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico, who became a terrorist. There was no due process. Why bother with the Constitution when you are the President, right?) He clamped down on whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and expedited the deportation of illegal immigrants.
Those actions are not DSA-like, and he lost a decent amount of their support over his eight years as President.
Bernie Sanders abandoned his claim to be the flag bearer of the radical left movement when he caved to the Democratic Party machine once he got too close to beating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
Lastly, the politician every Republican and Conservative loves to hate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has become so far removed from her DSA roots that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been consistently harassed at her town hall meetings for being a fraud-liar.
Which brings New York City, if not the entire country, to Zohran Mamdani proudly proclaiming that he too is a Democratic Socialist.
What can he realistically accomplish? A rhetorical question that over time the answer will become clear. However, there are a lot of levers that Mr. Mamdani will be busy pulling to clear a path that most in the U.S. perceive as radical.
For instance,
Mr. Mamndani’s free bus program. New York’s Mass Transit Authority is run by a board at the behest of the governor. Given the financial woes of New York State and New York City, topped by President Trump withholding grant money, will Governor Kathy Hochul look the other way and dive into a free-for-all approach, sinking the City-State deeper into debt?
Setting up low-cost grocery stores to alleviate food deserts is a dicey proposition that seems destined to fail.
For one, government is lousy at running near everything, and Governor Hochul has stated that she is against the idea.
Two, grocery stores have a slim margin for error when it comes to profitability. Meaning it is extremely possible that these grocery stores become money pits. If they happen at all, many in the industry are coordinating a pushback, as Mr. Mamdani’s grocery store idea will hurt their business. Expect lawsuits to tie up the idea, maybe until he is voted out.
More practically, why not rezone the city to allow mom-and-pop grocers to open up?
A similar pushback is in the works for Mamdani’s rent freeze idea. The game is on now as landlords and property owners prepare to go down the same road as grocers in courts.
Mr. Mamdani’s youthful energy, amiable character, and free stuff approach is appealing to many. But the opposition to actually implementing these ideas is fierce.
Campaigning is one thing, governing is another. It’ll be fascinating to see how this all plays out.
Charles I. Guarria is an author, reporter and host based in the state of Florida, USA, covering any topic, anywhere in the world. His career began in 2009. Mr. Guarria is a three-time winner of Emerald Group Publishing’s Highly Commended Award and host of The Opinion Guy Fun Friendly Informative. He is available for hire to write, research, or beta-read.
Photo Credit: CNN, Democratic Left Magazine, Jay Anthony
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