Michael Goodwin: Anti-Israel lefty Zohran Mamdanis NYC mayoral campaign is a preposterous bid for a radical City Hall takeover
On paper, the mayoral candidacy of Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is preposterous.He is a 33-year-old Muslim and a harsh critic of Israel running to lead the city that has the world’s largest Jewish population.He accuses Israel of “committing a genocide” in Gaza and counts among his high-profile supporters and fundraisers two notorious antisemites, Linda Sarsour and Michigan Rep.
Rashida Tlaib.He is also an avowed socialist whose quest to lead the city that sits at the heart of American capitalism has been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.A Bernie Sanders acolyte, he believes free is the right price for passengers on city buses.He also wants to freeze rents in the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.He promises to raise the city’s minimum wage to $30 an hour and make child care free while also raising the wages of child-care workers.And to address the high cost of groceries, he would open a government-run grocery store in each of the five boroughs that, he claims, could offer lower prices than privately owned stores.He would, of course, pay for all this government largesse by raising taxes on the “wealthy,” most of whom would be smart enough to flee before he gets the chance.With crime and disorder a major issue among voters, some of his rivals, including former Gov.
Andrew Cuomo, promise to hire more police officers.Not Mamdani.He says the NYPD already has too much money and power.Although he is careful not to use the phrase “defund the police,” which most Democrats now realize was a disaster for their party, he proposes something similar.He would shift some work away from the NYPD by creating a new agency called The Department of Community Safety.In a public safety plan he released Tuesday, he promised the new unit “will fill the gaps of our programs and services . . .
and prevent violence before it happens by taking a public health approach to safety.”He went on to vow “that no New Yorker falls throu...