Zohran Mamdani pledges free everything on Fox News

Ahead of tomorrow night’s debate with Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, Democratic socialist and future mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani appeared on Fox News this afternoon for the first time.  

Anyone expecting a clash of cultures, or 15 minutes of pure ideological arguing, would have been disappointed. Fox anchor Martha MacCallum asked tough, pointed questions, but it was a respectful exchange between two New Yorkers who clearly don’t summer in the same ZIP code.  

That doesn’t mean the interview lacked news value. The most shocking part came before the commercial break, when Mamdani said it was “too early” to give President Trump credit for the Middle East peace deal. When MacCallum asked him to denounce Hamas, he instead invoked the “crimes” of the Israeli military, who he said had killed five Palestinians this week. Hamas has killed more Palestinians that that, MacCallum said, but Mamdani deflected. 

“I have no issue in critiquing Hamas and the Israeli government because my focus is on universal human rights,” he said. He also refused to retract his call to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu visited New York. Mamdani said he would respect the judgment of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest. Again, when MacCallum pressed him, Mamdani wouldn’t say a crossed word about Hamas. “I don’t really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel other than questions about universal safety,” Mamdani said, having clearly sewn up whatever percentage of the Jewish vote he needs to win.  

Part two of the exchange, about Mamdani’s plans for the city, was actually the friendlier of the two segments. Mamdani said New York should be “the capital of where working people can afford to live,” and MacCallum agreed with him that the city was too expensive. “You’ve done a lot to bring people’s attention to affordability,” she said. “I appreciate that,” Mamdani said.  

She didn’t seem too keen on his proposals to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers by 2 percent, or on his proposals to raise corporate taxes, which is out of his power anyway because Albany sets New York tax policy. “What Andrew Cuomo said is that if he had $959 million he’d give it to Elon Musk for tax credits,” Mamdani said. “I’m talking about raising taxes on the wealthiest. When I’ve spoken to Trump voters, they told me it was cost of living that drove them to vote for Donald Trump. What we’re seeing time and time again is a focus on billionaires instead.”  

That’s Democratic socialism, folks – and Mamdani said he’ll use that increased tax revenue to pay for his controversial program to make city buses free, as well as everything else. “I think everyone would love to have free healthcare and free buses and all these things,” MacCallum said, sounding skeptical.  

Unappealing to Republicans, and almost everyone else, is Mamdani’s plan to place mentally ill New Yorkers into “peer-led rehabilitation programs,” which is where he said he would have placed the man who murdered a 64-year-old on a subway platform last year. He wants to “end the revolving door” of a “broken system.” When MacCallum asked Mamdani to apologize to police officers, who he’s called racist, “wicked and corrupt,” he looked at the camera and said, “I’ll apologize to police officers right now. I’m looking to work with these officers. They put their lives on the line every single day.” And then he invoked the Central Park Five, Eric Garner and George Floyd, which I’m sure put backers of the blue at ease.  

Zohran Mamdani didn’t get to his current position by tacking to the center, and his Fox News appearance was pretty consistent with what he’s put out with the rest of the campaign: a mix of left-wing populist economics, which the Democratic party sorely needs, and foreign-policy and criminal-justice positions that wouldn’t be out of place on BlueSky. But he didn’t come across as crazy, weird or unprepared. He’s got his plans – and he’s sticking to them. New York already has its most hilarious mayor of all time in Eric Adams. The Mamdani years might end up being a tragedy, but the comedy is about to end.