by
Chris
Hondros/Getty
Images)
I
remember
an
argument
I
had
10
years
ago
with
an
ancient
fossil
of
a
lawyer
after
I
mentioned
that
I
had
attended
a
Bernie
Sanders
rally.
“But
he
calls
himself
a
socialist,”
croaked
the
old
codger,
himself
a
lifelong
Democrat.
“Nobody
would
vote
for
him!”
So,
entrenched
party
insiders
like
that
fellow
led
Democrats
into
instead
running
Hillary
Clinton
in
the
2016
presidential
election.
We
all
remember
how
that
turned
out.
Today,
after
self-described
democratic
socialist
Zohran
Mamdani
won
New
York’s
ranked-choice
primary,
becoming
the
Democratic
nominee
for
New
York
City
Mayor,
we
are
hearing
all
the
same
pearl
clutching.
“If
the
city
of
New
York
is
going
socialist,
I
will
definitely
close,
or
sell,
or
move,”
whined
billionaire
grocery
chain
CEO
John
Catsimatidis.
Mamdani’s
ascension
marked
the
start
of
“hot
commie
summer”
for
New
York,
according
to
hedge
fund
billionaire
Daniel
Loeb.
Meanwhile,
Joe
Kernen
of
CNBC’s
financial
news
channel
had
a
Batman-inspired
take:
“They’re
taking
Wall
Streeters
and
making
them
walk
out
onto
the
ice
in
the
East
River.
And,
and
then
they
fall
through.”
I
mean,
if
we
were
indeed
walking
Wall
Streeters
out
onto
the
ice,
about
90%
of
Americans
would
actually
be
fine
with
that.
Popular
support
for
Gotham-style
justice
aside,
this
is
all
wildly
hyperbolic.
Mamdani’s
signature
policy
proposals
include
affordable
housing
(accomplished
in
part
through
a
rent
freeze
in
rent-stabilized
apartments),
making
public
buses
free,
universal
childcare,
a
pilot
program
to
bring
city-run
supermarkets
to
a
handful
of
strategic
locations,
and
higher
taxes
on
the
top
1%
of
earners
to
pay
for
it
all.
Now,
I
can
see
why
maybe
Catsimatidis
would
not
want
city-run
supermarkets
springing
up
as
potential
competitors.
But
Mamdani
is
only
proposing
five
of
them
in
the
whole
city,
at
least
at
first.
Opening
five
public
grocery
stores
in
a
city
of
more
than
8
million
people
hardly
makes
someone
Mao
Zedong.
Of
course,
because
he
has
to
make
himself
the
center
of
everything
that
happens,
President
Donald
Trump
chimed
in
too
to
call
Mamdani
a
“pure
communist.”
Thank
goodness
for
that,
anyway:
we
wouldn’t
want
to
have
an
“impure”
communist
as
New
York’s
mayor.
Led
by
billionaire
hedge
fund
manager
Bill
Ackman,
titans
of
the
finance
industry
are
assembling
“hundreds
of
millions
of
dollars”
to
oppose
Mamdani’s
campaign.
Although
Mamdani
secured
a
stunning
and
overwhelming
victory
in
the
Democratic
primary,
he
still
must
face
off
against
a
slew
of
opponents
in
November,
including
the
Republican
nominee
Curtis
Sliwa
as
well
as
current
New
York
mayor
Eric
Adams,
who
announced,
despite
his
many
scandals,
his
intention
to
seek
reelection
as
an
independent.
Money
might
not
be
enough
this
time.
The
millions
Wall
Street
donated
to
its
preferred
candidate
in
the
Democratic
primary,
Andrew
Cuomo,
were
wasted
as
Mamdani
easily
swept
the
former
governor
aside.
Mamdani
came
from
polling
next
to
nothing
to
crushing
his
closest
opponent.
He
talks
like
a
normal
person
on
the
platforms
that
regular
people
actually
look
at
instead
of
blowing
millions
on
focus-grouped
television
ads.
He
hammers
a
handful
of
issues
that
are
important
to
average
New
Yorkers
(hint:
one
of
these
is
not
an
endless
debate
about
the
meaning
of
the
word
“socialist”).
Plus
he
has
Hot
Girls
4
Zohran
on
his
side,
which
certainly
can’t
hurt.
November
is
a
long
time
away.
Anything
can
happen
in
the
run-up
to
an
election.
Still,
this
primary
result
alone
is
enough
to
suggest
that
Democrats
around
the
country
should
be
taking
notes
rather
than
hand-wringing
and
seeking
the
counsel
of
the
same
highly
paid
strategists
who
lost
them
two
presidencies
to
Donald
Trump.
Sure,
even
if
he’s
elected,
a
lot
of
what
Mamdani
is
proposing
won’t
actually
work
out
for
a
whole
variety
of
reasons.
If
one
thing
is
clear,
though,
it’s
that
voters
want
to
see
politicians
experimenting
and
taking
bold
action
rather
than
defending
the
status
quo:
they
get
points
for
trying.
Don’t
believe
me?
Well,
how’s
that
full-length
border
wall
that
Mexico
was
going
to
pay
for
during
Trump’s
first
term
coming
along?
As
for
Wall
Street,
there’s
an
old
saying
that
applies
here:
“Check
thyself
before
you
doth
wreck
thyself.”
Don’t
be
a
crybaby
about
this.
Rather
than
once
again
donating
millions
to
one
of
Mamdani’s
competitors
only
to
see
it
backfire
spectacularly,
just
save
that
money
and
do
something
cool
with
it
instead.
Worst-case
scenario,
you
have
to
pay
a
little
more
in
taxes
and
you’re
still
rich
as
hell.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].