It’s time to evaluate how New York City’s first communist mayor is performing his job as commissar of the Big Apple’s five boroughs.

If I were grading Zoran Mamdani’s first six and a half months in office, I would give him a D-minus. I cannot honestly say he has failed outright, but he appears to be heading toward disaster with little standing in his way.

I will give him a passing grade for “countenance”—he continues to consistently brandish his signature blazing white, toothy grin no matter what problem or political adversary confronts him.

But New York’s laughing commissar keeps making mistakes, most of them rooted in hubris.

His most recent blunder and display of arrogance was his threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he shows up for a United Nations summit in September.

In recent interviews, Mamdani said he believes Netanyahu is a “war criminal” who belongs in The Hague because of International Criminal Court (ICC) warrants issued in 2024. Of course, even though Mamdani says he is still considering his options, he has absolutely no authority to arrest Netanyahu or any other visiting head of state.

Here’s why.

First, neither the United States nor New York City is a party to the “Rome Statute,” the 1998 treaty that established the ICC. Therefore, ICC warrants carry no domestic legal authority or mandate under American law. In fact, U.S. federal law explicitly prohibits local governments from cooperating with the ICC.

Then, there is the “United Nations Headquarters Agreement of 1947” that obligates the United States to grant unhindered transit and diplomatic protection to world leaders traveling to New York City for official UN business, regardless of bilateral relations or outside warrants.

There is also something called “Head-of-State Immunity.” Under international law and U.S. federal policy, visiting heads of government enjoy sweeping diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution and detention while in office.

Finally, there is the fact of “Federal Preemption.” Legal authority over foreign policy and international diplomacy rests strictly with the federal government under the U.S. Constitution. As U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz noted in response to Mamdani’s recent bluster, “federal authority trumps any local mayor’s wishes.” New York Governor Kathy Hochul similarly affirmed that a New York City mayor does not have the power to execute such an action.

So that is a big fat “F” for Comrade Mayor Mamdani on that topic.

Mamdani’s remarks have heightened political tensions in New York City. Critics argue that his focus on international policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict distracts from urgent local governance responsibilities.

This criticism is particularly sharp given that New York City—home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel—has experienced a documented and profound surge in antisemitic incidents and highly polarized protests. Opponents argue that using the mayor’s platform to target the leader of the world’s only Jewish state exacerbates local social fissures, inciting further domestic hostility rather than addressing the rising tide of anti-Jewish bigotry and polarization occurring directly on New York streets.

Of course, when you elect an America-hating anti-Semitic communist Muslim mayor, what do you think will happen?

Mamdani’s administration has consistently attempted to use City Hall as a platform for socialist-communist international diplomacy, frequently drawing criticism for overstepping municipal boundaries and attracting unwanted federal intervention.

Most recently, NYC’s International Affairs Commissioner Ana María Archila was forced to cancel a meeting with Iran’s UN ambassador when the State Department stepped in.

And that wasn’t the only time the State Department and other watchdogs flagged instances where the Mamdani administration attempted to execute an independent foreign policy.

There was the stalled meeting with Colombia’s socialist President Gustavo Petro in June. Mamdani had planned an official meeting with Petro, but the State Department quickly halted the engagement.

Leaked internal communications from the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs revealed that staff was told to prioritize diplomatic meetings based on whether foreign officials were “politically aligned” with Mamdani’s socialist agenda, signaling a shift from the office’s traditionally conservative geopolitical posture.

Once again, the city’s International Affairs Commissioner Archila drew scrutiny for utilizing public resources to travel to Barcelona to participate in a conference hosted by the Party of European Socialists.

Apparently, Mamdani’s strategy is to keep unhappy New Yorkers looking abroad at international issues rather than applying any scrutiny to the mayor’s unkept promises in the Big Apple.

Here are a few of Comrade Mamdani’s unrealized promises, pressing city-wide issues, and local governance challenges:

• The “Free Bus” Promise: Mamdani campaigned on making New York City’s entire bus system fare-free. Although his administration recently joined Governor Hochul in launching a transit initiative to speed routes by 20% and add busways, the fare-free proposal has stalled.
• Universal Childcare & “Baby Baskets”: Mamdani promised a universal pre-kindergarten childcare infrastructure alongside a program to supply every new family with a “baby basket” of essentials. Implementing this comprehensive network remains an unresolved, massive budgetary hurdle.
• The University Tax Battle: Mamdani pledged to revoke Columbia University’s and New York University’s state property-tax exemptions and redirect the revenue to the struggling City University of New York (CUNY) system. Because the change requires complex state legislation, the proposal has not been implemented—and probably never will be.
• Then there is the issue of public safety and infrastructure. Opponents emphasize that City Hall’s focus on international geopolitics ignores deteriorating city infrastructure and strained police and social safety net resources. Local tensions also flared after the administration released an official immigrant enclaves map that omitted historic Italian, Irish, and Jewish communities, forcing a hasty political pivot to add Little Italy back to the map.

Is anybody surprised by this blatant omission? After all, those communities are mostly white, and Mamdani is about as close to an anti-white racist mayor as there is in America. The fact that it was those three communities that are most often credited with fostering the city we know today seems to have been forgotten by Mamdani and his Muslim minions.

The only abiding quality regarding Mamdani and his destruction of New York City is that the communist Muslim “burgomaster” can never gain access to the White House.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda. He immigrated to the United States with his family when he was seven years old and subsequently became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Under Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution, there are three strict requirements a person must meet to be eligible for the presidency:

1. Be a “natural-born citizen” (meaning a citizen at birth, either by being born on U.S. soil or born abroad to U.S. citizen parents).
2. Be at least 35 years old.
3. Have been a permanent resident of the United States for at least 14 years.

Because Mamdani is a naturalized, not natural-born, citizen, the Constitution bars him from serving as president or vice president.

Thank Allah for that. Mamdani’s ideas and attitudes are about as antithetical to American values and beliefs as they can get.

He is an open member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—which is just another name for Communists of America. Mamdani’s platform relies heavily on collectivism, the principle that political and economic systems should prioritize collective state or community control over individual private enterprise.

Key pillars of his wealth redistribution ideology that critics point to as textbook socialism and communism include:

• Eradication of private housing markets. Mamdani has advocated for “Good Cause Eviction” laws, strict universal rent control, and the massive expansion of state-owned social housing, which aims to de-commodify real estate.
• Seizure of private/institutional wealth. A core proposal of Mamdani’s has been to strip elite private entities—specifically the aforementioned institutions like Columbia University and NYU—of their property tax exemptions to forcefully redistribute those funds into public systems like CUNY.
• State-controlled transport and utilities. He campaigned forcefully for completely taxpayer-funded, fare-free public transit and has backed movements to transition private utility companies into publicly owned, state-run operations.
• Universal basic services. His platform mandates state-provided childcare infrastructure, government-funded basic-necessity packages for families (like universal “baby baskets”), guaranteed public employment programs, and government-owned and operated grocery stores—none of which have ever worked anywhere.

 

So why should the rest of the nation be concerned about what Comrade Mamdani is doing to New York City? Can his socialist/communist ideology influence our national political system?

Although naturalized citizens are constitutionally barred from the presidency, radical ideas at the municipal and state levels can still spread through established channels and influence national American politics.

For example, cities and states often serve as “laboratories of democracy” under the American federal system. If a socialist or communist policy—such as a wealth tax, state-run housing program, or fully subsidized utility networks—succeeds in a major media and economic center like New York City, it can become a model that national progressive groups repackage and promote through federal lawmakers’ platforms.

Then there is something called shifting the “Overton Window.” By utilizing a highly visible executive bully pulpit like the New York City mayoralty, a politician like Mamdani can radically shift the “boundaries of acceptable political discourse,” AKA the Overton Window.

Through sustained public advocacy, ideas once viewed nationally as fringe or radically collectivist can become normalized, pressuring mainstream parties to adopt parts of them to satisfy their base.

Sound familiar, Democrats?

Local executives wield immense influence over party infrastructure, fundraising networks, and judicial/administrative appointments. By building a powerful municipal apparatus staffed by ideological allies, local leaders can systematically elect like-minded, natural-born socialist and communist politicians to federal offices—such as the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate—where they have a direct hand in shaping national legislation.

Get ready, America. That is exactly what is happening right now.

This year’s midterm elections will be the first litmus test. The 2028 presidential election will be the next one.

Within two years, we should know whether American voters are ready to reject the communist and socialist candidates who, in this author’s view, ruthlessly threaten the exceptional country that many of us grew up in.

If they do, then capitalism and our democratic republic may continue for another 250 years.

However, if communists and socialists prevail, the country could face serious unrest or even civil conflict. I don’t believe generations of Americans who faced down communism during the Cold War will go quietly into the night while Marxists take over the levers of power.

I will not be around for the next big birthday bash of our nation. However, if the Red Star and hammer and sickle are some day waving over the U.S. Capitol Building, I will be damned glad that I’m not here to see it.

–30–

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