A Ruthless Chinese Communist Party Requires A Ruthless Leader
A new biography of the father of Chinese leader Xi Jinping by Joseph Torigan, The Party’s Interests Come First, provides valuable insights into how to deal with his son.A new biography of the father of Chinese leader Xi Jinping by Joseph Torigan, The Party’s Interests Come First, provides valuable insights into how to deal with his son.Mao tried this first — New Yorkers will not like the ending
More than 50 years ago, I witnessed firsthand how Mao Zedong’s socialist experiment dismantled market competition, suppressed innovation, and plunged China into economic ruin. As a survivor of that experiment, I watched in horror last week as Zohran Mamdani won over 50% of the vote in New York City, promising a socialist illusion of city-owned grocery stores, free public transit, universal rent control, and a defunded police department.
Such proposals might sound compassionate, but they threaten to repeat the class warfare and state control that devastated China from the 1950s to the late 1970s, only this time they are taking place in the financial capital of the world.
The unpleasant truth is that America may have won the Cold War, but we are losing the ideological war at home.
Consider Mamdani’s push for “good cause eviction” laws and expanded rent control. He claims these measures protect tenants from exploitation, but they discourage property ownership and investment — just as Mao’s housing policies did.
In communist China, the state assigned apartments to urban families, but most people lived in poverty. My family of five was crammed into a 200-square-foot unit with no running water or a toilet. Today, rent control has already reduced housing supply by 20% in parts of New York City, driving up costs for everyone else. What Mamdani offers isn’t progress — it’s stagnation disguised as equity.
Mamdani’s support for “Medicare for All” and fare-free buses also ignores fiscal realities. Mao’s “barefoot doctors” promised class equity but delivered substandard care, contributing to millions of preventable deaths. America’s health care system leads the world in breakthroughs because of merit-driven research and competition, not government mandates. Meanwhile, New York City’s transit authority estimates free transit would cost taxpayers $1 billion annually without improving service. When socialism promises “free” services, it often delivers shortages, rationing, and inefficiency.
The proposal for city-owned grocery stores is another red flag. Under Mao, government-run stores led to chronic food shortages. Rice, cooking oil, and meat were rationed. Each urban citizen received only two pounds of meat per month. Even with ration coupons, I had to wake at 3 or 4 a.m. and wait in line for hours to buy a few ounces. Mamdani’s plan threatening private grocery competition risks repeating this nightmare.
Then there’s his support for defunding the police and replacing them with vague “community safety” alternatives. In 2020, he co-sponsored bills to slash NYPD funding by $1 billion, claiming it would combat systemic racism. This mirrors Mao’s Red Guards, who dismantled law enforcement and replaced it with ideological enforcers — leading to chaos, violence, and mass suffering.
Since 2020, crime in New York has risen by 15%, according to NYPD data. Weakening law enforcement doesn’t protect vulnerable communities — it leaves them exposed. As a father of a New Yorker, Mamdani’s reckless approach to policing is not just a political concern; it’s a personal one.
Mamdani also seeks to eliminate gifted and talented programs in public schools, calling them “inequitable.” But these programs offer high-achieving students — often from diverse backgrounds — a path to excellence.
RELATED: The right needs bigger ideas than tax cuts
During the Cultural Revolution, China crushed its intellectual class and smothered innovation. New York is making a similar mistake. Gifted programs lifted math proficiency by 25%, according to a 2022 Department of Education report, yet Mamdani wants them eliminated in the name of “equity.” As an Asian-American parent who raised a child in STEM, I’ve seen how excellence takes root: You cultivate talent; you don’t level it.
Mamdani’s agenda mirrors the same destructive ideology I fled from. Socialism thrives on utopian promises pitched to voters who have never lived through the consequences. I have. And I recognize the warning signs.
Yet according to CNNexit polls, 70% of voters ages 18-44 supported Mamdani, compared to just 40% of older voters. Even more alarming: 57% of New Yorkers with college degrees voted for him, versus only 42% without. This reflects the growing influence of pro-socialist indoctrination in American universities.
The unpleasant truth is that America may have won the Cold War, but we are losing the ideological war at home. To prevent a socialist takeover, we must fight back by reforming higher education and teaching our children the truth about socialism in K-12 classrooms.
From New York to the nation: Mark Levin warns that socialism’s endgame is America itself
True grassroots communist revolutions are a myth, says Mark Levin. These political uprisings are always orchestrated by privileged, educated elites who romanticize poverty and oppression while living comfortably.
It’s a theme that echoes throughout history. Revolutions rarely start in slums or sweatshops; they start in lecture halls, cafés, and salons where theory outweighs experience.
Take China’s Mao, Russia’s Lenin, Cuba’s Castro, or Germany’s Marx as examples. All were brought up in well-to-do families, educated, and set up for success. They preached justice for the working man, pretending the whole time that their ivory towers were actually trenches.
New York City’s new Democrat mayor, Zohran Mamdani — a self-described socialist — is no different.
“His family is worth millions. … The mother, funded in part significantly by Qatar; the father secretes himself into Columbia University, where he makes a good salary as a radical professor promoting anti-Westernism, anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism,” says Levin, calling Mamdani “a trust-fund baby” who married a woman even “richer than he is.”
Mamdani’s socialist supporters — primarily Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — have similar stories. Neither grew up in impoverished homes or worked much in the private sector before rising to political prominence. And yet they push socialist reform to the masses as if they knew the taste of poverty.
Levin then highlights his own blue-collar beginnings and decades of conservative activism as proof that he understands real work and therefore real America.
“I was a litigator. I was a lawyer for a nonprofit organization. We wouldn't have school choice in this country but for Landmark Legal Foundation and the battles that we fought in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. … We are the ones who went after the NEA. … We're the ones that went after the Environmental Protection Agency that was trying to push out a zillion regulations right before Donald Trump took office,” Levin recounts.
“'76 — the Reagan campaign. '80 — the Reagan campaign. The Tea Party movement … that’s where I met Donald Trump. He was very interested in the Tea Party movement,” he adds.
“[The Convention of States movement] was started by Mark Meckler and me with my book ‘The Liberty Amendments.’ ... It's now 5, 6 million members.”
“I'm [sharing] this to explain that when I come to you and I talk about these things on this platform, on Fox, on my radio show, where I write about them, it's not esoteric. It's not theory. It's from experience,” says Levin. “So when I see Marxist Islamists doing what they're doing, I take them on. I expose them.”
“We do not want these poisonous people destroying what our ancestors have worked for — our founders.”
But that’s exactly what’s about to unfold in New York City under Mayor Mamdani, with his socialist agenda poised to wring the city’s capitalist core from the nation’s economic capital.
Levin warns: “It matters what happens in New York because [Marxist Islamists] are organizing in the states and in the cities across the country.”
The plan doesn’t end with New York City. It won’t stop until America herself — and everything that makes her exceptional — is erased.
To hear more of Levin’s commentary, watch the clip above.
Want more from Mark Levin?
To enjoy more of "the Great One" — Mark Levin as you've never seen him before — subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Zohran Mamdani’s war on Trump will bankrupt NYC before liberals wake up
Zohran Mamdani has just taken his place as the mayor of the “most powerful city in the world,” but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales warns it won’t remain that way for long — especially after his victory speech.
“After victory was declared for him, he was very quick to just declare war with President Trump,” Gonzales says, playing a clip of Mamdani yelling, “So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”
“To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,” he yelled.
“You haven’t actually said anything. ... You’re stringing a bunch of words together, and you think that they sound nice and they sound insightful,” Gonzales scoffs.
“But with this in particular, it’s very cute that this man who is now going to be in charge of New York City wants to wage this war against President Trump when in actuality, you’re going to run out of money, Zohran. You’re going to run out of money,” she continues.
“You can’t pay for these policies that you’ve just promised New Yorkers. And if you think for one second President Trump is going to bail you out with federal funding, you are sorely mistaken,” she adds.
In his speech, Mamdani also went after capitalism, claiming that he plans to tear down the system that allowed President Trump to initially be a thriving businessman in New York City — which is capitalism.
“President Trump has already been very clear that he is not going to give federal tax dollars to bail out these cities, these states that are just doing communism. That’s not going to happen. So, you’re going to find out real quick who is going to win that battle,” Gonzales says.
Gonzales predicts Mamdani’s reign will be much like Joe Biden’s, in that his voters won’t realize, or admit, how awful a job he’s done until much too late.
“We will tell them for years, ‘Guys, this is happening. Guys, this is happening.’ And they will call you crazy. ... They’ll tell you you’re a right-wing nutjob. And then, all of a sudden, when it’s too late, they’re like, ‘God, you know what? It turns out this thing that you guys said was happening the whole time that we denied, it turns out you may be right,” she says.
Even CNN host Van Jones reflected on Mamdani’s crazed speech as a bit of “a character switch,” which Gonzales points to as the first of many liberals who will slowly realize the man they voted for doesn’t exist.
“Uh oh, the peaceful Muslim isn’t so peaceful anymore,” Gonzales mocks.
“Have you been paying attention at all? Because there are videos that have existed, that have been posted all over social media, that have shown this guy, again, code-switching, changing his accents depending on who he’s with, which is, we know, what Democrats do all the time,” she continues.
“Van Jones is apparently just catching wind that this guy may not be exactly who he portrayed himself to be, even though videos like this already existed,” she adds.
Want more from Sara Gonzales?
To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Van Jones sounds alarm over Mamdani’s fiery victory speech
New NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s celebratory speech raised alarm bells not just for Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck and BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere, but shockingly for liberals like Van Jones of CNN as well.
“I think the Mamdani that we saw on the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present in that speech,” Jones said on CNN.
“And I think that Mamdani is the one you need to hear from tonight. There are a lot of people trying to figure out, can I get on this train with him or not? Is he going to include me? Or is he going to be more of a class warrior even in office?” Jones continued.
“I think he missed a chance tonight to open up and bring more people into the tent. I think his tone was sharp. I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling. ... I felt like there’s a little bit of a character switch here, where the warm, open, embracing guy that’s close to working people was not on stage tonight, and there was some other voice on stage,” he added.
“Huh, it’s almost like a mask has come off,” Glenn comments, unsurprised, before playing clips of Mamdani’s mask-off speech.
“So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up,” Mamdani yelled at the cheering crowd.
“We will hold bad landlords to account, because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks,” he continued.
“We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed. New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he added.
“A very angry immigrant whose own mother says he doesn’t identify as an American,” Glenn comments, before playing more of Mamdani’s speech.
“As has so often occurred, the billionaire class has sought to convince those making $30 an hour that their enemies are those earning $20 an hour. They want the people to fight amongst ourselves so that we remain distracted from the work of remaking a long-broken system. We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us,” he continued, still yelling.
“And if we embrace this brave new course rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it’s the city that gave rise to him. If there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power,” he added.
Glenn points out that capitalism is what allowed Trump to accumulate power, which means that Mamdani is saying they must dismantle capitalism.
“What he’s saying here is we have to now dismantle that system of capitalism because that’s what gave him power,” Glenn says.
“It’s going to be interesting to watch New York City over the next four years. Very, very interesting,” he adds.
Want more from Glenn Beck?
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
The New York Times Is Terrified Of Mamdani, The Mayor It Helped Create
The New York Times helped create Zohran Mamdani, and now the paper is worried that he will do everything he says.Economist warns NYC’s socialist mayor will trigger a mass exodus of wealth
New York City voters have done what experts across the country have warned will be their doom and elected a Democratic Socialist. Former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore is among those who sounded the alarm, and he now warns there will be a mass migration out of New York in retaliation.
On Moore’s website, which champions “voting with your feet,” visitors can track “where the moving vans are going to and from and also how much money they’re taking with them.”
“New York has lost two and a half million people. … Half of those people came from New York City,” Moore tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on “The Glenn Beck Program.” “So if they elect a socialist and they raise the taxes again … the rich, they’re not going to be there any longer.”
“One million is probably a long shot, but I think you’re going to see a lot of wealth move out of New York,” he says.
“If they raise these taxes again, you’d pay 17% income tax in New York City. Who’s going to do that? By the way, that’s on top of the, you know, 40% federal tax. So people will move,” he adds.
Moore uses the example of Ken Griffin, the billionaire behind Citadel.
“He was the single biggest charitable giving in the city of Chicago. He gave to the Art Institute, he gave to the homeless shelters, he gave to the food kitchens and the museums and so on. I mean, he was by far the biggest donor to all of the charities,” Moore explains.
“Well, finally they kept raising taxes in Chicago. And as you probably know, he moved out of Chicago and he moved to Palm Beach, Florida. And so then the interesting part of the story is it put a $50 million hole in the Illinois budget. One person,” he continues.
“And so my point is, you chase the ‘evil’ rich out of your city and your state, and you pay a high price for that in terms of the employ,” Moore tells Glenn. “By the way, he took several thousand jobs with him.”
“The rich aren’t rich because they’re stupid,” he adds.
Want more from Glenn Beck?
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com