DAVID MARCUS: Why socialist NYC mayoral candidate's Uganda trip makes surprising sense

Fox News

7 days ago

DemocratIc Party nominee for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani has been at the center of a political firestorm since his shock victory in the primary last month, and faced with mounting questions about his communist past, he's doing what leftists always do, running away and not answering questions.
In this case to the African nation of Uganda where Mamdani was born.
The socialist wonderboy's campaign swears that this ten-day excursion in the middle of the general election has nothing to do with politics, Mamdani and his wife are just celebrating their wedding, again, and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you that Zohran may be mayor of soon.
The obvious political move being made here is to hide Mamdani, at least until the end of the month, and this isn't the first time.
Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., brought Zohran to Washington DC to meet with Congressional Democrats in what turned into a laughable moment of cloak and dagger, here is how Fox News Digital described it:
"Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani were scheduled to host the 8 a.m. breakfast at the National Democratic Club. While the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is located right next door to where Wednesday's breakfast is being held, the DNC said it was not involved with the event.
Minutes before the breakfast was scheduled to start, the location was moved to a restaurant a few blocks away."
Reports indicate that the windows to the place were blacked out and that Zohran quietly exited out of a backdoor.
What clearly happened here was that most Democrats in Congress, very wisely, didn't want a photo op with the most radioactive "Democratic Socialist" on the current political scene. In fact, in New York, political ads tying Democrats to Mamdani are already running.
Zany Zohran is hightailing it out of, not just Gotham, but America, without the coveted endorsement of either House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, even both are also from New York City.
And that underlines the point, these guys don't want to talk about Mamdani and a future Democrat party dedicated to seizing the means of production and abolitioning prisons, no Democrat who isn't a member of the Squad wants to.
Serious Democrats understand that Mamdani is not some generational political talent, or the next Obama, he is a boilerplate archetype that Democrat Socialists use over and over, young, charismatic, edgy, social media savvy, and non-white.
Examples of this DSA type abound, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, Illinois Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, and of course the trendsetter herself, AOC.
The DSA and other George Soros backed operations excel at winning primaries in deep blue areas with young, far left candidates like those above, but what they don't do, ever, is win competitive general elections.
The idea is supposed to be that once the Democratic primary is won, no Republican can win, so the socialist skates to victory, almost every wacko district attorney in our major cities came to power exactly this way.
And this is the real reason Mamdani ran away to Uganda, just as Kamala Harris was hidden away when she became the presidential nominee last year because she had no defense for the Biden administration, so too, Zohran has no explanation for being a full blown communist ten minutes ago.
While the hide behind the couch strategy failed for Harris, she was running against Donald Trump, Zohran is luckier and running against Eric Adams, an unpopular mayor, Andrew Cuomo, a disgraced former governor, and Curtis Sliwa, a legendary New Yorker, but also known best for his beret and love of cats.
If all three of Mamdani's rivals remain in the race then the socialist will be able to hide his way to Gracie Mansion and control of America's greatest city, maybe he does one debate, goes on a few lefty podcasts, that will be enough.
10 days in far-flung Uganda, out of the blue, is the beginning of this strategy, even if Mamdani claims the trip is to celebrate his marriage and troll the supposed racists, mostly actually anonymous X accounts, saying he should go back to Africa.
If, on the other hand, the three claimants to the right to take on Mamdani can settle it and get behind one candidate by September, then Zohran might actually be forced to run on his record and past statements, something no Democrat Socialist ever wants to do.
For now, even when Mamdani gets back from his African Adventure, expect him to remain quiet, because unless and until he is facing one, serious challenger, hiding him in the basement is almost certain to secure him victory.