Zohran Mamdani's Viral Comments On Capitalism
This week, 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani — a self-proclaimed democratic socialist — won the New York City Mayoral Democratic Primary, beating out former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Since his victory, Mamdani has faced backlash from both Republicans and Democrats in his own party. President Donald Trump called his victory a "terrible thing for our country," while Democratic lawmaker Laura Gillen called Mamdani the "absolute wrong choice for New York."
Some of Mamdani's political stances as a democratic socialist have been questioned, and in a now-viral clip from a recent interview with CNN, he was put on the spot regarding his beliefs. "Do you like capitalism?" the host questioned.
"No. I have many critiques of capitalism."
"I think ultimately, the definition for me, of why I call myself a democratic socialist, is the words of Dr. King decades ago. He said, 'Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism; there must be a better distribution of wealth for all of God's children in this country.'"
"And that's what I'm focused on, is dignity and taking on income inequality."
In response to the clip, many people online have praised Mamdani for being willing to say something so controversial in American politics. "Thank god we have a politician who is finally brave enough to say that yeah capitalism does fucking suck actually," one person wrote in response to the clip.
"I saw him say this on CNN and my jaw dropped. They straight up asked him if he 'likes capitalism' and he said 'no.' And I don't think that's gonna be a problem for him! Watershed moment," another person agreed.
"One of my favorite things that Zohran does is that he has a quote for everything. A lot of times, they're from people like Mandela and MLK, figures whose progressive ideals often get downplayed. Try to critique this take and now you look like an anti-MLK asshole. Good stuff,' this person wrote.
And finally, this person said: "Zohran is so skilled at flipping any gotcha question around to make it look like the person asking it is insane."
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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