Guy Ciarrocchi: These are not serious people

Zohran Mamdani is no more qualified to be Mayor of New York City than I am to run NASDAQ. 

Yet, he won the Democratic nomination to run this fall to become the mayor of the largest city in our nation — a population larger than 40 states and a budget over $112 billion.

And no major Democrat is opposing him.

For the moment, let’s put aside his overt antisemitism, his repugnant comments about 9/11, his immoral comments after October 7th, his frightening comments on global jihad, his scary support for taxpayer funded gender-change surgeries, his Soviet Union-inspired proposal for the city to operate grocery stores, his proud membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, and his calls to “defund the police.”

He’s no doubt a buffet of policy craziness. (And it’s why no Democrat is opposing him.)

For now, let’s focus on his résumé — his experience. 

What’s prepared him to manage a $112 billion dollar budget, 280,000 employees and the operations for a city of nearly nine  million people, with nearly five million more working there each day.

He is 33 years old. He is currently a state legislator having served four years and five months. He chairs no committees.

Prior to taking office in January 2021, he was a hip-hop music producer and was a “housing counselor” for a nonprofit in Queens after graduating from college in 2014, with a degree in Africana Studies. Never managed any business or even a department. 

Sadly, he’s the embodiment of 2025 Democrats. Loyalty to the progressive bible and commitment to the left’s causes is how they measure candidate quality.

It’s why “chief priests” AOC, Bernie Sanders, and now Senator Chuck Schumer — who is from New York and the Democratic leader in the Senate — have all endorsed him. Schumer jumped on Mamdani’s bandwagon — after the polls closed. “Leader” Schumer would have fit in well in the French government in 1940 — welcoming the Germans, in exchange for keeping even the façade of power and his cushy office.

Mamdani is not qualified even to be Mayor of Mayberry. That should be as obvious. Worse: He’s frighteningly unqualified to be Mayor of New York City.

That he was taken seriously says a lot about today’s Democratic Party. That state and national figures endorsed him — and no one is opposing him — says even more about today’s Democratic Party. That he was able to win says a lot about the state of today’s Democratic primary electorate.

Experience? Solutions? Common sense? Ha!

Rhetoric is more important than experience. Devotion to the progressive bible of victimhood, genders, “justice,” climate crisis, the teachers union, challenging American greatness, and men in women’s sports is far more important than solutions to actual, kitchen-table problems. 

Notably, he lost badly among voters earning less than $50,000 per year. They’re not the focus of the 2025 Democrats.

Why did Democratic leaders ignore his frighteningly non-existent resume? How did he distinguish himself from the pack of eleven candidates to get almost 44 percent of the vote?

He’s a young, proud socialist who’s most passionate when talking about the failures of capitalism and blaming America for why college graduates are in debt and living in their parents’ basements or eating ramen noodles for dinner. He promised free mass transit and rent control.

Coalition partner number one: young, recent college graduates angry about their situation and, having recently attended college, already ginned up about the “injustices” in American society.

He talks about “gender-affirming care” — funded by taxpayers, the evils of fossil fuels, and even resurrected “defund the police,” promoting “counselors” not police.

Coalition partner number two: the New York Times crowd.

One might think a leading candidate for mayor might talk about filling store fronts on Fifth Avenue or making subway safety his concern. Nope. Instead, he preached about the victims in Gaza and “Free Palestine;” why Israel overreacted to October 7th and his understanding for the global jihad.

Coalition partners three and four: the “pro Palestine” crowd, and a “welcome sign” to antisemites  of all types.

And, last but not least, some great rhetoric about the merits of socialism — not only free bus rides and rent control, but government-owned and -operated grocery stores. That brings in all bona fide progressives and the “enlightened” who think that socialism is “cool.”

He’s a  cause celebre, he cares about all the right things and is against all the “bad” things.

It worked. The leaders of the modern Democratic party overlooked his almost invisible resume because of his rhetoric — he was singing the loudest and clearest from their songbook.

Today’s Democrats in blue cities, counties and states double down on crazy to win the primary and then are all but assured of winning. Governing isn’t a problem because it isn’t a priority. Especially now because they’re disproportionately made up of upper middle-class and upper-class New York Times readers, the teachers’ union and other government workers, LGBTQIA2S+ extremists, left-wing environmental and economic ideologues and, yes, socialists and antisemites. There’s always someone to blame if things don’t go right.

The party that gave us Philadelphia DA left-wing, “let-em-loose” Larry Krasner — who won his third term by pledging to “stand up to Trump,” not carjackers — has now put New York on a path to disaster.

New York’s late Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia said: “There is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets.” But back then both parties agreed that the streets should be clean. In 2025, there is no Democratic plan to clean the streets, or fight crime, repopulate the store fronts in shopping districts, fix the broken school district, or heal the very diverse, broken city.

It’s why their party is at 21 percent nationally. With Mamdani, it’s about to fall lower.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a commentator and strategist. He writes for RealClear Pennsylvania and Broad + Liberty. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.