Zohran Mamdani walked into Fox News thinking he could charm hostile viewers with platitudes about affordability, but the clip that’s now circulating tells a different story — one of dodged questions and mounting contradictions. Host Martha MacCallum repeatedly pressed him on whether Hamas should disarm, and Mamdani’s answer — that he “doesn’t have any opinions” about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond “justice and safety” — didn’t land as nuance so much as evasion. Conservatives across the country watched that exchange and saw a would?be mayor refuse to name a clear enemy, which is scandalous in an age when clarity matters for American security.
The segment got worse when MacCallum pivoted to the math behind his promises and asked how he’d pay for them, touching off the real danger of his tax?and?spend agenda: driving out the very people who fund jobs and services. Mamdani openly talked about raising taxes on the wealthiest and floated city?run grocery stores and corporate levies that pundits warn will trigger an exodus of businesses and high earners from New York. That isn’t fearmongering; it’s basic economics — when you make a city hostile to capital, you don’t solve affordability, you empty the coffers and hollow out opportunity.
Critics on the right and on main street have been right to point to real examples of government?run retail failure and warn New Yorkers about repeating those mistakes at scale. Cities that have experimented with municipal groceries ran into empty shelves, rotten produce, chronic deficits, and taxpayer bailouts — the last thing a city teetering on fiscal strain needs is another politically driven boondoggle. If Mamdani thinks bureaucrats will magically outcompete private grocers without the discipline of the market, he either hasn’t done the homework or he’s counting on handing New Yorkers a very costly experiment.
Then there’s the foreign?policy theater: Mamdani doubled down on pledging to “uphold” arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court and suggested legal choreography that would put him at odds with federal law and diplomatic norms. He’s simultaneously apologizing to the NYPD and promising to enforce an international court’s warrant in New York — a recipe for legal chaos and a mayoralty consumed by lawsuits and grandstanding instead of public safety. Voters deserve someone who will keep the city safe and solvent, not audition to be an activist?in?chief.
Conservative commentators weren’t gentle; Dave Rubin and others tore into the clip on social platforms, sharing DM reactions and highlighting how Mamdani’s evasions and deleted tweets betray a candidate more interested in ideology than governance. The backlash isn’t just about personality — it’s about competence and consequences, and whether New Yorkers will pay the price for symbolic gestures that hollow out the tax base and invite legal turmoil. If you care about hardworking families keeping their jobs and their neighborhoods thriving, this is a moment to pay attention and demand real answers.
This wasn’t just a bad TV appearance; it was a preview of what left?wing governance looks like in practice: promises without plausible plans, moral ambiguity on terrorism, and a readiness to lean on legal stunts rather than deliver services. Patriots who love this city should reject grandstanding dressed up as progressivism, because the people who will suffer are the small business owners, the union workers, and the families who already struggle to make ends meet. New Yorkers have a choice: competence that defends liberty and prosperity, or untested experiments that risk both.
