Governor Kathy Hochul, in a desperate attempt to fend off a primary challenger in next year’s gubernatorial election, has endorsed socialist Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York City. This feckless and cowardly endorsement unmasks the bald truth of today’s Democratic Party — that they are ideologically captured by far-left, progressive, anti-American, anti–Western civilization socialists, and they have no clue how to stop it.
A quick reminder on how Kathy Hochul became governor: She was picked from obscurity by Andrew Cuomo, who is still in the NYC mayor’s race. When he resigned in disgrace, she ascended to the position. Instead of showing any gratitude for her former boss, she is rejecting him in favor of a 33-year-old socialist with zero experience or capability to run a hamburger stand, let alone the financial capital of the world.
Let me be clear: Hochul’s nod to Mamdani isn’t some innocuous party-line endorsement. It’s an open embrace of hatred, socialism, and policies that could bankrupt our city while emboldening those who chant for violence against Jews. Mamdani has built his career on radical ideas that sound like they were ripped from a Marxist playbook. He started his political activism by forming his college’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and worked on the BDS movement. He’s called for “globalizing the intifada,” a phrase that sends chills down the spine of anyone who remembers the terror of suicide bombings and rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Mamdani’s rhetoric echoes the worst anti-Israel agitators who disguise their bigotry as activism.
And it gets worse. Mamdani has openly bragged that he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in accordance with the International Criminal Court, to which the United States is not a signatory. Yet Mamdani also vows to double down on sanctuary-city policies in defiance of federal law. In essence, Mamdani will comply with international court rulings over American laws — actions that sound more like those of a tyrant who believes he is above the law than anything else.
By endorsing Mamdani, Hochul is signaling her alignment with this dangerous worldview. She’s siding with those who view Israel not as a beacon of democracy in a hostile region, but as an oppressor to be dismantled. Under her watch, there has been increased antisemitism on our streets, from the vandalism of synagogues to the harassment of Jewish students on college campuses. Hochul’s move isn’t just tone-deaf; it’s a slap in the face to the Jewish community of New York.
But the hatred doesn’t stop at foreign policy. Mamdani’s domestic agenda is a recipe for economic ruin, and Hochul’s endorsement means she’s backing it all the way. He’s proposed hiking taxes on the wealthy to fund his utopian schemes that have failed everywhere else they were tried (Kansas City recently had to close its government-owned grocery store and has significant issues with its free-bus program). Many of these policies would require state approval, putting Hochul in the driver’s seat to enable this madness.
Hochul knows this, or at least she should. Her approval ratings have been in the toilet for months, with a recent poll in Nassau County showing a 61% disapproval rating. She’s unpopular because she’s failed on the basics: crime is up, affordability is down, and her congestion-pricing fiasco alienated commuters while doing little to fix our crumbling subways. Yet, instead of tacking to the center and addressing these real issues, she’s doubled down on desperation.
This endorsement reeks of political cowardice. Hochul is terrified of being primaried by the socialists in her own party come 2026. The Democratic Socialists of America have been gaining ground, toppling moderates in primaries and pushing the party further left. By throwing her weight behind Mamdani, she’s trying to appease them, hoping to buy some loyalty and fend off challengers like the very radicals she’s now courting. But this is a fool’s errand. Socialists don’t build coalitions; they exploit them. Hochul is nothing more than a useful idiot in their eyes — a moderate Democrat they can use to legitimize their extremism before discarding her like yesterday’s trash. History is littered with examples: moderate leaders who cozied up to radicals only to be purged when the revolutionaries gained power. Think of the French Revolution or the Bolsheviks — useful idiots are the first against the wall.
Hochul has done nothing to protect Jewish New Yorkers from the surge of hate crimes in a post–October 7 world. Mamdani didn’t win the primary despite his antisemitism; he won because of it. Hochul knows this, or at least people advising her should know this, and should stay far away from Mamdani. She could have endorsed Cuomo, her predecessor, or Eric Adams, the current mayor, or stayed silent. Instead, she threw her hat in with the worst the radical left has to offer, and she has to own that going into the 2026 election.
By Moshe Hill
