Zohran Mamdani - ung socialist, muslim och New Yorks borgmästare sedan 1 jan 2026

Finally, the federal government can’t afford to tolerate a New York that is intent on destroying itself. New York state accounts for almost 8pc of the country’s output, and much of that is generated within New York City. More importantly, it is the financial and commercial hub of the American continent, home to the stock market, and all its major banks and trading firms, as well as many of the biggest conglomerates.
So Mamdani will be at war with Washington, and however magnetic his TikTok feed, that is a battle he will surely lose. The constitution gives the president far, far more power than any city mayor, and this one will have little hesitation to use it to destroy an opponent he has already denounced as a “communist”.
The city will be starved of support, and at precisely the time when companies are leaving, its wealthiest citizens are getting out and when he has promised an endless supply of “free” stuff, the new mayor will have to start finding the tax revenues to deliver on his pledges.
Sure, New York has a lot more capital than most places, and to paraphrase Adam Smith, “there is a great deal of ruin” in a city. And yet there is nothing to stop New York from going the way of Detroit, and ultimately failing.
Many of the voters who flocked to the polling stations will be feeling good about themselves for having elected a charismatic socialist mayor, and one who will take the fight to a president they mostly detest. But he is about to destroy their city and ordinary New Yorkers will suffer most of all.