New York City just elected a self-described communist who refuses to say Hamas should disarm, once rapped love for convicted Hamas funders, and wants to seize private property to house the homeless.

Meet Zohran Mamdani — the new mayor.

On November 4, 2025, the 34-year-old DSA socialist crushed Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa with 50.4% of the vote, fueled by TikTok teens, rent-stressed millennials, and a promise to make NYC “affordable for all.” He quoted Eugene Debs in his victory speech. He wants a $30 minimum wage, free buses, and to tax billionaires out of existence. And when asked twice on national TV if Hamas should lay down its weapons? He dodged.

Welcome to the new New York — where jihadist sympathy meets socialist fantasy, and your rent freeze comes with a side of terror apologia.

Mamdani didn’t just win — he steamrolled. He beat Cuomo in the June primary, forced Adams to drop out in disgrace, and turned out voters in numbers not seen in decades. His campaign was slick: multilingual rap videos, viral interviews with Trump voters, and a logo so close to the Knicks’ that the team sent a cease-and-desist. But behind the memeable charisma lies a history of troubling positions that cannot be ignored.

The Socialist Agenda: Economic Suicide in Designer Clothes

Mamdani’s plan is simple: seize empty luxury condos for public housing, slap a $30 minimum wage on every business, make transit free, and plug a $30 billion budget hole with a billionaire tax. Trump called him a “100% Communist Lunatic” on Truth Social. He’s not wrong. Venezuela tried this. San Francisco tried this. Now NYC is about to become the largest socialist experiment in U.S. history — and the taxpayers footing the bill are already packing for Florida.

The Sharia Specter: Cultural Clash in the Melting Pot

Mamdani’s faith as a Shia Muslim has been weaponized in the campaign, with smears ranging from Islamophobic caricatures (like altered images darkening his beard) to accusations of jihadist ties that are far from baseless. Fact-checks have debunked outright claims of Al-Qaeda links or Iranian funding, and Mamdani has vocally supported LGBTQ rights (backing Proposition 1 against discrimination) and marijuana legalization — positions at odds with conservative Islamic interpretations. Yet the fear remains: as a prominent Muslim leader, does his rise embolden pushes for Sharia-influenced policies in a secular city?

While no direct evidence shows Mamdani advocating Sharia law, his refusal to demand Hamas disarm — a group enforcing a theocratic terror regime — raises valid alarms about tolerance for Islamist extremism in a secular hub like NYC. On October 15, 2025, during a Fox News interview with Martha MacCallum, he dodged twice when asked if Hamas should lay down its weapons and relinquish control of Gaza. First, he pivoted to NYC affordability. Then, to "justice and safety" under international law. Only after backlash did he weakly claim in a debate the next day that "all parties" should cease fire — classic equivocation. This isn’t principle; it’s calculation.

More damning are Mamdani's own words from his pre-political days as a rapper under the stage name "Mr. Cardamom." In his 2017 track "Salaam," he explicitly rapped: "My love to the Holy Land Five. You better look ’em up." The "Holy Land Five" refers to the leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development — Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammad el-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulrahman Odeh — who were convicted in 2008 on 108 federal counts, including providing over $12 million in material support to Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization. A civil jury later held the foundation liable for the 1997 murder of 17-year-old Ari Halberstam, a New York City yeshiva student killed in a Hamas-inspired shooting rampage in Brooklyn. Mamdani has defended the lyrics as youthful artistic expression about "growing up Muslim in New York," but critics like Curtis Sliwa and Canary Mission argue it's a clear endorsement of convicted terror financiers, raising legitimate questions about his judgment and associations. This isn't ancient history — it's a direct tie to support for entities linked to violence against Americans and Israelis, and it undercuts claims that jihadist accusations are mere smears.

His vocal support for BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions against Israel) and criticism of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East have fueled perceptions of divided loyalties. In a city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel, this rhetoric risks inflaming tensions, especially amid rising antisemitic incidents (up 300% since 2023). Opponents like Laura Loomer have amplified fears of "Sharia creep," pointing to historical "Islamic socialism" movements that blended communism with religious law in places like Soviet Tatarstan. While Mamdani rejects this, his election could normalize identity politics that prioritize cultural grievances over civic unity, eroding the secular pluralism that defines NYC.

They always claim to be progressive before coming out against it. History is full of radical Muslim leaders who campaign on liberal reforms to seize power, only to impose Sharia once entrenched. In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) rose in 2002 as a moderate, pro-EU reformer, promising economic liberalization, women’s rights, and anti-corruption measures. Once in control, Erdoğan purged secular institutions, expanded the role of conservative Islam through the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), and pushed constitutional changes that critics say erode secularism — from banning alcohol ads to promoting "Turkish Islam" abroad with fatwas against tattoos and New Year celebrations. In Iran, Hassan Rouhani won in 2013 as a pragmatic moderate, pledging social freedoms, economic openness, and nuclear détente to ease sanctions. But constrained by hardliners, his administration saw morality police crackdowns intensify, hijab laws tighten, and dissent crushed, with little progress on promised reforms. Hamas itself won Gaza's 2006 election on anti-corruption and social welfare promises — a "clean government" platform downplaying its Islamist roots. After taking power, it imposed theocratic rule: gender segregation, bans on mixed events, executions of gays, and hudud punishments under its Sharia-adjacent charter invoking jihad. Mamdani’s progressive credentials — pro-LGBTQ, pro-choice, pro-weed — clash with strict Sharia, but in a city with 1.1 million Jews and a thriving LGBTQ scene, will he push back against his DSA and pro-Palestine base that’s disrupted pride events and harassed Jewish students? Or appease, as history suggests?

Sharia law — the system Mamdani’s silence on Hamas implicitly tolerates — is not a cultural quirk. It is a medieval theocracy that demands the subjugation or elimination of non-believers, bans same-sex relationships on pain of death, mandates hijabs and burqas for women, permits marital rape, endorses “honor killings” for perceived disobedience, allows polygamy, and in some interpretations sanctions child marriage. This is not “diversity.” This is barbarism in religious clothing. It is the direct antithesis of American freedom, equality, and the rule of law. A mayor who will not condemn a group enforcing this system — who instead dodges, deflects, and flip-flops — cannot be trusted to defend New York’s women, LGBTQ citizens, or secular democracy. His election is not progress. It is a Trojan horse.

Backlash and the Broader Implications

The race was ugly: The New York Knicks issued a cease-and-desist over a campaign logo mimicking theirs, underscoring the chaos. Moderates like Rep. Tom Suozzi endorsed Cuomo, fearing Mamdani's "far-left" tilt would hurt Democrats in the 2026 midterms. Vox and WIRED fret over "misinfo loops," but the real danger is policy fallout: Higher taxes could accelerate the exodus of 500,000 residents since 2020, while cultural divides deepen in a post-October 7 world.

Mamdani's win isn't just a local story — it's a warning for blue cities nationwide. Democratic socialism, dressed in inclusivity, masks economic sabotage and cultural fragmentation. History shows: campaign on gay rights, then appease the base. Promise free speech, then silence dissent. Mamdani’s refusal to condemn Hamas outright — while running in a city scarred by 9/11 and rising Jew-hatred — isn’t just tone-deaf; it’s disqualifying.

This election will undoubtedly turn the Big Apple into a socialist dystopia at best — at worst, a Sharia hellscape.