If self-avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani becomes the next mayor of New York City, it’ll be a gift to Republicans in more ways than one. Not only will they get a perfect poster child to hold up as the extreme figurehead of the Democratic Party, but they will also likely see a huge influx of wealthy New Yorkers relocating to red states.
Just ask Mamdani himself. In an interview with NBC News over the weekend, he openly said that billionaires shouldn’t exist.
“I don’t think we should have billionaires, because it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,” he said. “And ultimately what we need more of is equality across the city and across the state and country, and I look forward to working with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fair for all of us.”
Think about that for a second.
Mamdani is simultaneously suggesting that billionaires shouldn’t exist and that he looks forward to working with them to make New York City better as mayor. Why on earth would he think that people whose wealth he seeks to confiscate would want to collaborate with him in their own destruction?
The much more likely outcome of Mamdani’s anti-billionaire agenda is an even greater exodus of successful people (and their businesses and tax revenue) from the Big Apple. This isn’t speculation: Journalist Olivia Reingold of The Free Press interviewed multiple billionaires who specifically said they are considering fleeing New York City if Mamdani becomes mayor.
For example, billionaire and New York City resident Bill Ackman told Reingold, “This would absolutely be a tipping point for a lot of companies and individuals.” Ackman suggested many would relocate to Florida, “where he said the wealthy are ‘welcomed as opposed to viewed as the enemy.’”
Mamdani may not get it, but the ultra-wealthy are not the enemy, at least not inherently. While some billionaires may amass their wealth in suspect ways, there’s nothing inherently bad about being wildly successful. In fact, many billionaires, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, amassed their fortune by creating countless jobs and tremendous value for our society, pioneering products, opportunities, and services that make everyone better off.
And, no matter the level of punitive taxation that Mamdani attempts to impose, he can’t stop billionaires and the ultra-wealthy from simply relocating. So, his efforts to rid New York of billionaires might actually work — just not in the way he hoped, where he would get to spend their money on his socialist schemes. Instead, they’ll just take their money and move to greener pastures.
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Sadly, this economically illiterate and envy-driven position is just a small part of Mamdani’s explicitly Marxist worldview. We’re not talking about a tax-and-spend liberal or even a social Democrat here. In interviews from just a few years ago, Mamdani explicitly said his end goal is to “seize the means of production,” openly aligning himself with the all-out Marxist perspective.
There’s no questioning Mamdani’s charisma and effective campaigning. But his policy agenda and actual worldview, if implemented fully, wouldn’t just hurt “billionaires” — it would devastate New York City and leave everyone worse off.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.