{"id":419671,"date":"2025-12-02T14:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/419671\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T14:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:34:13","slug":"seattle-is-latest-to-elect-a-socialist-mayor-its-baffling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/419671\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle is latest to elect a socialist mayor. It’s baffling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zohran Mamdani and Katie Wilson have put a shiny bow on their socialist ideas, and voters bought it. It’s baffling that Americans are falling for such a dangerous ideology.<\/p>\n

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President Trump and Zohran Mamdani’s surprisingly friendly meeting<\/p>\n

USA TODAY’s Joey Garrison analyzes a surprisingly friendly meeting between President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time of year when we all feel a little more generous. Gifts and shopping are on our minds \u2013 and filling up that space under the Christmas tree.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two incoming big-city mayors are also feeling that holiday spirit. The difference is that they have big plans to be generous with your money.<\/p>\n

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, 34, has attracted most of the national buzz<\/a>, but he isn\u2019t the only democratic socialist to win the vote this November.<\/p>\n

Seattle voters chose Katie Wilson<\/a>, 43, to be their next mayor, and she shares many of Mamdani\u2019s pie-in-the-sky policies.\u00a0America\u2019s warming to anti-capitalist ideals is alarming to say the least.<\/p>\n

Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson joins NY Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in promising free stuff<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a partial list of what Wilson \u201cwants,\u201d in her own words<\/a>: \u201cI want everyone in this great city of ours to have a roof over their head. I want universal child care, free K through 8 summer care. \u2026 I want social housing. I want much more land and wealth to be owned and stewarded by communities instead of corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Wilson seems to want to benefit personally from her campaign ideas. She has admitted to needing financial help<\/a> from her parents to help pay for child care.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other side of the country, Mamdani\u2019s to-do list includes \u201cfree\u201d child care, \u201cfree\u201d buses, a rent freeze and government-run grocery stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guess what? All of those things are extremely costly. Even more concerning is these socialists\u2019 desire to get the government much more entrenched in business and daily life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opinion: <\/strong>New York City chose Mamdani. Now we get to see full-blown socialism in action.<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump has called Mamdani a ‘communist.’ Is he right?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before Mamdani\u2019s election in November, President Donald Trump<\/a> actively campaigned against him, calling him a \u201ccommunist lunatic.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Mamdani has demurred that label, preferring the more palatable-sounding \u201cdemocratic socialist,\u201d some of the ideas he\u2019s advocated get uncomfortably close.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, when speaking at the 2021 Young Democratic Socialists of America conference, he said that socialists like himself \u201cfirmly believe in\u201d the \u201cend goal of seizing the means of production\u201d<\/a> \u2013 something he admitted may not be popular at the moment but nevertheless deserved to be promoted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seizing the means of production is a central tenet of communism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Opinion alerts:<\/b> Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don’t have the app? Download it for free from your app store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mamdani likes calling names, too, and like many other progressives, has lobbed the \u201cfascist\u201d label at Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So it was surprising to see the two politicians together Nov. 21 in the Oval Office \u2013 an event dubbed a \u201clove fest.\u201d<\/a> Both of them deserve credit for at least talking to each other about their ideas for improving New York. However, Mamdani maintained the \u201cfascist\u201d insult, even in front of Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I do wonder how many actual fascists have met so warmly with their political opponents?<\/p>\n

Socialism has been tried around the world. It always fails.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Mamdani\u2019s meeting with Trump, Congress marked its concern with the country\u2019s largest city now having a socialist as mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It passed a resolution denouncing the horrors of socialism, 285-98, with 86 Democrats joining the Republican majority<\/a>. That includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> of New York. Jeffries waited until the last minute to endorse Mamdani.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a press release from resolution sponsor Rep. Mar\u00eda Elvira Salazar<\/a>, R-Florida, \u201cThe resolution outlines some of the most brutal crimes committed by socialist regimes in the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela, demonstrating that wherever socialism has taken root, the results have been the same: famine, repression, death, economic ruin, and the loss of human freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: <\/strong>Newsom thinks he can be president, but California’s policies are killing people<\/a><\/p>\n

Just look south to Argentina, which is climbing out of an economy that was destroyed by socialism (thanks to the strong leadership of its pro-capitalism President Javier Milei<\/a>). In 2023, ahead of Milei\u2019s election, annual inflation reached an unfathomable 148%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s baffling that Americans are falling for such a dangerous ideology. But they are.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent poll of likely voters from The Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports showed that 51% of young Americans<\/a>, ages 18-39, would like to see a democratic socialist in the White House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani and Wilson have put a shiny bow on their socialist ideas, and voters bought it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beware what comes next.<\/p>\n

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques<\/a><\/p>\n