DADDY MAMDANI: And the dependency trap

Zohran Mamdani swept into office promising a new New York, but is Zohran Mamdani's vision of government actually what citizens thought?  Critics say his brand of progressive governance is less about lifting people up and more about another agenda. Is he leading New Yorkers or creating a state of co-dependency?

A conversation with Lawrence Rogak

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to the Cheryl Acey Show where curiosity meets courage. We now have our weekly US correspondent Lawrence Rojak. And if there is any irresponsibility to speak of, Lawrence knows all about it. And in particular, this morning we'll be discussing Ma'am Darney again, the New York mayor, the debts that are increasing. And we might have a little bit of a chat about the Abraham Accord because it seems that Ma'am Darney knows nothing of it nor cares at all. What do you think, Lawrence?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

To start out, we have to give a little bit of background on Mandami. Uh this is his first real job in life. And uh you know what what can you expect when you take a person who's never had a job and you put him in charge of the number one city in the world? Well then you know, w with with that being said, um what a person what a New Yorker thinks about Mandami depends upon what they're looking for. Uh the people who voted for him, in my estimation, are uh people with hard left views, um, who hate President Trump and who view the job of government uh as a substitute father, um, who is very generous and um doesn't discipline them at all. Um for those people, uh Mandami I guess is doing a pretty good job, even though in reality he has not yet fulfilled any of his promises.

unknown 2:13

But he does what leftists like best, which is to say the things that they want to hear.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

So he promised free child care, free buses, um a sanctuary city where you know where illegal aliens can feel safe. He has said all these things, which are the things that the left wants to hear, um, but the reality of it is that there's no money in the budget for the free childcare, there's no money in the budget for the free buses, um, but uh one thing he has done is hindered law enforcement so that uh criminals are running free and making honest people afraid, uh, which is um you know the kind of thing that chases responsible people out of the city and uh makes those who remain uh free to do whatever they want uninhindered. That's the way I see it, you know. But again, my view is very biased.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Well, I don't think you're very biased. I think that there's a sense of reality in what you say, and one of the the statements you just made there is that he is promising free things, free buses, free childcare, and these sanctuary cities. Nothing is free. It comes at a cost, and that cost is to the people and how leaders like him choose to spend the tax they collect from people. So why does society continue to think that something is free and then embrace it when it's coming out of their own pockets?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Um well, the uh the complete failure of the American public education system has a lot to do with it.

unknown 4:16

Um the vast majority of people under the age of forty who have grown up in America are financially illiterate. They have absolutely no idea how an economy works.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

You should see it in their protests and things they say in things they say in public, like uh, you know, tax the billionaires. They they they have absolutely no idea what that concept means. They they would like to see rich people taxed more, but they can't think to the next step as to what that would mean for them personally. Uh for example, that by raising taxes on millionaires they have to cut back on the number of people they employ, or that um Products, the cost of products would go up, etc.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

etcetera, things like that. So yes, that it's that flow on, isn't it? And just on that, uh back to the point you talk about that's the way societies and the education sector has by and large got a lot to do with it from what you've said. Mam Dani himself has not worked and yet he moves into a job as mayor. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Well, part of the way it happened is that the majority of New Yorkers will vote Democrat no matter who is running, and the um the other part of it was that in the primaries his only opponent was Andrew Cuomo, who had to resign as New York's governor in disgrace because of credible allegations of sexual harassment by other state employees. So uh New York Democrats had a choice between a uh uh a young, inexperienced person who said, you know, who promised them a lot of things for nothing, and an old school Democrat like Andrew Cuomo, who really didn't have anything to offer them. So yes, too bad choice and went for the worst one.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Of course. Let's go back to Mamdani specifically, and the manner in which he was able to progress to that position in the first instance. So forgetting about his opposition there, he managed to be the major candidate. Is he being funded by the Islamic State?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Well, it's it's a good question as to who's funding him. Definitely the Democratic Party is funding him.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Uh oh, so I'm gonna jump in there. So is the Democratic Party being funded by Islamic organizations?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I don't know what the proof is there, but there is a lot of speculation that Middle Middle Eastern Money um has a big investment in him. Um and uh Middle Middle Eastern money also has a large investment in American colleges where students are being taught that um uh Sharia law is a good thing. And uh I have seen young adults on the streets in New York being interviewed saying, Oh, we would love Sharia law, that sounds great. They have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Uh they know nothing about Sharia law, but in their minds, hmm, that sounds like it's against Trump. So whatever it is, um for it. Uh uh that's that's the kind of substitute for thinking uh that has put Mandami where he is.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So effectively what you're saying there, Lawrence, is that this is not about a leader you and anybody necessarily wants or desires. It's more how best can we get rid of the leader we don't want, and we will do all things possible, whether it be effective or not in our own mind, but gee, we don't like Trump, so let's go for anyone who doesn't like him.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Uh that's pretty much true, and that you know, from from what I've seen, 'cause I I monitor social media a lot, and I have seen many, many Democrats say, you know, I I would vote for dog over Trump, I would vote for Hitler over Trump. They've literally literally said that. So as long as somebody is anti-Trump, they don't care who or what it is. It it's it's that kind of um uh black and white hatred that um uh that governs their thinking. Um Trump has been uh and I said this last week, he he has been the victim of the most comprehensive and successful defamation campaign in history. And as a result, people see him as simply the antithesis of everything and anything that they want, and therefore anybody who's against him is a hero. And and then I I'm afraid that if worse comes to worse, they will learn the hard way. Um if Trump is replaced by the kind of people who the left wants, um they will be hauled away um to concentration camps. But I mean, a good example is what happened in Cuba uh in 1959. Fidel Castro came to power um, you know, with this uh anti-capitalist anti uh Western civilization rhetoric, and when he did come to power, many of the leftists who supported him were shocked because they weren't the right kind of leftist. And, you know, that kind of purge, uh the same kind of purges that Stalin and uh Mao um uh uh uh committed, you know, where they killed millions of the people who put them into power, that would happen to the left in the United States if if their choice ever comes to power. People don't learn any history.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

No, no, indeed. And it is. It's history we have to go back and look to make sure we don't bring it forward to the future. There's much to be learned and uh quite often those born, particularly in the in the last thirty, forty years, think that uh history began the day they were born. They didn't don't think there was a world prior to them. It's a bit of a a mentality that we have. Can I just ask you, going back to Mamdani specifically again? And this is something I'm not quite sure of. You mentioned just a minute ago the leftists and being the wrong leftist is is problematic and that could you know come to root at some point in time. It seems that we have the wrong Westerners as well. So we embrace Western civilization, but there are particular conditions associated with it. Came to New York at the age of seven, very wealthy family. How is it that someone born overseas gets to hold such a prominent position? Are there any checks and balances for that type of thing? Because we hear it regarding presidency, but does it flow uh clearly it doesn't flow through to the other uh positions of responsibility in government?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

No, the presidency of the United States is the only elected position that requires that a person be born in the United States or at least one of its territories. Uh the term used in the Constitution is natural born citizen, which has been interpreted by the courts to be to mean that a person must be born under circumstances that made them an American citizen.

unknown 13:13

Now the limits of that have not been tested.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Uh they almost were tested when John McCain ran for president because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which at the time was U.S.

unknown 13:31

territory. Uh I don't think that would have prevented him from becoming president because it was a territory.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

But no, for mayor of New York City or mayor or governor of any city or state in the United States, there is no requirement that a person be born in the United States, even though it's probably a sh a good idea, but uh I don't see that changing any time soon. What I think is more important though, is what a person's uh uh their their mental orientation, their cultural orientation. Uh I don't know what kind of upbringing um Mandami had in Uganda, and I don't know how his parents raised them once they came to the United States. Uh, but we do know that his family is very wealthy and that he never had to work a day in his life. Uh I don't know what his Muslim upbringing taught him. I don't know whether it was a liberal Muslim upbringing or or, you know, a a a fanatical one. Uh I I don't know. And I guess it doesn't really matter to the people who voted for him because he appeals to the kind of people who are anti-Western in their outlook. And that includes many American college students who were taught in school that America is bad, um it it it's a country that was founded on racism and slavery, and that it needs to be overthrown uh because uh we are the oppressors and everybody else in the world is the oppressed. So by being anti-Western, they stand with the oppressed against the oppressor. Uh and that kind of dichotomy eliminates any need to actually know any facts.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Indeed. And one of the you mentioned that he didn't work a day in his life. I understand that just to get this right, my understanding is that he did work for a short period of time as a housing counsellor, assisting uh low-income tenants and he was a rapper for a little while, I believe, Mr. Cardamom. And uh so all well and good that he may have had those few jobs before he moved into uh local council. The issue really is that if he didn't have a high income, yet he had a tremendous lifestyle, what's uh going on for the family is irrelevant, I suppose, if he's if he's got a terrific lifestyle funded by his family members, his parents and so forth. That goes to character as well and what that might mean for the view that, oh yes, everything's for free because that's how I live my life. So you make a good point. You make a very good point about it it it is not and it should not be about a person's cultural or uh religious background to a certain degree. It's more about it's more about the values that are upheld and promoted and supported, where someone like Mam Dani could say, look at me, this is what I've done, this is what I intend to do, and these are the people I want around me for you, and this is how you will benefit by the things I'm talking about. Or more importantly, what needs and wants do you have and how can we balance that with common sense? But we don't get those conversations, do we?

SPEAKER_01 17:30

No, we don't get those conversations because his audience isn't interested in those conversations because they involve actual details that they don't have any familiarity with. So for example, uh you know, he says, um, I'm going to make New York City more affordable. Well, what power does he have to even do that? You know, what what does it mean? Um it doesn't mean anything because the only thing that a that the head of government can do to make things more affordable is to lower taxes. Because lower taxes means lower costs for businesses, which means that they can be more competitive. Um also lower taxes on individuals to make things more competitive. But look who he's talking to. He's talking to people who don't work.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Yeah, you're right. And also uh Jay, uh correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a gentleman in in Washington who also has a property in Mar a Lago that is saying that very thing. Let's reduce taxes, and if you earn, you know, if you've been employed to to earn a th hundred thousand dollars a year, guess what you're gonna take home in your pocket a hundred thousand dollars a year? I'm pretty sure that's what President Trump is talking about, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Yes, he is. He's talking about eliminating income taxes and replacing them replacing the income with income to the government from tariffs.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Indeed.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

A very important fact a very important fact young people don't know is that prior to the year nineteen thirteen, when the first federal income tax was enacted, all of govern all of the federal government's revenue came from tariffs on imported goods and customs fees and excise taxes on products like alcohol and tobacco. Those taxes, which were not paid by individuals, funded the United States government from its inception in 1787 right up to 1913.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

And guess what happened straight after that? The First World War. I think you've just nailed our conversation for next week, Lawrence, and how the tax the tax and financial system and that uh that first world war unfolded. Uh there might might be some connections there. Always great to talk to you. Terrific insights on the economy, the values and views of people in New York, and more importantly, the impact it's having at the moment. So looking forward to our conversation next week.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Terrific. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Thank you. Lawrence Rojak, our resident US correspondent discussing Mam Dani, but from that context, the impact of the economy on New Yorkers and more importantly, the manner in which our younger generation are thinking and how much we are uh encouraging, much like in Australia, this codependency on anybody who's prepared to provide hand out.