Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type as a native Upper East Sider who actually likes when the trains arrive on time: Rep. Jamie Raskin just endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City. Yes, that Jamie Raskin—constitutional-law professor, impeachment all-star, and human footnote machine—now hitching his reputation to the self-styled socialist from Astoria who wants to turn this town into a graduate seminar on “public ownership of everything.”X (formerly Twitter)
Don’t get me wrong: Mamdani is undeniably talented at politics. He beat a well-known incumbent for Assembly in 2020 and has since ridden a progressive wave to become the Democratic nominee for mayor. He’s built a movement, and movements matter. But movements also need math. Free buses, universal childcare, rent freezes, and city-run supermarkets sound like a Brooklyn podcast—until you open the budget book and remember the numbers have to add up somewhere between the MTA, Albany, and Planet Reality. Even the Washington Post noted he’s been “backing off” some of his wildest positions as the general election looms, which tells you he knows the math, too. The Washington Post+2Zohran for NYC+2
The AOC endorsement was predictable; the movement sticks together. But watching Raskin—Democracy-Dies-in-Darkness incarnate—climb aboard is something else. The press even reported he compared Mamdani to FDR. FDR! Only in 2025 could a candidate who once flirted with “dismantle the police” now be framed as the second coming of the Hudson River Sphinx. Maybe next week we’ll get a fireside chat about congestion pricing. New York Post+1
And then there’s the foreign-policy cosplay. Mamdani says that as mayor he’d arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister set foot in New York—because nothing screams “fill the potholes and plow the snow” like a municipal showdown over the International Criminal Court. Legal scholars pointed out it’s not how any of this works, but hey, it lit up the group chats. Meanwhile, the rent is still due, the trash still piles up, and the subway still smells like a sociology thesis.The Guardian
If you’re wondering how this plays outside of Twitter and the staff-meeting circuit, consider the polls: Mamdani’s been leading post-primary, but even friendly coverage admits the race tightens in a two-way frame. Translation: the more this becomes “Is NYC ready for hard-edged socialism?” the less inevitable our progressive vanguard looks. Which might explain the strategic moderation tour and the sudden embrace of party elders who once rolled their eyes at DSA. Fox News+1
So what does Raskin’s endorsement actually buy New Yorkers? A lovely testimonial from a national figure who doesn’t have to live with the consequences when our city budget tries to cosplay as Scandinavia without the oil fund. It buys rhetorical fireworks about “the working and middle classes,” followed by the accounting trick where the bill lands on the same working and middle classes via new taxes and fees, plus the inevitable exodus of the tax base we quietly depend on—like we didn’t learn this movie’s ending during the last “tax the rich, hope they stay” reboot. New York Post
As Jacob Silver—the kid who grew up two blocks from a bodega that knows my coffee order—I want a city that can manage basic competence without needing a UN Security Council meeting every time a budget passes. If Mamdani truly becomes the FDR of the Five Boroughs, fantastic: build the bridges, run the trains, and don’t bankrupt the place. But if the plan is vibes, victory-laps, and viral clips about arresting foreign leaders while the Q train stalls again at 63rd, I’d politely ask Congressman Raskin to save the analogies—and New York to save itself.
Jacob Silver is a contributor for Direct Line News. He can be reached at Jacob.Silver@mcgopclub.com
Direct Line News is a Maryland-based free-access publication committed to the Republican reform tradition.
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