AG Report 7.3.2025
PolitiFact Covers for Extreme NYC Mayoral Candidate
Over the years, I have spent considerable time highlighting how PolitiFact consistently allows spin from the left to guide its ratings, often taking Democrats at their word while adopting the least charitable interpretation of Republican claims. This pattern was evident again this week as PolitiFact attempted to downplay the extremism of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani by claiming the accusation that he is a communist is false.
The PolitiFact article cites Mamdani’s self-identification as a democratic socialist to suggest he merely supports “generous social welfare programs.” It differentiates this from communism, despite Mamdani’s proposed policies that involve increasing government control of private industries, by stating that communism “calls for government takeover of private property and control of industry.” However, to reach its “false” conclusion, PolitiFact overlooks numerous policy proposals and even statements where Mamdani explicitly states that one of his goals is “seizing the means of production.” A view that would qualify him for the Communist label based on their own definition.
A lot of the media is currently running puff pieces on Mamdani without exploring his past rhetoric and history of extremism.
As an aside: Communists often struggle with math involving tax dollars, and Mamdani is no exception. One of his main policy proposals is to establish government-run grocery stores. Setting aside that this, like many of his proposals, is a solution in search of a problem, his plan for implementing this idea reflects a poor understanding of accounting. Mamdani claims he would fund these grocery stores with the $140 million that the city allegedly spends subsidizing corporate grocery stores.
The problem?