July 22, 2025 • 15 mins
Zack Smith, Heritage Foundation, visited with Preston to discuss the road ahead for the Big Apple if voters elect a socialist Mayor.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Indeed, you are listening to the music that signals the
beginning of an hour on the Morning Show with Preston
Scott In Preston, he is Jose. It is Show fifty
four eleven, and I waste no time bringing on our
next guest, Zack Smith, familiar voice Heritage Foundation. Zach, how
(00:25):
are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on the show
this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Of course, a week ago you wrote a piece titled
look to London for a Glimpse of New York City's future.
This is all been precipitated by Zoran Mamdani. Tell everybody who.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
He is, Yeah, Zorn Mamdani. He is the leading candidate
to be New York City's next mayor. He recently won
the Democratic primary race. Of course, a heritage we do policy,
not politics. But what I did I looked at Zorn
mam Donnie's policies and it's not an exaggeration to say,
Preston that he is pushing hardcore Marxist policies in a
(01:12):
host of areas, and everything from policing and public safety,
which I write a lot about, to economics and housings.
He's proposing to start government run grocery stores. It's an
absolute horror show in terms of the policies he's putting forward.
And as a point out my piece, if we look
across the Atlantic Ocean to London, where many of these
(01:33):
same socialist type policies have already been implemented, it's been
an abject failure that I've led to more suffering from
the citizens there, and I think we could expect more
of the same in New York City if mom Donnie
is elected and able to implement his policies as well.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I want to just take a step backwards for a moment,
because I feel as though there's a lot of confusion.
We hear socialists, Marxist, Donald Trump says communist. Is there
really a difference.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, I would say they're all problemized ideology, sure, with
policies that don't work, that fundamentally don't work. But there
is a difference in terms of how far each is
willing to go with their policies. And certainly I think
if you look back to someone who identifies as a communist. Now,
I don't know that mom Donnie would self identify as
(02:29):
a communist, although I would say if you look at
what he has posted on his X feed previously. I
think he is certainly closer to that communist end of
the line, and what it means is typically in terms
of how far they're willing to go in terms of
undermining a basic capitalist concepts, how far they're willing to
(02:52):
redistribute property and wealth through taxation and other means as well.
And look, I think what's really rebiliant revealing Preston is
Mom Donnie, you know, four or five years ago, tweeted
a well known phrase that Karl Marx himself coined is
something to the effect of everyone according to their ability,
(03:12):
everyone according to their need. And anyone who's familiar with
that knows that phrase or some version of it came
directly from Karl Marx himself to push his new communist ideology.
So look, this is problematic stuff from top to bottom,
and nothing good for New York City or from our
country will come from it if Mom Donnie is able
(03:35):
to implement these policies.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I want to do a little deeper dive into what's
gone on in London. But before we do that, and
before the break, let me just ask you how problematic
is this guy's candidacy for the ranking members of the
Democrat Party, not just in New York but congressionally well.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I think it's very problematic. Look, even some Congression leaders
have had to condemn certain of his policies. In addition
to his problematic economic policies, he's also adopted many anti
Semitic policies as well. He's refused to condemn anti Semitic
slogans like Globalized in Timbada, other chants that have basically
(04:23):
condemned Israel for their actions in Gaza, and so this
has created a very real problem for Democratic candidates and
officeholders nationwide. But again, just from a policy perspective, Preston,
I think we should all be horrified at some of
what he's proposing.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Zach Smith with me from the Heritage Foundation, we're looking
at what is coming to New York City should they
go ahead and elect Zoron Mamdani as their next mayor.
And he compares what it could look like by looking
at what it does look like right now in London.
(05:03):
Paint the picture in London, who the mayor is and
how in the world did this guy get elected and
what's he done.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, it's not a good situation in London. It's the
current mayor is someone named Sadique Khan. He's a socialist
as well, not quite as far left as Zorroon Mamdani,
but certainly he embraces socialists of quasi Marxist type policies.
And if you look at what's happened in London since
he's been elected, you've seen crime, sore, violent crime, stuff,
(05:32):
shoplifting are all up. It's public housing sector in London
is abysmal. The private rental sector. He's taken efforts to
try to shrink that intentionally, and so as a result,
you're seeing a surge in homelessness. He's also helped to
weaponize London police to monitor online speech to enforce kind
of the liberal socialist orthodoxy. I think we've all probably
(05:56):
seen pictures of people in the United Kingdom, in London,
specifically being arrested for praying silently outside of abortion clinics,
for being interrogated about posts they've made on social media.
He's certainly been supportive of those efforts as well, and
unfortunately he's also helped to stoke some of the same
anti Semitic type rhetoric that we've seen Mamdani helped to
(06:19):
stoke as well, and I'll give one example that I
talk about in my piece in twenty twenty three, on
our Mystic Day, which is the UK's equivalent of Veterans Day,
essentially three hundred thousand pro Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the ceremonies
the other solemn events that were taking that day, and
(06:40):
con didn't really rebuke them, He only nominally said something.
And as a result of that, reported anti Semitic incidents
in London it's surged by staggering one three hundred and
fifty percent in the week's afterwards. And you see this
time and time again. In a speech he gave at
the close of raw Amadan, he condemned Israel for their
(07:02):
supposed occupation of Gaza, and yet he never has condemned
Hamas Preston, Are there October seventh attack in that same
speech or anything like that? So problematic stuff from top
to bottom.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We've documented on the show Zach the headway that Islam
has made in England, but certainly in London, the existence
of Shariah courts across the country. Is this an indicator
his election and his place in London? Is this an
indicator of just British indifference? Or is this a greater
(07:40):
indicator of Islamic impact and influence.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, you know, it's really a strange situation because if
you look at his policies, many of his policies are
very left leaning, very liberal, very out of line with
other Muslim members of the British political community there. And
so you have him focusing on things like climates, justice,
(08:06):
things like DEI initiatives, and really the one area, unfortunately
where he seems to align, particularly with other far white
members of the Islamic community there in Britain, is in
some of the anti Semitic rhetoric that he has embraced
and used and allowed to flourish under his rule. And look,
I think again, if you look at Mamdani and some
(08:28):
of what he said, you know, not a lot of
people realized before he was a politician, before he was
in the State House there in New York, he was
a small time rapper essentially, how I would phrase it.
He performed under the stage name mister Cartermom. You can
go on YouTube look up some of his videos, but
there's a line in one of his songs he says,
(08:49):
quote my love to the Holy Land five you'd better
look them up. Well, I did look him up, and
I think your readers, if they're interesting, can look them
up as well. And if you do that, you'll quickly
find out that the Holy nine to five are individuals
who are convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.
And that is the individual that he was giving praise
(09:11):
to before he was ever in the political world, before
he was in the political arena. And I think that's
a very problematic thing in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Zack Smith with me. We're talking about a piece he's written,
Look to London for a Glimpse of New York City's Future,
and he points to the mayoral disaster of London that
is Sadi Khan, and just looking at the policies advanced
by Zoe Randmum Donnie in New York City, who is
right now you would have to say the leading candidate.
(09:44):
But I want to go back and ask you, Zach,
aren't we fundamentally facing maybe a bigger problem than that is,
how is it possible that someone that espouses socialist Marxist
communist views is a heel described socialist? How can they
even run for office when they're asked to uphold the Constitution?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well? Look, I think what we're seeing is a failure
of basic civics education in many respects. Preston that so
many people have been taken in by these talking points,
this philosophy that has failed time and time again wherever
whenever it has been tried, and I think that's why
you're seeing Governor DeSantis others placing such an emphasis on
(10:28):
civics education so that citizens are equipped to understand and
push back against this philosophy whenever someone brings it up
and tries to repackage it in a new social media
friendly format. But look, you're absolutely right. I think we
should be troubled by the fact that this ideology has
taken off. We should be troubled that so many people,
(10:48):
particularly at the local level around the country, have adopted
this policy. But I think that's why it's so important
to have these conversations, so that we can push back
against it and point out you know, socialisms and Marxisms
and communisms, mini flaws and many failures.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You mentioned to me in the break though, that there's
even another layer to this and it has to do
with citizenship.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well, that's right. Look, I think we've seen some questions
being raised around what Zoron Mamdani may have filled out
on his citizenship application form. Whenever you apply to be
a US citizen, to be naturalized, as Mamdanni is, you
have to essentially swear, essentially that you're not going to
adopt policies that undermine the current system of government, that
(11:37):
don't undermine the United States. And so you've seen some
calls to examine that. I don't know that they've gained
much traction yet, but I think it is a very
interesting question to ask, is you know, if someone espouses
these socialist, Marxist, communist ideologies, certainly seems to me like
that would undermine our current system of government. And so
(11:57):
I think that's why you've seen some calling for his
naturalization forms and others to be closely examined.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Well, let me, I happen to have, as fate would
have it, in my stack of papers that I refer
to from time to time, literally here at all times,
the Oath for Naturalization, and it says at the very
beginning that I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely
and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to
(12:28):
any foreign, prints potentate state, or sovereignty of whom or
which I have here too been a subject or citizen.
And this is the part that you're alluding to, Zach,
that I will support and defend the Constitution and the
laws again of the United States, against all enemies foreign
and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance
(12:48):
to the same. How can someone be a socialist or
Marxist or communist and stay true to that oath. That's
not possible. They are in contradiction to each other.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, look, it's I think that's a great question. But
it's more than that too, Preston. Look, you have to
fill out detailed information, you have to go through extiences
and background checks, you have to go through interviews, and
so it'd be very interesting to see what the answers
to some of those questions were throughout that process. But look, mom,
Donnie hasn't been shy about his policies. He hasn't been
(13:21):
shy about his positions. That's particularly true if you go
back and read his ex then Twitter feed from around
twenty twenty twenty twenty one. I leaked to some of
those posts in my article. You can go to my
own x feed at tz Smith. That's at tz Smith
where I highlight and talk about some of those posts
as well. But look, he's been very vocal about his
(13:42):
view that police officers should be defunded. You should defund
the police. He's been very vocal about his views that
socialist policies are the way forward, that we should freeze rents,
that we should gain implement government controls in many areas.
And so it's a litany of problematic Marxist based policies
(14:04):
that he's been advocating for for many years.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
At this point, all right, in closing forty five seconds,
what's better, New York go ahead and elect him as
your mayor and watch it all burn, or now you
got to keep him out of the office.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Well, it's not a great choice because at this point
your choice is either Zoran Mamdani or maybe Andrew Cuomo,
maybe Eric Adams, which have their own problematic policies as
a well. But look, I think this is a bad
thing for us as our country. Preston if Mamdani is
able to implement these policies, or if anyone is able
to implement these policies in one of our nation's biggest cities.
(14:42):
New York City has many problems, but fundamentally it is
a one of the iconic American cities on the world stage.
It carries a lot of weight in terms of the
financial markets, other areas of everyday American life. So this
would be a really bad thing if he's a able
to implement these policies, and I think he should serve
as a warning to the rest of our nation. And
(15:04):
that's someone who espouses these policies to be elected as
the mayor of a major American American city.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Perfect last word, Zach, thanks for the time today, be.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Well, of course, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Thank you, sir, Zach Smith with us from the Heritage Foundation.
You're in the Morning Show with Preston Scott.
Indeed, you are listening to the music that signals the
beginning of an hour on the Morning Show with Preston
Scott In Preston, he is Jose. It is Show fifty
four eleven, and I waste no time bringing on our
next guest, Zack Smith, familiar voice Heritage Foundation. Zach, how
(00:25):
are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on the show
this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Of course, a week ago you wrote a piece titled
look to London for a Glimpse of New York City's future.
This is all been precipitated by Zoran Mamdani. Tell everybody who.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
He is, Yeah, Zorn Mamdani. He is the leading candidate
to be New York City's next mayor. He recently won
the Democratic primary race. Of course, a heritage we do policy,
not politics. But what I did I looked at Zorn
mam Donnie's policies and it's not an exaggeration to say,
Preston that he is pushing hardcore Marxist policies in a
(01:12):
host of areas, and everything from policing and public safety,
which I write a lot about, to economics and housings.
He's proposing to start government run grocery stores. It's an
absolute horror show in terms of the policies he's putting forward.
And as a point out my piece, if we look
across the Atlantic Ocean to London, where many of these
(01:33):
same socialist type policies have already been implemented, it's been
an abject failure that I've led to more suffering from
the citizens there, and I think we could expect more
of the same in New York City if mom Donnie
is elected and able to implement his policies as well.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I want to just take a step backwards for a moment,
because I feel as though there's a lot of confusion.
We hear socialists, Marxist, Donald Trump says communist. Is there
really a difference.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, I would say they're all problemized ideology, sure, with
policies that don't work, that fundamentally don't work. But there
is a difference in terms of how far each is
willing to go with their policies. And certainly I think
if you look back to someone who identifies as a communist. Now,
I don't know that mom Donnie would self identify as
(02:29):
a communist, although I would say if you look at
what he has posted on his X feed previously. I
think he is certainly closer to that communist end of
the line, and what it means is typically in terms
of how far they're willing to go in terms of
undermining a basic capitalist concepts, how far they're willing to
(02:52):
redistribute property and wealth through taxation and other means as well.
And look, I think what's really rebiliant revealing Preston is
Mom Donnie, you know, four or five years ago, tweeted
a well known phrase that Karl Marx himself coined is
something to the effect of everyone according to their ability,
(03:12):
everyone according to their need. And anyone who's familiar with
that knows that phrase or some version of it came
directly from Karl Marx himself to push his new communist ideology.
So look, this is problematic stuff from top to bottom,
and nothing good for New York City or from our
country will come from it if Mom Donnie is able
(03:35):
to implement these policies.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I want to do a little deeper dive into what's
gone on in London. But before we do that, and
before the break, let me just ask you how problematic
is this guy's candidacy for the ranking members of the
Democrat Party, not just in New York but congressionally well.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I think it's very problematic. Look, even some Congression leaders
have had to condemn certain of his policies. In addition
to his problematic economic policies, he's also adopted many anti
Semitic policies as well. He's refused to condemn anti Semitic
slogans like Globalized in Timbada, other chants that have basically
(04:23):
condemned Israel for their actions in Gaza, and so this
has created a very real problem for Democratic candidates and
officeholders nationwide. But again, just from a policy perspective, Preston,
I think we should all be horrified at some of
what he's proposing.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Zach Smith with me from the Heritage Foundation, we're looking
at what is coming to New York City should they
go ahead and elect Zoron Mamdani as their next mayor.
And he compares what it could look like by looking
at what it does look like right now in London.
(05:03):
Paint the picture in London, who the mayor is and
how in the world did this guy get elected and
what's he done.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, it's not a good situation in London. It's the
current mayor is someone named Sadique Khan. He's a socialist
as well, not quite as far left as Zorroon Mamdani,
but certainly he embraces socialists of quasi Marxist type policies.
And if you look at what's happened in London since
he's been elected, you've seen crime, sore, violent crime, stuff,
(05:32):
shoplifting are all up. It's public housing sector in London
is abysmal. The private rental sector. He's taken efforts to
try to shrink that intentionally, and so as a result,
you're seeing a surge in homelessness. He's also helped to
weaponize London police to monitor online speech to enforce kind
of the liberal socialist orthodoxy. I think we've all probably
(05:56):
seen pictures of people in the United Kingdom, in London,
specifically being arrested for praying silently outside of abortion clinics,
for being interrogated about posts they've made on social media.
He's certainly been supportive of those efforts as well, and
unfortunately he's also helped to stoke some of the same
anti Semitic type rhetoric that we've seen Mamdani helped to
(06:19):
stoke as well, and I'll give one example that I
talk about in my piece in twenty twenty three, on
our Mystic Day, which is the UK's equivalent of Veterans Day,
essentially three hundred thousand pro Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the ceremonies
the other solemn events that were taking that day, and
(06:40):
con didn't really rebuke them, He only nominally said something.
And as a result of that, reported anti Semitic incidents
in London it's surged by staggering one three hundred and
fifty percent in the week's afterwards. And you see this
time and time again. In a speech he gave at
the close of raw Amadan, he condemned Israel for their
(07:02):
supposed occupation of Gaza, and yet he never has condemned
Hamas Preston, Are there October seventh attack in that same
speech or anything like that? So problematic stuff from top
to bottom.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We've documented on the show Zach the headway that Islam
has made in England, but certainly in London, the existence
of Shariah courts across the country. Is this an indicator
his election and his place in London? Is this an
indicator of just British indifference? Or is this a greater
(07:40):
indicator of Islamic impact and influence.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, you know, it's really a strange situation because if
you look at his policies, many of his policies are
very left leaning, very liberal, very out of line with
other Muslim members of the British political community there. And
so you have him focusing on things like climates, justice,
(08:06):
things like DEI initiatives, and really the one area, unfortunately
where he seems to align, particularly with other far white
members of the Islamic community there in Britain, is in
some of the anti Semitic rhetoric that he has embraced
and used and allowed to flourish under his rule. And look,
I think again, if you look at Mamdani and some
(08:28):
of what he said, you know, not a lot of
people realized before he was a politician, before he was
in the State House there in New York, he was
a small time rapper essentially, how I would phrase it.
He performed under the stage name mister Cartermom. You can
go on YouTube look up some of his videos, but
there's a line in one of his songs he says,
(08:49):
quote my love to the Holy Land five you'd better
look them up. Well, I did look him up, and
I think your readers, if they're interesting, can look them
up as well. And if you do that, you'll quickly
find out that the Holy nine to five are individuals
who are convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.
And that is the individual that he was giving praise
(09:11):
to before he was ever in the political world, before
he was in the political arena. And I think that's
a very problematic thing in and of itself.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Zack Smith with me. We're talking about a piece he's written,
Look to London for a Glimpse of New York City's Future,
and he points to the mayoral disaster of London that
is Sadi Khan, and just looking at the policies advanced
by Zoe Randmum Donnie in New York City, who is
right now you would have to say the leading candidate.
(09:44):
But I want to go back and ask you, Zach,
aren't we fundamentally facing maybe a bigger problem than that is,
how is it possible that someone that espouses socialist Marxist
communist views is a heel described socialist? How can they
even run for office when they're asked to uphold the Constitution?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Well? Look, I think what we're seeing is a failure
of basic civics education in many respects. Preston that so
many people have been taken in by these talking points,
this philosophy that has failed time and time again wherever
whenever it has been tried, and I think that's why
you're seeing Governor DeSantis others placing such an emphasis on
(10:28):
civics education so that citizens are equipped to understand and
push back against this philosophy whenever someone brings it up
and tries to repackage it in a new social media
friendly format. But look, you're absolutely right. I think we
should be troubled by the fact that this ideology has
taken off. We should be troubled that so many people,
(10:48):
particularly at the local level around the country, have adopted
this policy. But I think that's why it's so important
to have these conversations, so that we can push back
against it and point out you know, socialisms and Marxisms
and communisms, mini flaws and many failures.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You mentioned to me in the break though, that there's
even another layer to this and it has to do
with citizenship.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well, that's right. Look, I think we've seen some questions
being raised around what Zoron Mamdani may have filled out
on his citizenship application form. Whenever you apply to be
a US citizen, to be naturalized, as Mamdanni is, you
have to essentially swear, essentially that you're not going to
adopt policies that undermine the current system of government, that
(11:37):
don't undermine the United States. And so you've seen some
calls to examine that. I don't know that they've gained
much traction yet, but I think it is a very
interesting question to ask, is you know, if someone espouses
these socialist, Marxist, communist ideologies, certainly seems to me like
that would undermine our current system of government. And so
(11:57):
I think that's why you've seen some calling for his
naturalization forms and others to be closely examined.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Well, let me, I happen to have, as fate would
have it, in my stack of papers that I refer
to from time to time, literally here at all times,
the Oath for Naturalization, and it says at the very
beginning that I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely
and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to
(12:28):
any foreign, prints potentate state, or sovereignty of whom or
which I have here too been a subject or citizen.
And this is the part that you're alluding to, Zach,
that I will support and defend the Constitution and the
laws again of the United States, against all enemies foreign
and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance
(12:48):
to the same. How can someone be a socialist or
Marxist or communist and stay true to that oath. That's
not possible. They are in contradiction to each other.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, look, it's I think that's a great question. But
it's more than that too, Preston. Look, you have to
fill out detailed information, you have to go through extiences
and background checks, you have to go through interviews, and
so it'd be very interesting to see what the answers
to some of those questions were throughout that process. But look, mom,
Donnie hasn't been shy about his policies. He hasn't been
(13:21):
shy about his positions. That's particularly true if you go
back and read his ex then Twitter feed from around
twenty twenty twenty twenty one. I leaked to some of
those posts in my article. You can go to my
own x feed at tz Smith. That's at tz Smith
where I highlight and talk about some of those posts
as well. But look, he's been very vocal about his
(13:42):
view that police officers should be defunded. You should defund
the police. He's been very vocal about his views that
socialist policies are the way forward, that we should freeze rents,
that we should gain implement government controls in many areas.
And so it's a litany of problematic Marxist based policies
(14:04):
that he's been advocating for for many years.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
At this point, all right, in closing forty five seconds,
what's better, New York go ahead and elect him as
your mayor and watch it all burn, or now you
got to keep him out of the office.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Well, it's not a great choice because at this point
your choice is either Zoran Mamdani or maybe Andrew Cuomo,
maybe Eric Adams, which have their own problematic policies as
a well. But look, I think this is a bad
thing for us as our country. Preston if Mamdani is
able to implement these policies, or if anyone is able
to implement these policies in one of our nation's biggest cities.
(14:42):
New York City has many problems, but fundamentally it is
a one of the iconic American cities on the world stage.
It carries a lot of weight in terms of the
financial markets, other areas of everyday American life. So this
would be a really bad thing if he's a able
to implement these policies, and I think he should serve
as a warning to the rest of our nation. And
(15:04):
that's someone who espouses these policies to be elected as
the mayor of a major American American city.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Perfect last word, Zach, thanks for the time today, be.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Well, of course, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Thank you, sir, Zach Smith with us from the Heritage Foundation.
You're in the Morning Show with Preston Scott.
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