By Ray Cardello for September 4, 2025, Season 32 / Post 35 

Bernie Sanders has found the perfect companion, or maybe we should call him “comrade,” in Zohran Mamdani. Bernie Sanders declares himself as an Independent, but he has never cast a vote in good conscience for anything on the other side of the aisle. He could easily be labeled as a Socialist or Communist, and it would be far more accurate to describe Bernie Sanders’ political ideology. Sanders has been waiting his entire life, at least the life after he was writing porn stories, for a Socialist to be as close to the corner office of a head of a major city or state as Mamdani is to nailing down the election of Mayor of New York City. According to most polls, Mamdani, who has dual citizenship in Uganda and the United States, is running away with the race after defeating Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. Mamdani will be the worst thing to hit New York City since Bill de Blasio.

Bernie Sanders seems quite comfortable setting aside his responsibilities as Senator from Vermont to criss-cross the country on his Oligarchy Tour. His sidekick for the early stages of the tour was Sandy Cortez, Congresswoman from NY and aspiring replacement for Chuck Schumer in the Senate, but Bernie now has a new toy. Nobody takes Cortez seriously, but now he has someone proud to be a Socialist, and these two were made for each other. Bernie Sanders sees this candidate and election as a sign of Socialism becoming a mainstream Party, possibly replacing the floundering Democratic Party.

Sanders is completely frustrated with the Democratic Party leaders’ reluctance to endorse Mamdani for Mayor openly. The Party has been moving left for decades, and the effort was heightened by Barack Obama, who is responsible for the Squad. The Squad consists of a small, but noisy group of radical thinkers led by Sandy Cortez. This group hates America, and most of the members are foreign-born members of Congress who took advantage of the very country they despise to achieve their current positions. Cortez is the only member who has actually endorsed Mamdani, and out-going Representative Jerry Nadler has also jumped on the Mamdani train, but he has little to lose on his way out.

The irony of the support for Mamdani is that it is primarily coming from the city’s younger, wealthier residents. These are the very people whom Mamdani claims will be taxed to pay for the many “free” programs he is promising to New Yorkers. Free busing, free daycare, rent controls and subsidies, free education, and even government-run bodegas are on his list of freebies for the low-income individuals, which will be paid for by the upper crust of New Yorkers.

These ideas have all been tried and failed. Socialism and Communism have been tried, and nobody can point to where it has been successful for the people. Sanders is excited and rejuvenated with Mamdani, but after he helps to get him elected, he will be in neighboring Vermont, enjoying his three homes bought with the very merits of Capitalism that he and Mamdani condemn.