Former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew slammed New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for his policy proposals based on socialist initiatives.
Mamdani has promised to push for free buses, free childcare and rent freezes if elected to office.
“The policies that he’s outlined are not policies that are good for New York. He’s running for mayor of New York, and I worry deeply having spent most of my life in New York about a city that I call home,” Lew, who served in the Obama administration, said during a Wednesday appearance on CNBC.
“You know, I see a similarity between the kind of policy solutions to the left and the right, and — you know, that satisfy populist sentiment don’t always go through the filter of do they work. I don’t think they work, and I think that’s a problem,” he added.
Republicans, including the president, have openly railed against Mamdani.
“As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York,” President Trump wrote in a Wednesday Truth Social, a reference to Mamdani.
“Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”
Others have alleged that Mamdani, a Muslim, is anti-Semitic and criticized him for urging the U.S. to recognize Palestine as a state.
However, the most frequent point of contention remains his economic policies.
“You might have a democratic socialist sprinkled here and there, but that ain’t what America is. America’s about capitalism! America’s about dollars and cents,” Stephen A. Smith said during his Tuesday show, urging Democrats not to promote others like Mamdani.
Despite critiques, Mamdani edged out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in the Democratic primary and captured a majority of the votes from the Washington Heights, Flatbush, Williamsburg, Astoria, Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights neighborhoods.
“I’ve already had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am,” Mamdani said about Trump’s remarks during a Sunday appearance on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“He wants to distract from what I’m fighting for. I’m fighting for the very working people he ran a campaign to empower that he has since then betrayed.”
The two have already publicly clashed over Mamdani’s promise to help New York City remain a sanctuary city if elected as mayor.
