Left-Wing Podcast Host Fears Zohran Mamdani Is 'Going in the Wrong Direction'

Briahna Joy Gray, the left-wing host of Bad Faith, warned that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani could be trading away his agenda for state money.

Gray framed it as a concern, and allowed that Mamdani has been "accomplishing some good things in New York City."

Briahna Joy Gray Leans on Jonathan Chait's Mamdani Critique

Gray built much of her case on a recent Atlantic column by Jonathan Chait that holds Mamdani up as a pragmatic moderate. In the column, Chait points to the mayor keeping Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and pulling back from free buses, according to a Free Press response to the piece. Gray noted that the things Chait applauded "are things that the left would prefer that he didn't."

Gray summarized the column on air. She said it credits Mamdani for keeping Tisch and for scaling back his grocery store plans. In her description, his bus plan "is now just going to be fast but not free," and he had "been persuaded to keep the fares by Kathy Hochul." On groceries, she added a hedge of her own: "Even some of those plans have been, I think it's going to be one now. Don't quote me on that."

On child care, she said the plans were "constrained to adding, I think, 2000 new seats in the fall, as opposed to it actually being universal."

"Are we just doing neoliberalism and doing a level of incrementalism that ultimately is going to lead us down the path to disaster?" Gray asked.

What the Record Shows on Mamdani's Promises

The record backs up some of the claims and complicates others.

The grocery plan has not been cut to one store. The city still plans a store in every borough by the end of Mamdani's first term. Two sites are chosen, and the administration is still looking for sites in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

The 2,000 seats Gray mentioned are for 2-year-olds, not pre-K. The 2-K program rests on a $1.2 billion state commitment from Hochul, and on Monday the governor and the mayor announced a second phase that adds 10,000 seats next fall.

Tisch was appointed by former Mayor Eric Adams, not Hochul. Mamdani said before taking office that she would stay.

On buses, the state budget left fare-free service unfunded, but Mamdani has not dropped the goal. In May, his administration named a senior adviser for fast and free buses.

Hochul, Funding and Leverage

Gray's main complaint was about strategy as much as policy. She argued that Mamdani should be publicly pressuring a governor she called ideologically opposed to him.

Hochul is on the ballot herself on November 3. PolitiKool's polling average shows her leading Republican Bruce Blakeman by 11.1 points.

Isabella Weber Makes the Case for Gradualism

Gray's guest, University of Massachusetts Amherst economist Isabella Weber, was promoting her new book, Anti-Fascist Economics: In Defense of Affordability, Dignity, and Democracy. She was more patient with the mayor, though she said, "I'm not deep enough into New York City politics to judge that."

Weber argued for "pragmatic gradualism to build up power where you can." Opening one public grocery store first could prove the concept and build support for more, she said. The danger is building it only "as kind of a showcase thing to be able to go back to voters and say like, oh, but I did one."

"So it's a question of the direction of travel for me," Weber said. The test, she added, is: "have you fought to the maximum? Have you done everything that you can in pursuit of your agenda or are you caving?"

By the end of the episode, Gray had softened a little. She said "people like Zohran have done a lot to change the conversation" about how far government can intervene. She left open whether that would be enough.