Bill Maher on possibility of Mamdani as New York City mayor: 'We’ve never had someone this radical'

Comedian Bill Maher sparred Friday with one of his guests Rep Jason Crow D-Colo when the lawmaker dismissed criticism of New York City s Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a contrived villain or boogeyman He s not contrived He s gonna be the mayor of New York Maher argued The late-night show host cited Mamdani's Marxist positions such as the abolition of private property after he declared that the Big Apple has never had someone this radical There s a lot of opposition to Mamdani because we ve never had someone this radical Maher warned Particular of the things he says you know he quotes Marxists each according to their need I mean that s straight up Communism 'EXISTENTIAL THREAT' JEWISH LEADERS WARN OF NYC 'MASS EXODUS' IF ZOHRAN MAMDANI WINS IN NOVEMBERMeanwhile Rep Crow maintained that a boogeyman like Mamdani comes around every ballot cycle for Republicans They inevitably try to create a villain is my point he mentioned They dependably try to create various boogeyman or bogeywoman No these are quotes I m not creating anything I m quoting Mamdani Maher debated The comedian s second guest columnist James Kirchick did not hesitate to chime in about the criticism Mamdani has received from conservatives Everything that the crazy far-right alleged about Obama wasn t born in America Islamist socialist antisemite hates America it s all true about this guy Mamdani Kirchick claimed TOP DEMOCRATS MEDIA DEMAND ZOHRAN MAMDANI CONDEMN 'GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA' PHRASE Kirchick went on to describe what he finds the most of appalling about Mamdani He defends the expression globalize the intifada which explicitly means and I don t wanna hear anyone deny this it means kill Jews whenever and wherever you can find them Kirchick added The Secret City author hit both sides of the political aisle comparing Democrats who are not refusing to endorse Mamdani to Republicans years ago who were letting Trump go on and on and they weren t standing up to him NEW YORKERS SKEPTICAL AFTER ZOHRAN MAMDANI DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM PHRASE GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA I feel with this guy we re seeing the same sort of cowardice and spinelessness Kirchick asserted In July the New York Times published that Mamdani reported a group of business leaders he would not use the phrase globalize the intifada and he would discourage others from using it The American Pulse polling firm conducted a survey in July in which it uncovered that of New York City voters sponsorship Mamdani s refusal to condemn the phrase globalize the intifada and his backing of the anti-Israel boycott movement