Zohran Mamdani Hit With More Bad News After Walking Back Grocery Store Announcement

You might have caught the hubbub about New York City Grocery Czar and Islamocommie Mayor Zohran Mamdani walking back "libraryesque" IDs for his brilliant ~~never-before-tried~~ discounted food scheme.

As Rusty Weiss broke down this morning, Mamdani invited the entire country to raid the pantry shelves in a free-for-all that would make Black Friday sales look like an Agoraphobics' Anonymous convention.

The implication is clear here. The outrage was a construct of the right. A fiction. And of course, Mediaite helped spread that idiotic narrative, with their angle that Mamdani "laugh(ed) off" the "MAGA uproar."
The "uproar" was over the hypocrisy. And the concerns were not made up.
Jeanny Pak, the interim president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said: "We are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be a sort of library card-esque thing, and also we manage who’s buying and that it is focused on everyday New Yorkers."
Pretty clear-cut statement there.

So, instead of issuing IDs like his comrade Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela after the black markets sprang up, Mamdani basically declared "open borders" for government-subsidized supermarkets.

Pssst. Here's a dirty little secret. It's not like these government-backed supermarkets are actually designed to work.

As if. Government-backed supermarkets are designed to crowd out legitimate businesses, drive down their profits, run them out of town, dry up the tax base, and push New York City even closer to the cliff of full-blown socialism. (You can go ahead and bookmark this now if you doubt me.)

But there's more bad news for The Zohran. Another pie-in-the-sky project is running into trouble already, and it cuts to the core of one of Mamdani's campaign promises: universal childcare.

Turns out, Mamdani's pet project is akin to a dead parrot.

Not a bad trope for socialism, is it?

New Yorkers pining for a cost-effective way to fund Nannies-for-All are going to be grossly disappointed.

The New York Post says the cost overrun would be billions higher than the mayor promised.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s universal childcare plan will cost 50% more than he advertised, according to a new study.
The proposed program is estimated to cost a whopping $9 billion annually, approximately with an average cost per child roughly $27,000, according to the report from the Center for New York City Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with the New School.
“An estimated $8.7 to $9.3 billion would be needed annually to fund universal child care in New York City,” the report, which was released on Monday, states.

Those pesky laws of economics. Always foiling socialists' plans.

Now, if Zohran Mamdani breaking campaign promises looks familiar to you, let's revisit one more: Making bus fares "free."

Looks like that scheme has already fallen to the wayside, as The Gothamist recently pointed out.
It still costs $3 to ride the MTA’s buses, despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign pledge to make them free for everyone.
But don’t tell that to a growing number of New Yorkers who are evading the fare. The MTA last week reported paid bus ridership fell nearly 8% in June compared to the same month last year, despite the subway and commuter railroads bringing in more fares.
During Mamdani’s first six months in office, the fares the MTA collected from bus riders fell by $31 million compared to the first half of 2025. And MTA Chair Janno Lieber suggested Mamdani’s campaign pledge wasn’t helping.

"With malice towards none, I say all the talk of free bus has an impact, it does have an impact,” Lieber said. “Without rancor and without blame, I do think we have to now turn as a city to re-establishing the principle that everybody shares in the responsibility for contributing to this system.”

Collective responsibility is the catch to all of these utopian socialist projects. There is always an authoritarian stick on the other side of these carrots of "free stuff."

Thus comes the paradox of socialism: When all of the stuff you thought was "free" runs out, you will find that you are "unfree."

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.

Help us continue to report on the president’s economic successes and combat the lies of the Democrats. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.