NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A former supporter of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., says she can see through the “fantasy” that NYC mayoral candidate and self-avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani is selling.
“Charismatic, handsome, and social-media savvy, Mamdani amassed an enormous following of young New Yorkers and spurred more than 50,000 volunteers to get out and canvass for him,” Lucy Biggers, a former senior producer and correspondent for NowThis, a left-wing media company, wrote in a recent op-ed in The Free Press.
“His promise of free bus rides, free childcare, and government-run grocery stores — and his vow to tax the rich — reminded me of another young, good-looking, charismatic Democrat who upset a heavily favored party macher nearly a decade ago: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Biggers added.
SOCIALIST’S NYC MAYORAL WIN SPARKS FIERCE DEBATE OVER FEASIBILITY OF RADICAL POLICY AGENDA
Biggers, who calls herself a “former climate activist,” on her X profile, and is now a social media editor at The Free Press, says she understands Mamdani’s appeal because she was drawn to Ocasio-Cortez’s similar charm.
During her time as a video producer for NowThis, Biggers said she met and interviewed Ocasio-Cortez for an hour, and was completely taken by her drive, passion, and ideas.
“A few weeks later, the final video was published to our millions of followers,” Biggers wrote. “AOC’s charisma and big smile jump off the screen as she describes her establishment Democratic opponent, Joseph Crowley, as a sellout for the real-estate industry and describes herself as part of a larger movement. Every answer was articulate without seeming rehearsed. She was warm and relatable, and her authentic belief in what she was saying shined through.”
Biggers says that she sees the same type of drive in Mamdani, but that her views have changed since her sit-down with Ocasio-Cortez.
NEW YORK DEMOCRAT SAYS MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI ‘TOO EXTREME TO LEAD’
“I am now 35, a mother of two, and a homeowner. Like so many people before me, I have grown up, and my ideas have moderated,” Biggers said.
“Much of the hyperbole being thrown at Mamdani and his followers goes too far (for example, that Mamdani is a ‘100 percent Communist Lunatic,’ as Trump put it), but I no longer think that giving the government more of our money to run ‘free programs’ for us is the right way to do things,” she added. “Just spend time at the DMV and tell me if you want a government-run grocery store, as Mamdani is proposing.”
She pointed out that the hearts of people like Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani “are in the right place,” their ideas “are not the solutions that young people are seeking.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
“They have been mistakenly taught that our capitalist society is the source of all of their problems and that the only way to fix it is with more government spending,” Biggers said. “Whether from lack of life experience or just pure ignorance, they fail to realize that programs offering ‘free’ everything have to be paid for — and nothing is free. The policies they promote will lead to a more centralized government with more power, higher taxes, and a higher cost of living.”
Representatives for both Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani did not respond to Fox News Digital’s immediate request for comment.
Read the full article here
