Forget Karl — Mamdani’s Uses Groucho Marx’s Principal Routine: Flip-Flopping His Way to City Hall 

Mamdani isn’t channeling Karl Marx “controlling the means of production,” anymore — he’s doing his best Groucho Marx impression: “These are my principles. If you don’t like them… I have others.” 

Case in point: his whiplash-inducing 180 on “defund the police.” In the primary, Mamdani proudly backed the dangerous, radical idea. Now, in the general election race for mayor, he says he’s against it — conveniently right after meeting with the family of slain NYPD Detective First Grade Didarul Islam. We’d like to think this was a genuine change of heart. But the timing? Pure political survival. 

This is the same Mamdani whose primary appeal was supposed “authenticity” — the socialist with “long-held principles,” defund the police, no testing for specialized high schools, and hostility to Israel. Back then, voters knew exactly what they were getting. Now? He’s trying to rebrand as a moderate while quietly keeping the old Mamdani agenda alive. Even his sudden change of heart on testing for NYC’s specialized high schools looks less like a thoughtful policy shift and more like a blatant pander for votes in the Asian community. 

Even in his “new” safety plan, he’s still pushing a Department of Community Safety — a rival NYPD-lite operation staffed by loyal Mamdani operatives, designed to bleed the police budget dry. That’s just “defund” with a PR scrub — and a flashback to Bill de Blasio’s ThriveNYC boondoggle, which made over a billion dollars for the mentally ill vanish without results. 

And on the Middle East? Don’t be fooled. He may retire “Globalize the Intifada” for softer-sounding lines like “From the River to the Sea,” but the meaning doesn’t change: no Israel. Mamdani still backs the antisemitic BDS movement and opposes the Jewish state’s right to exist. Offering more cops to protect Jews from violence is meaningless if you’re also fanning the flames of hate. 

There are still three months until Election Day. How many more of his “principles” will Mamdani swap out before November — and will voters even recognize him by then?