Apparently everyone on Fox loves them some New York slum landlords.
After New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled his plans to make affordable housing more available in the city, Fox News personalities and guests fixated on the plan’s efforts combating negligent landlords. They declared that enforcement against negligent landlords amounted to “public theft,” said it was a “throwback to Stalin,” and ranted that legal action to turn over properties from them to more responsible stewards will lead to “mass killing” and similar atrocities.
One of the worst examples they cited was Laura Ingraham from this Wednesday, where she and her guest Bruce Blakeman served up this nasty bit of red baiting for her viewers:
INGRAHAM: If Mamdani is the new Democrat North Star, the debate over socialism is already over. The party has moved past it. And that means your future under Democrat rule could get a lot worse.
This isn't socialism — this is trending toward full-scale communism. They don't call him "commie Mamdani" for nothing.
Let's think about the first things communist governments do. They nationalize key industries to put the state in total control. It starts small — replacing local businesses with something state-run, like city-run grocery stores. But it doesn't stop there. They want to control the information you get, the media. They eventually shut down political opposition and seize private property.
MAMDANI: When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards — stewards that include community land trusts, nonprofits, or even the tenants themselves.
INGRAHAM: "Transfer ownership" — that's what the Soviets said. Translation: they're going to take everything you own, because you don't really deserve to own anything.
This is so much bigger than New York City. If these ideas can take hold there and be sold as non-threatening measures, it's only a matter of time before they hit other major cities — and then the suburbs. This is a warning we should all heed. If we do nothing to stop it, this style of governance trending toward communism is coming.
Here to discuss is Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Executive and New York gubernatorial candidate. Bruce, a friend of mine in Florida always says: "Laura, stop calling him a socialist — he's a full-blown communist. You've got to get your language right." Is that an overstatement, or is that essentially where we are?
BLAKEMAN: No, your friend is absolutely right. If you own a single-family home, a two-family home, an apartment building, a co-op, a condo, a small business, a grocery store, or a bodega — Zohran Mamdani wants to take your property. And Kathy Hochul will not stop him, but as governor, I will.
INGRAHAM: Do people not know where this always leads? Socialism to communism always leads to mass killing — extermination. It starts with free speech, a free press, freedom to associate, freedom to travel. It never starts with everything at once. It's gradual.
BLAKEMAN: The first thing they'll do is tax you to death. Then they'll take your property, and then your freedom. They want to control every aspect of New Yorkers' lives. It's shocking that people have bought into what Mamdani is saying.
But people are waking up. Everywhere I go — Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, anywhere across the state — people understand that Mamdani and Hochul do not believe in property rights. They're not going to make New York more affordable; they want to control every aspect of your life. And they are allowing anti-Semitism to fester. That's how it started in the Soviet Union. That's how it started with the Nazis in Germany. If we don't stop them, they will take over New York's government — and eventually America.
But I won't let that happen. The people of New York are smarter than that. They believe in capitalism, in creating wealth, economic opportunity, and jobs. That's exactly what I'll deliver — by lowering utility costs, cutting taxes, and creating better jobs and more economic activity so young people want to stay in New York.
INGRAHAM: New York can do so much better. When you mix left-wing Marxism with Islamism, you're going to get a whole lot of trouble raining down on New York and the country.
