By John Loftus

Copyright dailycaller

A top Trump official argued that socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani might be an unfortunate but necessary “shock to the system” that could ultimately cure New York City’s many ills.

In a long profile of Mamdani published Tuesday in Vanity Fair, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made an interesting point about the candidate.

Zohran Mamdani has Kennedy-like charisma, a global profile, and nepo baby instincts. He is also a proud democratic socialist who has both Donald Trump and the left-wing establishment in a lather. In a new VF digital cover story, special correspondent @jhensonpogue examines the… pic.twitter.com/915Pqdkrie — VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) September 30, 2025

“I kind of like Mamdani winning,” he said. “Because the worst thing in a way would be when Cuomo comes back in, you just keep losing a little bit of altitude for four or eight more years, and they kind of hold it together, and more people leave. So if you could just say, ‘Okay, he’s a shock to the system, and there’s a chance you can come back from it.’” (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

Bessent is right. Four years of Cuomo would mean another four years of what got the city into its precarious position. Another four years of run-of-the-mill Democratic rule, with costs and rents skyrocketing. People would probably leave, though not at the rate if Mamdani was in office.

Mamdani, on the other hand, might trigger a precipitous economic collapse, a brain and capital drain, and a surge in crime that would force the city and its residents to ditch Democratic policies altogether. If his term is so chaotic and detrimental, they might be more willing to embrace a mayor who, for example, is fiscally conservative and tough on crime.

So, maybe Bessent has a point: the city needs to swallow its Mamdani medicine if it wants to flourish in years to come.

And as the administration weighs a (misguided) bailout of Argentina, Bessent has made it clear that they would not bail out New York City, should Mamdani win and his policies backfire.

As he prepares a $20 billion bailout for Argentina, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that the federal government will not bail out New York City in a financial crisis if the city elects Zohran Mamdani. Bessent says he will tell the city to “drop dead.” pic.twitter.com/8EYaBuh2pm — More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) September 25, 2025

“I guarantee you — and there are not a lot of things in life that are sure — that New York City will be coming to the federal government for a bailout if the Mamdani plans are implemented,” Bessent told Fox Business. He went on with a blunt analogy: “It will be the same thing that Gerald Ford said: ‘Drop dead.’”

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