The Treasury Secretary has warned New Yorkers they’re on their own if they elect Zohran Mamdani for mayor, an outcome looking increasingly likely despite the fury of the White House.
Mamdani, a left-leaning Democrat who has been branded a “communist” by the Oval Office, won the Democratic NYC mayoral primary with policies such as free childcare for all and city-owned grocery stores to keep prices down. He has also pledged to build 200,000 affordable housing units and increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and biggest corporations.
Bessent, who founded a global hedge fund in New York, has vowed that if the Big Apple finds itself in a budgetary bind because of these policies, then the government will refuse to help.
“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. Asked if that bailout would be provided, he referred to a legendary New York Daily News headline from the 1970s: “It will be the same thing that Gerald Ford said: Drop dead.”
While Bessent’s statement isn’t quite true (President Ford never actually said the words “Drop dead”), it does echo a situation in which the White House and America’s capital of capitalism had a falling out. Ford said he would refuse to assist NYC if it went bankrupt, though his tough love act was short-lived as he did end up signing off on loans which were repaid with interest.
