Zohran Mamdani referenced Margaret Thatcher during an address marking his 100 days as Mayor of New York City.
Speaking to a crowd at the Knockdown Center, a former factory in Queens, on Sunday (12 April), he said, "I have thought often of the Margaret Thatcher quote, 'the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.'"
Highlighting a local budget deficit larger than that of the Great Recession, the politician added, "If anything, it seems you eventually need a socialist to clean up the mess."
Mamdani took office in January after a campaign centered on making New York City a more affordable place to live, pledging to refocus the vast power of government toward helping the city's struggling working class.