Now that democratic socialism is having a moment, political figures who adhere to the ideology or belong to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are fielding questions about it. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who self-identifies as a socialist, is a savvy politician, and so he quite deliberately misrepresents the definition of socialism in order to make it seem benign and unobjectionable. He is doing this frequently enough—and consistently enough—that he may be succeeding in tricking a great number of people into accepting a nonsensical, discredited, and dangerous ideology.
He has help from comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart, who interviewed Mamdani on his podcast this week. Their conversation is incredibly characteristic of Mamdani's approach to the socialism question. Stewart asks Mamdani to define democratic socialism, and gets this answer: "It means making the choice every day to fight for working people. It means you believe that everyone in your city deserves to live a dignified life, no matter how much money is in their pocket."
