NBC’s Welker Presses Mamdani On Whether He Still Has Faith in Democratic Socialism Amid NYC’s $5.4B Shortfall

Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker questioned New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on whether his faith in democratic socialism has been shaken at all, now that his city is facing a $5.4 billion budget shortfall.

Despite that hefty challenge, the mayor told Welker he hasn’t lost an ounce of faith in his ideology during his Sunday interview.

“Now that you’ve bumped up against the hard realities of a $5.4 billion budget shortfall and the other red tape that you have to go through, do you still believe in democratic socialism? Do you still think it can be effective?” Welker asked.

“I believe in it even more than I did the day before,” Mamdani said. “And that’s because of the fact it’s focused on the needs of working people, and working people need that focus, that fight from politicians, more than ever.”

Their conversation ended there. Welker had asked him a moment earlier, in a question only seen in the extended MTP interview on YouTube, how he would define democratic socialism.

Here is Mamdani’s full answer:

It is the belief that democracy should extend from the ballot box to the rest of our lives. It’s the belief that we should be fighting for each and every person who calls the city home.

And in a practical sense, it’s the choice to not only deliver the first steps to universal childcare, but to do it while filling in 102,000 potholes, changing 6,700 catch basins, repaving more than 1,000 miles of roadway. Because what we known in our pothole politics and our sewer socialism is that the worth of an ideology can only be judged in its delivery, and that’s what we’re looking to do. We’re looking to deliver.

Mamdani’s interview comes a day after he was seen singing “Wheels on the Bus” alongside ex-President Barack Obama during a press event at a Bronx child care center. The mayor and the former commander-in-chief did not take questions from the press after the event.

Watch above via NBC.

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