Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday posted a picture to social media comparing himself to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a move many criticized as arrogant.
However, the broader issue is Mamdani’s apparent belief that he represents a modern parallel to FDR, a figure often held up by the left as a transformative leader during the Great Depression and in American history. That comparison points to a deeper problem with Mamdani’s political strategy, one that the left is often unwilling to acknowledge: that their approach has done little to benefit the United States.
5.21.26. 4:10PM. Live. pic.twitter.com/OFzcNXm5wH
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 20, 2026
The left hails FDR as a hero for single-handedly saving the United States from the failures of “laissez-faire” capitalism. His approach involved expanding what conservatives often describe as a de facto fourth branch of government, the federal bureaucracy, through a wide range of programs administered with taxpayer funds and promoted as serving the public good. He expanded the welfare state, increased government regulatory structures, and helped cement the idea that not only could markets fail, but that government intervention was nearly always the solution.
In other words, FDR is the architect of the modern federal welfare state and regulatory system, and a key influence on contemporary Democratic views about the role of government in economic life.
But what the left never admits is that FDR’s success was built on a series of flawed assumptions. Much of the prevailing narrative about the Great Depression was challenged and even disproven by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, who argued that the wave of bank failures had more to do with Federal Reserve policy than with a lack of regulation or market control.
Mamdani will be no different in New York City, and that’s why his comparison of himself to FDR is so ironic.
The left will hail him as a hero and a fighter for the working class, someone who proved that government intervention can help the working class, address the affordability crisis, and bring an end to the negative connotations surrounding the term “socialist.”
Why? Because that’s what he said during his press conferences, and that's enough for many. However, the actual effects of his policies will not sound much like his rhetoric.
Mamdani is dangerous not only for his policies, but for the direction he could guide America in, a direction similar to FDR.
It is often more dangerous for typical beliefs about government to be changed and blindly accepted than the policies themselves. Mamdani will do just that, as he spearheads a positive image for democratic socialists across the country and, through little more than a strong social media presence, presents his policies as helping everyday Americans as much as he has claimed they would.