Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has issued a warning about the potential economic fallout of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s platform, describing the democratic socialist’s proposals as a threat to the city’s standard of living.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the upcoming mayoral race during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” where he addressed Mamdani’s rise as the frontrunner. While acknowledging Mamdani’s appeal to some voters, Musk said his policies would severely damage New York’s economy if implemented.
“Mamdani is a charismatic swindler,” Musk said. “I mean you gotta hand it to him, like, he can light up a stage, but he has just been a swindler his entire life.”
Musk continued, warning of broad economic consequences: “If Mamdani’s policies are put into place, especially at scale, it would be a catastrophic decline in living standards, not just for the rich, but for everyone. As has been the case with every socialist experiment.”
Zohran Mamdani, currently a member of the New York State Assembly, has based his campaign on implementing a range of democratic socialist policies if elected mayor. His platform includes major wage increases, expanded government services, and broad public housing initiatives.
Among his proposals is a plan to raise New York City’s minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030. Mamdani also supports increasing the city’s corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent, matching that of neighboring New Jersey. In addition, he has called for eliminating bus fares, creating a universal childcare system, and freezing rents for tenants in rent-stabilized housing.
Mamdani has said he intends to build 200,000 new units of “permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes” over the next decade. His platform also calls for establishing city-owned grocery stores that would operate rent-free and without property taxes, selling products at wholesale prices to provide what he calls a “public option” in the grocery market.
During an interview last month with Martha MacCallum, Mamdani said, “I’ve said time and time again that I believe these are the most straightforward ways that we can actually fund universal childcare, making buses fast and free, and I’ve said that the two clear ways to do so: raising personal income taxes on the top 1% by 2% and raising the corporate tax to match that of New Jersey’s corporate tax of 11.5%.”
“Now, if there are other ways to raise this money to fund this agenda, the most important thing is that we fund the agenda,” he added.
Pressed on whether his plan would require budget cuts elsewhere, Mamdani rejected the idea, insisting that higher taxes on wealthier New Yorkers could support his priorities without reducing existing programs.
“I don’t think we have to cut,” Mamdani said. “I’ve spoken about raising taxes on the wealthiest. And frankly, this is an issue that we have here in New York City, and frankly, even across this country.”
“When I’ve spoken to Trump voters right here in New York City — Hillside Avenue in Queens, Fordham Road in the Bronx — they’ve told me it was the cost of living that drove them to vote for Donald Trump,” Mamdani concluded.
https://www.lifezette.com/2025/11/elon-musk-warns-new-yorkers-about-the-charismatic-swindler-that-is-zohran-mamdani-watch/
