Victor Davis Hanson Shares How Mamdani Intends to Achieve ‘His Ultimate Aim’

Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson said Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity” that he believes socialist Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani will test how “far he can go” if elected, based on a 2021 statement the nominee made.

Since winning the nomination, Mamdani has faced callouts from Republicans and some Democrats for past remarks expressing anti-police sentiments and for refusing to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Discussing the deepening division between left and right, Fox’s Sean Hannity asked Hanson if reconciliation is possible despite the wide ideological differences.

“Well, they’re incompatible with the history of the United States, the 249 years, and you have to refute them at the polls. Everybody has to get out in November and do something historic and win for the end party, the Republicans. A huge midterm victory, and that will refute it,” Hanson said. “That’s how McGovernism was refuted. That’s how Carterism was, but this is much more extreme.”

One of Mamdani’s recent controversies stems from his use of the phrase “seizing the means of production,” which is tied to socialist and communist ideology. Philosopher Friedrich Engels, co-founder of Marxism, wrote in “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific” that when society seizes the means of production, “production of commodities is done away with, and, simultaneously, the mastery of the product over the producer.”

During a Young Democratic Socialists of America winter conference in 2021, Mamdani appeared on the livestream as a guest speaker. Attending for an over 40-minute session, Mamdani said that while some issues like Medicare and eliminating student debt have “popular” support in the U.S., others, like “the end goal of seizing the means of production” don’t have the same support “at this very moment.”

“David made a really good point, Sean, that Mamdani didn’t say this as a young person, he said it just four years ago. And he used this term ‘seize the means of production.’ That’s a direct English translation of a German catchphrase by Friedrich Engels,” Hanson said. “If you look at what he said was you got to be very slow and get people acculturated, but just because you’re moving them toward that direction doesn’t mean your ultimate goal is not to seize the means of production.”

Read More: https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2025/10/03/seize-the-means-of-production-victor-davis-hanson-shares-how-mamdani-intends-to-achieve-his-ultimate-aim/