A former GOP insider laughed Thursday about how "Republicans are losing their crap" over the new conservative bogeyman: Zohran Mamdani.
Michael Steele, MSNBC host, former Republican National Committee chair, and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, described the Republican reaction to Mamdani's run for New York City mayor and told MSNBC's Chris Jansing that this isn't just a local race — it has national impact — following pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman's $1 million donation to Defend NYC, an anti-Mamdani super PAC.
"This is a municipal race. Yeah, New York City is a big deal in the scheme of other cities, I guess. But the reality remains, the fact that you've got, you know, millions of dollars flowing in from, you know, these third-party sources that Republicans seem to be losing their crap over," Steele said, laughing. "And saying all these things about him says more about the man himself running than the city, the race. It is about the fact that he comes outside of the political system."
Steele commented about how the election reminds him of other political candidates who have campaigned against the status quo.
"The thinking is it's easy to demagogue against him and demonize him as something that he may or may not be. You know, 'he's a communist.' 'He's a socialist.' 'He's outside the order of things.' And the interesting thing about that, the order is being itself deconstructed by Donald Trump. The order of things is being upended by the very man and his allies, who seemingly want to go after the guy who is outside the system. So I find that to be very, very intriguing in that regard," Steele added.
He argued that reality will settle in after the election, regardless of who wins.
"Look, at the end of the day, if he wins, he's going to have to do like every other mayor of New York. And that is figure out how to govern the things that he's proposed and says he wants, while he's saying he wants to cut the cost — cost money," he said. "So you know that's the reality that New Yorkers are having to deal with and how they balance that. Everybody else is trying to inject themselves into a race that at the end of the day, is going to fit within the order of things, even though the players outside the system, Donald Trump et al, are themselves trying to disrupt that order."
Voters will ultimately decide, and Mamdani will have to seek answers to resolving tough problems.
"Campaigning is one thing," Steele argued. "The reality of Mamdani is he's offering a pathway that's different and that's good. That's refreshing. I'd like to see him close the deal and reconcile the 'free' with the price tag that's awaiting, whether it's healthcare, grocery stores, whatever it is, is on his agenda."