You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
At least when it comes to the crop of new young socialist politicians, their subjects can certainly hope son.
Did I just say subjects? I meant "citizens". Because that's still officially the term, even if you live in NYC or Seattle.
But it's been a rough week or two for the crop of fresh-faced socialist fresh faces in the news.
I dislike schadenfreude. But I like watching AOC's colossal face-plant last week in Munich even more - along with the observation that I don't think she can pronounce schadenfreude.
Anyway - one more time before we move on:
AOC dismally failed a simple foreign policy question in Munich
— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) February 14, 2026
"Should the US commit troops to defend Taiwan?"
Both yes & no have decent arguments
Instead
She sputtered a word salad that made Kamala Harris say "Damn!"pic.twitter.com/5Yng8VasgQ
And I can't believe I'd missed this; AOC confronting, in the words of Sonia Sotomayor, an actual wise Latina, Argentine legislator Daiana Fernández Molero - a woman who's looking at the results of three generations of socialism through the rear view mirror:
AOC can’t stop embarrassing herself. Speaking at a roundtable during the Munich Security Conference, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seemed amused by the idea of a wealth tax, stating that it needs to be done “expeditiously,” but Argentinian house member Daiana Fernández Molero wasn't… pic.twitter.com/QddI4Hm3CY
— Ian Miles Cheong (@ianmiles) February 16, 2026
So that was the international stage.
More locally? Seattle's socialist mayor presided over a carnival of errors before and during her first "State of the City" address...
AMATEUR HOUR
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) February 18, 2026
After her team sent invites for her State of the City address with no date & had to resend, Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson came out completely unprepared for her first big address
This is what happens when you elect someone who never had a real job pic.twitter.com/t2QzkgG1vZ
...which, ironically, spun what has become a carnival of errors in Seattle.
But Zorhran Mamdani has the biggest urban stage in America, and is occupying it with the sort of panache lots of middle school kids occupy their stages with when they're doing their first play.
Mamdani has been in office for less than two months and his voters are already angry that taxes are going up for everyone, not just “the rich.”
— Alana Mastrangelo (@ARmastrangelo) February 20, 2026
That’s because socialism considers everyone rich until they are all poor.
Hey, you get what you vote for. pic.twitter.com/HD0JtI7joW
His tacit but inevitable reversal on his main campaign promise to "make New York City affordable", after New York governor Hochul rejected his entreaties to tax the rest of the state to pay for his plans cratered...
Mamdani went straight to Albany looking for a handout, demanding that Gov. Kathy Hochul raise taxes on the "ultra-wealthy" and the most profitable corporations. When Hochul told him to pound sand and cut spending instead, he obviously couldn’t do that, and now he is looking at saddling homeowners with a 9.5% property tax hike...Mamdani went straight to Albany looking for a handout, demanding that Gov. Kathy Hochul raise taxes on the "ultra-wealthy" and the most profitable corporations. When Hochul told him to pound sand and cut spending instead, he obviously couldn’t do that, and now he is looking at saddling homeowners with a 9.5% property tax hike.
...will raise rents and all other costs in the city, due to the explosion he's proposing in property tax rates, or lead to a collapse in the amount of housing. svailable as landlords ditch the money pit buildings.
And it is getting noticed:
Rumors that all three are "Manchurian Candidates" installed by Republicans to make the Democrats look bad for midterms are exaggerated...
...but wouldn't have been a bad idea.
