Conservative X users are skewing The New York Times over a story claiming Zohran Mamdani — the self-identified Democratic Socialist frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race — is not an actual socialist.

The Times’ story, published on Saturday and written by political reporter Jeffery C. Mays, includes a quote from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo that says “New York City people are not socialists.”

“Neither, actually, is Mr. Mamdani: He is a democratic socialist, which means his beliefs are similar to those of socialists but not exactly the same,” Mays wrote immediately after. “He is a member of both the national Democratic Socialists of America and its local New York City chapter.”

Mays’ story added that “the closest Mr. Mamdani gets to socialism is in his belief in treating people more equitably.”

Critics of the story were quick to point out several of Mamdani’s ideas fit the classic definition of socialism, including; public control of utilities, city-owned grocery stores, and free public transit.

Those above sections caught the eyes of many right-leaning X users, who called BS on The Times attempting to paint Mamdani as a non-socialist.

“NYT article tries to argue that Democratic Socialists of America member Zohran Mamdani is not actually a socialist & that democratic socialism is not actually socialism (hint: yes he is & yes it is),” posted Jerry Dunleavy IV, a reporter for the conservative outler Just The News. “In fact, as I’ve laid out before (next tweet) Mamdani is obviously a Communist.”

And there were plenty of other posts like that. Here are a few examples:

And on Sunday morning, NYC Mayor Eric Adams showed he did not agree with the hometown paper’s assessment. Adams said his competitor is looking to “turn New York City into a laboratory for socialist experiments,” complete with an AI-generated picture of Mamdani in a lab coat and holding a green elixir.

Cuomo’s former top aide Melissa DeRosa also called out the NYT story on Sunday, noting on X that “Mamdani previously told conference attendees not to compromise on ‘seizing the means of production.'”

The Times’ story and the revulsion to it comes a week after Mamdani was mocked for failing to benchpress 135 pounds.

The post Conservative Influencers Roast NY Times for Article Trying to Distance Zohran Mamdani from Socialism first appeared on Mediaite.

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