Is he supposed to be the miracle weapon against Trump? Rather, Zohran Mamdani is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the left.

New York is a shithole. Says the man who wants to become mayor of New York. One in four New Yorkers complains to their landlord about mice or rats, writes Zohran Mamdani on his website. But the landlords are doing nothing. They're all cutthroats. It's not just the rat infestation that's causing him to declare war on them.

"Cracking down on bad landlords" is the name he gives to his campaign promise, which appears prominently on his website. Specifically, the young politician is promising a "revamped 311." This means: Mamdani wants to expand the service hotline. You call an inspector from the city, who looks at the suspected junk property. If they find something, the landlord is asked to pay. And if they don't comply, the building will soon belong to the authorities.

The self-proclaimed socialist is convinced that the state can do everything better. Expropriation is just one option. Freezing rents is Mamdani's main concern, and he also envisions free public transport. Supermarkets are another issue. The city should operate grocery stores. "Food prices are out of control," states the candidate for mayor of the eight-million-strong metropolis. "City-owned grocery stores" would drive down food costs, says Mamdani. He has yet to elaborate on how.

From East Germany to 21st-century socialism in Venezuela, there are plenty of indications that state-run grocery stores aren't such a good idea. The Washington Post reminds us that retail is one of the most competitive markets in existence. Profit margins are so small that even logistics world champion Amazon struggles to break even in the grocery business. How a state-run provider should be able to offer lower prices is incomprehensible. Unless, of course, it's allowed to incur unbridled losses because it's comfortably subsidized.

That's probably how Mamdani envisions it. His recipe is simple: higher taxes on the rich and corporations. In other words, redistribution. The only problem is that he simultaneously wants to eliminate billionaires. "I don't think we should have billionaires," he replied to NBC News when asked whether billionaires should be allowed to exist. Get rid of the rich. But they should pay. It's a bit confusing.

But Mamdani's fans aren't letting that spoil the party. Over 430,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots for the Democratic candidate in the primaries. Now he's entering the race in November as the favorite. With his grassroots movement, the 33-year-old has made his rival, Andrew Cuomo, 67, look ancient. And, not least in Europe, many media outlets are in a frenzy.

"The new left-wing star," writes Die Zeit: "His opponents are reacting with panic. Can he prevail?" According to the Tamedia newspapers, "the recipe for defeating Donald Trump may have been found." Everyone is captivated by the youthful vigor of the son of Indian immigrants from Uganda, who is promoting himself as a dragon slayer. He calls one of his campaign promises on his website "Trump-Proofing NYC." He wants to make the city "Trump-proof."

"You Don't Mess with the Zohran": Don't mess with Zohran. That's what you could say, referring to a film with Adam Sandler. Or maybe it's better not to. Because in the comedy, Sandler plays an Israeli super-soldier. And Mamdani is allergic to Israel. When the conversation turns to the Jewish state, he responds with "genocide." Mamdani also doesn't think "Globalize the Intifada" is a completely wrong battle cry, as he explained to NBC. It's not his language, though. But he doesn't see the term "intifada" as an incitement to violence.

Or he fully supports the BDS boycott movement. He recently even reaffirmed his support at an event organized by the UJA Federation, the largest organization working for Jews worldwide (including in Israel). One could say that Mamdani has chutzpah. Or he's simply an opportunist.

New York has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. The candidate clearly doesn't want to completely alienate it. But even on the morning after the October 7 massacre, he couldn't bring himself to condemn Hamas. Instead, in a post on X, he wrote, in the most vague way possible, that he mourned the hundreds of people "who have died in Israel and Palestine in the past 36 hours." Before criticizing Netanyahu's declaration of war in the next sentence.

When asked about Israel's right to exist, he vacillates. Yes, Israel should remain on the map. "As a Jewish state?" a Fox News anchor asks. This is where things get a bit more vague. He doesn't feel comfortable "supporting a state that establishes a hierarchy of civil rights based on religion or anything else." He doesn't discuss the status of Jews or Christians in Islamic countries.

Because if there's one thing he's good at, it's making big noises. And presenting himself as moderate when questioned. With his provocations, he scores points on the left wing, while with his more muted voices, he calms the center-left.

Whether he truly has the potential to command a majority remains to be seen. There are approximately 4.7 million registered voters in New York City. Less than ten percent of them supported Mamdani. The race isn't over. Media that glorify him as a savior betray a similar wishful thinking to the one they used to swear Joe Biden's health back.

Let's face it: Mamdani is the prototypical young socialist, as well-versed in identity politics as he is in self-promotion on social media. He embodies precisely the left whose increasing unworldliness, preoccupied with wokeness, made the triumph of the Trumpists possible in the first place. The election party thrown by the Democratic Socialists of America for Mamdani was symptomatic: "Trans rights = class struggle" was the slogan. Is the fight for trans rights the new class struggle? What this means is probably not even clear to the person who coined the phrase. Not to mention the ordinary worker who no longer sees his concerns represented. Whether in the US or Europe, they have long since defected to the right.

The trend is also evident in New York: It was clear that Mamdani would fare poorly among the wealthy. But he also had no chance among the poor. He received the most votes from voters in the income bracket of $75,000 to $150,000 a year.

Mamdani serves the "laptop class": the privileged younger people with good degrees who can do their wonderful jobs on the go – but can't afford an apartment without at least two roommates.

Political scientist Peter Turchin coined the theory of an "overproduction of elites": Even the offspring of the privileged are no longer benefiting as much these days. Even a young, high-earning individual can't afford to buy property in cities like New York. Uncertainty is spreading among the "professional-managerial class," as sociologist Barbara Ehrenreich called it back in the late 1970s.

The fear of decline fuels the radicalism of this urban middle class. Its representatives used to be the yuppies, who, after the economic crisis of the 1970s, wallowed in decadence out of defiance. And voted for Reagan. Today, they cling to Zohran Mamdani's strange belief in the state, as journalist River Page analyzes in "How the Yuppies Became Socialists" for "The Free Press." The impulse is the same. Because they can no longer advance, the elite is damaging itself. It's as if the privileged are committing suicide out of fear of social death.

They have everything, but it doesn't do them much good. Mamdani knows what that's like. His mother is the highly successful Indian film director Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding"), and his father is a professor at Columbia University. But despite his advantageous background, Zohran Mamdani struggled to find his feet after graduating from college (he attended Bowdoin College, one of the most expensive universities in the US). He has barely held a job in his life. Before he tried his hand at politics, his track record included an unsuccessful career as a rapper in Uganda under the name Mr. Cardamom.

There's no need to be as venomous as right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, who calls him a ninja baby living in his mother's two-million-dollar Chelsea apartment. But if he loses the election, at least there's no need to worry about him. He'll be spared the rats and mice.