CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Seth Meyers both hailed socialist and anti-Semite Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral primary victory on their Wednesday editions of The Late Show and Late Night respectively. Meyers was especially excited, as he claimed it proved that the “conventional wisdom” of Democrats having to move to the center to win elections “is a load of crap.”
Meyers concluded his “Closer Look” segment by coupling Sen. Bernie Sanders’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience with Mamdani’s win, “The point is, Bernie's right. Bernie’s right. All we have is each other. And to the liberals who are always saying we need a liberal Joe Rogan. Are you seeing this? It turns out all you need to do is be more like Bernie Sanders. There's no secret trick. You just need to be genuine. You need to run on ideas that will improve people's lives.”
First of all, you could argue that Joe Rogan was the liberal Joe Rogan because the man actually endorsed Sanders in 2020. But, Rogan aside, Meyers continued, “That explains Zohran Mamdani's historic victory in the New York City mayoral primary last night. Voters just want authentic politicians who will tackle the cost of living crisis with simple, straightforward, broadly popular ideas. It turns out the conventional wisdom that Democrats need to move to the center in order to win elections is a load of crap.”
Progressives like Meyers might roll their eyes at a conservative claiming a Democratic politician is a communist, so let’s let Mamdani’s own social media posts speak for themselves.
Zohran Mamdani is a Communist.🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/LDKPjdCGXR
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) June 25, 2025
Mamdani has also defended the idea that Palestinian sympathizers need to “globalize the intifada” and was downplaying October 7 as early as October 8.
This is the guy Seth Meyers wants national Democrats to copy.
As for Colbert, he declared, “Now, this may be a local race, but Mamdani's primary win is being seen as a seismic moment for the left and a stunning upset against the Democratic Party establishment by younger, more progressive Democrats.”
He then broke out his Bernie voice and continued:
Like Mamdani, about whom Senator Bernie Sanders said, ‘He ran a strong grassroots campaign around the progressive agenda. They go together. You cannot run a grassroots campaign unless you excite people. You cannot excite people unless you have something to say. Whether the current Democratic leadership is prepared to learn that lesson or not, I have no idea. Probably not. They're probably more willing to go down with the Titanic than to move in a new direction.’ And the new, listen, my friends, listen up, here’s the deal, here’s the deal, the new Democratic Party will not go down with the Titanic. The new Democratic Party must be Rose, and there's only room for her on that door, even though she loved Jack very much, because of how hot things got in that car where her hand goes up on the glass at the end. It got so steamy in there, they weren't just making love, they were making soup!"
Ironically, Mamdani’s anti-Semitism will push people off the metaphorical door, and his socialism will ruin the city. But, at least Colbert, Meyers, and their audiences get to feel excited for a day.
Here is a transcript for the June 25-taped shows:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
6/25/2025
11:42 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Now, this may be a local race, but Mamdani's primary win is being seen as a seismic moment for the left and a stunning upset against the Democratic Party establishment by younger, more progressive Democrats like Mamdani, about whom Senator Bernie Sanders said [SANDERS VOICE] ‘"He ran a strong grassroots campaign around the progressive agenda. They go together. You cannot run a grassroots campaign unless you excite people. You cannot excite people unless you have something to say. Whether the current Democratic leadership is prepared to learn that lesson or not, I have no idea. Probably not. They're probably more willing to go down with the Titanic than to move in a new direction.’ And the new, listen, my friends, listen up, here’s the deal, here’s the deal, the new Democratic Party will not go down with the Titanic. The new Democratic Party must be Rose, and there's only room for her on that door, even though she loved Jack very much, because of how hot things got in that car where her hand goes up on the glass at the end. It got so steamy in there, they weren't just making love, they were making soup!"
***
The
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
6/26/2025
12:55 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: The point is, Bernie's right. Bernie’s right. All we have is each other. And to the liberals who are always saying we need a liberal Joe Rogan. Are you seeing this? It turns out all you need to do is be more like Bernie Sanders. There's no secret trick. You just need to be genuine. You need to run on ideas that will improve people's lives. That explains Zohran Mamdani's historic victory in the New York City mayoral primary last night. Voters just want authentic politicians who will tackle the cost of living crisis with simple, straightforward, broadly popular ideas. It turns out the conventional wisdom that Democrats need to move to the center in order to win elections is a load of crap.
