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Jon Stewart told New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani he wasn’t a fan of democratic socialists who support abolishing prisons — while seeming to ignore or be ignorant to the fact Mamdani has questioned the need for prisons himself.
Stewart made the comment while asking Mamdani about his fellow socialists in a Wednesday interview on The Weekly Show podcast. It was one of the rare semi-tough questions asked by Stewart, who often giggled like he had a schoolyard crush on the socialist mayor.
“Democratic Socialism is considered the hottest trend in the Democratic Party and there’s energy, grassroots energy, and these Democratic Socialist candidates are popping up, and you’re having to answer for having to answer for every one of their policy positions,” Stewart said. “And there are some — look, maybe I’m an old man or a sh*tlib or whatever they want to call me —”
A smirking Mamdani jumped in and asked, “Who’s calling you this?!”
Stewart kept going:
Anybody, if someone says, “We’re going to abolish all prisons and borders,” like, I do go like, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
It feels like order and security is also a progressive value. Why shouldn’t people in neighborhoods with less resources have the same safety and security that neighborhoods with lots of resources? So are there tenets of those that are kind of following in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s success that you’re not comfortable with or that give you pause?”
“If you have more than one socialist in a room and there isn’t disagreement, then you don’t have more than one socialist in a room,” Mamdani quipped.
Stewart let out a big chuckle and asked, “are you allowed to have more than one socialist in the room?” Mamdani said he’s working on making it legal.
“But you’re comfortable with those kind of discussions?” Stewart asked again.
“Well, I’m comfortable with disagreement, and I’m comfortable with disagreement that doesn’t end the conversation entirely,” Mamdani said.
Stewart muttered “right” as the mayor went on, saying he was focused on “safety and justice” and “doing the work” with the NYPD.
“At the same time, I’m doing the work to close down Rikers Island and ensure that we are actually building the four smaller borough-based jails that brings an end to a horrible chapter in New York City safety,” Mamdani said.
Stewart’s initial question on whether Mamdani agreed with other socialists about abolishing prisons glossed over the mayor’s previous comments on the matter.
“I think that frankly, I mean, what purpose do they serve?” Mamdani asked about prisons in 2020. “I think that we have to ask ourselves that.”
The post Jon Stewart Tells Zohran Mamdani He Isn’t a Fan of Abolishing Prisons In Otherwise Fawning Interview first appeared on Mediaite.
