Reason’s Liz Wolfe asks if New York Mayor Eric Adams is a good orator. Since watching some remarks he made after the Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023, I have had no doubt that he can be.

Wolfe now draws attention to a speech Adams gave after the victory of “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Here’s an extract:

“I’ve been to socialist countries. This is a city where you can come as a dishwasher and you can own a chain of restaurants. This is a city where you can be a cab driver and then become a doctor. This is a city where you can go from homelessness to building houses. . . .”

“This is not a city where you use idealism to state you’re giving everything to everyone for free. . . . There’s no dignity in someone giving you everything for free. There’s dignity in giving you a job so you can provide for your family and opportunities that you deserve. This is not a city of handouts, this is a city of hands up.”

Nicely said, if too generous. Mamdani is not about “idealism” but about power.