Name: Mamdani to be sworn in as NYC mayor this week
Uploaded: 2025-12-29T20:29:43.494Z
Duration: 8 min 24 s
Description: New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to be sworn in this week. Guests discuss what to expect from the incoming mayor.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to be sworn in this week. Guests discuss what to expect from the incoming mayor.

New York

Zoran Mondani is set to be sworn in as New York City's mayor, marking a significant political shift after defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo. Mondani has appointed Lillian Bonsignore, a 31-year EMS veteran and the city's first openly gay fire commissioner, to lead the FDNY. The appointment has drawn both criticism and support, with figures like Elon Musk questioning Bonsignore's lack of firefighting experience, while supporters highlight her extensive EMS leadership, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The panel discussion reflected broader debates about the city's political future, with some viewing Mondani's choices as symbolic and left-leaning, while others emphasized the importance of addressing affordability and the evolving role of EMS in public safety. Mondani's victory and appointments are seen as part of a larger trend of socialist candidates gaining ground in major U.S. cities.

Mamdani to be sworn in as NYC mayor this week

New York City's soon-to-be mayor, Zoran Mondani, has picked a new FDNY commissioner and she sounds like a DEI hire. She has never served as a firefighter and has been tapped to become New York's first openly gay fire commissioner. I know what the firefighters need and I can translate that to this administration who's willing to listen. I know what EMS needs. I have been EMS for 30 plus years. Elon Musk is calling out Mondani for the move and Mondani is pushing back. Our Christina Thompson is in New York with the story. Musk took to his own platform X to share his thoughts on the mayor-elect Mondani's choice writing, people will die because of this, proven experience matters when lives are at stake. Lillian Bonsignore is New York's first openly gay fire commissioner and the second woman to lead the department. She's a 31-year first responder veteran who led EMS operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. And though she did serve as an EMS first responder for those three decades, she's never actually worked as a firefighter. Here's what she has to say about that. I think what I bring is something that can unite our department and make us function at the highest level of professionalism. Now Mondani did fire back at Musk on X saying experience does matter, which is why I appointed the person who spent more than 30 years at EMS, you know, the workforce that addresses at least 70% of all calls coming into FDNY. Here's more on what Mondani said. They deserve a leader who cares about their work because she did it herself, who understands every detail and will fight tirelessly to empower FDNY and make it the best firefighting force in the world. Now Mondani's appointment does come after sitting mayor Eric Adams used the Christmas holiday to make a different appointment for fire commissioner Marghera, who has been an FDNY member for 37 years. Mondani brushing aside this appointment in Bonsignor will take up her commissioner role on January 1st. Let's welcome in our panel, Republican strategist and chairman of the Fort Bend County, Texas Republican Party, Bobby Eberle, along with New York Times bestselling author, Alice Hennigan. Good afternoon to you, the both of you, Bobby, I'll start with you first. What do you make of the people that Mondani is, uh, you know, appointing to his administration and, and the future of New York city as he takes the reign as mayor, uh, starting in January? Well, I, I don't think the future looks bright at all. And I think that the New York voters are going to have some serious voters remorse, uh, as his policies kick in. But with this appointment, you're just seeing, you know, just an homage to his base, to the, to the radical left. I mean, just the comparison between Eric Adams pick and, and this pick was not fought one fire. And I know EMS falls under it, but it's the symbol that he's trying to portray that, Hey, we're going to cater to our radical base. I'm going to put these policies in place that are going to destroy the city, which is actually what the leftists want in their overall scheme anyway. And so it's just, you can expect pick after pick after pick to be like this, that fills a box that checks a box that fills some kind of, you know, intersection between this and that and, and not really focus on getting the job done. But that's what you can expect from the left anyway. Ellis, your thoughts? No, when Elon starts micro dosing on ketamine, you never know what he's going to say, right? This is idiotic. He has no knowledge of the fire department or of New York city, frankly. This is a woman who had got tremendously positive reviews running EMS, which is a major, major part of the fire department. Something that I suspect Elon isn't aware of as a, as the mayor mentioned, 70% of the fire department calls are now lifesaving calls that the EMS handles. So she is eminently qualified. She's gotten tremendously good reviews by people who actually know the fire department, including some critics of incoming mayor Mondani. She fits right in with the new police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who's a hold over from the Adams administration, who has been similarly embraced. So, so idiots who know nothing about New York ought to shut up on this topic until they learn something. Bobby, I'm afraid that includes you too, because I don't think you know anything about New York. Well, listen, we're going to know a lot more. Yeah, we're going to know a lot more about New York, um, in the coming days and months, uh, given Zoran Mondani's leadership of it, we will be analyzing it pretty much every day in the decisions that he makes. Uh, Bobby, I thought one, yeah, I thought, I thought one of the biggest political stories in 2025 this year was Mondani's victory because not only did he win the democratic primary as a socialist, he also beat Andrew Cuomo, who was the former governor of this state. Uh, this surprised a lot of political pundits. Um, him just being unabashedly socialist, uh, his past statements on defunding the police on, you know, not condemning globalized Antifada, uh, him being the first Muslim mayor of New York City, 24 years after the 9-11 attacks. But it wasn't only Mondani who won, um, with the socialist banner. It was also Katie Wilson out in Seattle who will be their new mayor, uh, running on much the same platform. Where do you think the democratic party goes, um, in 2026? Are we going to see more of these socialist candidates? If you can recall, Bobby, this summer, this spring and summer, Bernie Sanders and AOC's fight the oligarchy tour was one of the biggest draws, uh, for young Democrats. Yeah, absolutely. And they're going to continue this and see, here's the difference between, you know, the policy and the politics, you know, the, the, the policy are, are with these like free rent and free food stores and everything like that. They're policies that just won't work. But on the political side, the messaging side, uh, it was very, very effective because if you look at polling from Gen Z and millennials, they just, they feel like the, the, not only is the American dream out of reach, it just doesn't exist for them. You know, wages have gone up. I saw stats the other day, 10 times since 1970 average family income, yet healthcare has gone up 42 times and prices of houses have gone up just so much more than the wages can keep up with. And so when the Democrats, when these socialists talk about this affordability issue, it truly does resonate. And so the Republicans have to come out there and say, look, this, the, their policies, you might like their messaging that the candy coating on the top, but what you're getting is something that will destroy your city or community, your state. And we have to get our message out and our policies and have those candidates push that message and make sure it resonates with these younger voters. Ellis, we don't have much time, but where do you see the democratic party going in 2026? But Bobby's the first half of what he said is absolutely right. Affordability is what elected Montgomery and some terrific political skills. I agree with Donald Trump. I think the guy's off to a very promising start. I think he's going to be a terrific mayor. And I don't think the labels matter. You guys can throw a lot of labels at him, but let's see. I mean, he hadn't started yet, but, but I think most New Yorkers are pretty optimistic. Bobby Eberle, Ellis Hennigan, there's much more to discuss. So please stick around. ICE issuing a warning to business owners about employing illegal aliens. The agency saying it's time to get right with the law. What that crackdown will look like next on National Desk.

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