Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City by promising to put the government in charge of grocery stores.
Now his socialist movement is targeting the White House.
And Ron DeSantis told Republicans exactly why fighting socialism with more government is the one move that hands Mamdani everything he needs.
The Trap Republicans Keep Almost Falling Into
The panic inside the GOP is real.
Mamdani is winning over young voters at a rate that has Republican strategists losing sleep.
The "conventional" response from some corners of the party is to match him.
Meet government housing with government housing.
Counter his rent freeze with a conservative version of price controls.
Promise young voters that Republicans can out-government the socialists.
DeSantis called that entire strategy what it is.
"It's a fool's errand to do that game," he said flatly.
https://twitter.com/warDaniel47/status/2094404875677302818?s=20
He's right – and the data tells you why.
Rasmussen and Heartland Institute polling found that 76% of under-40 voters want major industries – health care, energy, big tech – nationalized by the government.
Republicans cannot win a bidding war with people who want to seize the means of production.
You don't fight that by offering a kinder, gentler version of the same thing.
Who Actually Created the Problem Democrats Are Exploiting
Here's what DeSantis understands that the "Democrat-lite" Republicans miss entirely.
Young voters aren't angry at the free market.
They're angry at the cost of living – rent, groceries, college debt, interest rates – that exploded on their watch.
Democrats told them capitalism did it.
DeSantis said Thursday that's exactly backwards.
"Who created that problem? Did Free Enterprise create that problem? No, government created that problem," he said.
The COVID spending blew up inflation.
Biden's stimulus made it worse.
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2094592114164195524?s=20
The Federal Reserve – a government institution – held rates at zero for years, then raised them so fast it crushed an entire generation of first-time homebuyers.
College tuition didn't skyrocket because the free market failed – it skyrocketed because the federal government flooded the market with cheap loans and eliminated every incentive schools had to keep costs down.
The crisis young people are angry about is a government-made crisis.
Mamdani is selling them government as the cure for a disease the government gave them.
The Bigger Warning Republicans Need to Hear
DeSantis didn't just call out Mamdani.
He called out fifteen years of Republican economic hypocrisy.
"Free enterprise actually hasn't been the prevailing economic model for the last 15 or 20 years," he said.
He's talking about crony capitalism – the pandemic-era wealth transfer to Mag 7 companies like Amazon and Meta, the hyperscaler subsidies baked into recent legislation, the tax breaks that go to billion-dollar corporations while sole proprietors get nothing.
"Do you get that as a small business person? Do you get that as a sole proprietor? No," he added.
That's not capitalism.
That's venture socialism for billionaires – and DeSantis called it by its real name.
Republicans who think they can promise young voters "better" government intervention are walking into the same trap – picking winners and losers, just with a different list.
The solution isn't nicer cronyism.
It's free people making free choices under limited government – and that argument only works if Republicans are willing to make it honestly, including against their own donor class.
That's the argument DeSantis is betting on – and betting big.
He left the door open Thursday for a 2028 run, arguing he has "the best governing record of anyone in the potential field" and is "the one guy that has shown how to lead with courage and conviction."
His term as Florida governor ends in January 2027 – leaving exactly enough time to make the case.
Democrats are "promising the moon and will fail to deliver," DeSantis said – and when they do, Republicans need to be standing on solid ground with a real alternative, not a pale imitation of the same failed ideas.
JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and every other Republican positioning for 2028 just got a clear choice handed to them: stand for something or get run over by a socialist who will.
Sources:
- A.G. Gancarski, "DeSantis at Heartland Institute: Republicans Must Offer Real Alternative to Socialism," Florida Politics, September 5, 2026.
- Justin Haskins, "The Numbers Don't Lie: Young Americans Are Falling in Love With Socialism," Fox News, 2026.
- Rasmussen Reports / Heartland Institute, "Most Under-40 Voters Favor Socialism," September 2025.
- Rasmussen Reports / Heartland Institute, "Zohran Mamdani: Younger Voters Like Him, and His Socialist Agenda, Too," November 2025.
- Steve Contorno, "DeSantis's Florida Moves Lay Groundwork for 2028 Presidential Return," Washington Examiner, December 15, 2025.
