'The Big Money Show' talks New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's agenda, his approach to business leaders and the new entrance into the mayoral race. #foxbusiness #zohranmamdani #nyc #nycmayoralrace #newyork #newyorkbusinessleaders #jamiedimon #mamdanipolicies #mamdaniagenda #socialism
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Questions asked in this interview
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0:09Would you tell him to his face, if you get elected and do any of this, I am leaving with all my employees and leave this building empty and default?
Zohran Mamdani reportedly calling up big Apple business leaders, trying to convince them his socialist experiment won't destroy the city. He had a friendly chitchat with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon despite the executive calling him a Marxist just last month. This offensive on Manhattan's financial elite has serious limitations. Good luck convincing them about the benefits of massive tax hikes, rent freezes, city-run grocery stores. Even New York's Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul seems to get it, telling business leaders she favors free enterprise over Zohran Mamdani's policies. He could win. What happens if you were in Jamie Dimon's shoes? Would you tell him to his face, if you get elected and do any of this, I am leaving with all my employees and leave this building empty and default?
The first question I have is, is he just playing the greatest political game? Does he really believe this craziness? Does he really believe it, or is he appealing to an audience he thinks will show up and vote and say it was conceptual, freezing rents were conceptual, polarizing people?
I hope he is just positioning for a vote, but I'm scared he is not, and a lot of other New Yorkers are. Back to Jamie Dimon, one thing he's not is a socialist, Marxist, or communist. Some business leaders might be taking the call, having conversations because they are afraid of what might happen if he comes here and they are going to have to pivot and make decisions. And what I'm concerned about is raising a socialist communist society. He understands the parallels that come with controlled government. He's a fresh face. The Siena poll shows Zohran Mamdani with 25%, Sliwa 12%, Adams with 7%, and 12% are undecided. This doesn't start until after Labor Day. On the right side, if they drop out and Joseph Hernandez gets wind behind his back and raises $300,000 — what I don't like is the fact that three candidates we are talking about that are not Zohran Mamdani are kind of old to me. Adams, people aren't in love with him and he had some scandal behind him. Cuomo, scandal also had people dislike him. A fresh face to go up against this guy, let's do a debate. Could be interesting.
The race starts in earnest later, and I agree that I don't know if Zohran Mamdani, when push comes to shove, is going to stick with everything. But here's the problem: his biggest backers, the ones who really want him in office, I think are ideologically committed to the things he's pitching. And this bureaucracy is huge, and they are going to run all the different spots in the bureaucracy, just like in DC with the swamp. They will create rules, regulations, and policies, and you will end up getting Zohran Mamdani even if he backs off of the grocery stores. He won't back off of the rent freeze — won't do that — and they will make that happen. You will get even worse than what he would have done because they are the real zealots here.
He understands who he is talking to, to charm people with these free handout offers of low rent, low grocery prices, and all that stuff. What I think he realizes is this notion that a vast majority of voters do not understand basic economics. They do not understand that our government — whether it is the federal government, the state government, local government, which includes New York City — these governments have no money. All they do is take money from high earners and redistribute it in manners they think will be — when you do that and are robbing Peter to pay Paul, you run out of Peters to rob and they have nothing. That's a potential situation. To your point about Jamie Dimon, this situation could play out whereby you have larger corporations — and not even publicly traded corporations we are talking about. I'm with the Young Presidents' Organization. I am talking to these business owners in New York City chapters on a regular basis. They are doing everything possible to find a way to support any candidate not named Zohran Mamdani.
Lemonis, M. (2025, August 19). Marcus Lemonis questions Mamdani's 'political game': 'Does he really believe this craziness?' [Interview transcript]. Fox Business. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1222972/
MLA
Marcus Lemonis. "Marcus Lemonis questions Mamdani's 'political game': 'Does he really believe this craziness?'." Fox Business, 19 Aug. 2025. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1222972/.
BibTeX
@misc{lemonis2025_1222972,
author = {Marcus Lemonis},
title = {Marcus Lemonis questions Mamdani's 'political game': 'Does he really believe this craziness?'},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Fox Business. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2025},
month = {aug},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1222972/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
