Scheer Intelligence

As millions of Americans struggle with soaring rents, crushing childcare costs, stagnant wages and a political system increasingly captured by wealth, a new political force has emerged from New York City. In this episode of Scheer Intelligence, Robert Scheer speaks with journalist and author Ted Hamm about the remarkable rise of Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a self-described democratic socialist whose message of affordability, economic justice and political independence has transformed him from insurgent candidate to one of the most closely watched political figures in America.Drawing on his new book Meet Mayor Mamdani, Hamm traces how Mamdani built a coalition around issues that cut across traditional political divides: housing, transit, childcare, inequality and the growing sense that the American economic model no longer works for ordinary people. The conversation explores whether Mamdani represents a revival of New Deal-style politics, why his success has rattled Democratic Party leaders, and how his outspoken s