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Stephen A Smith slams Mamdani's policies, says his biggest fans 'are not people who pay bills every day'
By Marc Tamasco
Published November 06, 2025
Stephen A. Smith questioned where the money to fund New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's ambitious initiatives would come from on Wednesday, saying the democratic socialist's biggest supporters "are not people who pay bills every day."
While Smith noted on his "Straight Shooter" podcast that he likes Mamdani personally, he told his audience that he's "not happy" about the left-wing 34-year-old winning the mayoral race, adding that he's "very, very concerned about some of the things that he said."
"I just want to know where the money is coming from. See, I count. OK, I count, and I can't tell you how many young teenagers — it could be daughters, it could be nieces and nephews, it could be friends and family members or relatives of folks along that age gap, and you're asking the same question. And you know what you come up with?" Smith said. "The people who love Mamdani the most are not people who pay bills every day."
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Stephen A. Smith on the "ESPN NBA Countdown" set at Intuit Dome on Oct. 23, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
He clarified that while his remarks don't apply to all of Mamdani's supporters, "You don't see business owners clamoring" to support the new mayor-elect.
Smith dug into the specific economic and municipal policies that Mamdani has proposed, stressing that "we're at a crossroads in this nation" and that there's "no way to slice it."
"Two percent tax on the rich. OK, fine. 11.5% capital gains tax. On its face, okay, fine. Free buses, free grocery stores in each borough. Really think that's going to work?" he said.
According to Smith, leveraging even higher taxes on wealthy individuals in New York City makes the location "unattractive" to both companies and residents, and will drive business and capital elsewhere.
"So the money that they paid on their homes or on rent, they move out of the city or the state. Businesses follow. And ultimately the tax burden falls on New Yorkers out there — which means that rent freezes, which is also something that Mamdani pushed. Is that really going to be plausible? Are you really going to be able to freeze rent or are you going to end up hiking it because you don't have enough people here to pay it? Tax revenue, where are you getting that from?
"See, these are all the kind of things that we have to connect the dots and ask ourselves. One plus one, does it equal two? Is it really plausible that these things are going to happen?" he added.
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Zohran Mamdani delivers a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)
Besides his gripes about Mamdani's proposed economic policies, Smith also took issue with the mayor-elect's prior comments about defunding the New York Police Department.
"I'm very concerned about what he once said about defunding the police," he said. "I'm calling 9-1-1. I'm being real with you, I call the 9-1-1. That's what I'm doing. I don't want to see less police officers, I want to see more police officers."
"I heard him talk about mental health experts in the subway system. I don't care about that. I want cops in the subways in New York City, where I was born and raised, born in the Bronx, raised in Queens. That's what I want. I don't want to hear about no damn mental health expert in subways. Nah, I'm not trying to hear that," Smith added.
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Resurfaced comments from a socialist conference in 2023 tying the NYPD to the Israeli military caused backlash for Democratic Party candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Nicolas Economou via Getty Images and Democratic Socialists of America)
The candidate disavowed the comments in June. "I will not defund the police. I will work with the police because I believe the police have a critical role to play in creating public safety," Mamdani said.
Mamdani previously called to "defund" what he called a "rogue agency" of law enforcement, labeling the NYPD as a "racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety."
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The mayor-elect previously expressed interest in keeping current NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, but she has yet to confirm her position under the new Mamdani administration.
Fox News' Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/stephen-a-smith-slams-mamdanis-policies-says-his-biggest-fans-are-not-people-who-pay-bills-every-day