Normally Podcast: Crime, Justice, and the New Face of Socialism

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show: "Crime, Justice, and the New Face of Socialism"

September 9, 2025 | Host: iHeartPodcasts
Guest Hosts: Mary Kathryn & Carol Markowitz (on their “Normally” segment)

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the intersection of rising urban crime, the reactions (and perceived failures) of politicians and media coverage, and the resurgence of openly socialist policies espoused by elected officials and activists. Mary Kathryn and Carol Markowitz tackle a viral violent crime in Charlotte, critique bail reform and media framing, discuss self-defense and the left’s approach to crime, and finish by dissecting recent polling showing a rise in positive views of socialism among Democrats—and what those attitudes might mean for the future of American cities and culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The Charlotte Light Rail Stabbing: Crime, Coverage, and Political Reactions

[03:58]

• Summary: The episode opens with a disturbing incident—a Ukrainian refugee, Irina Zarutska, stabbed to death on Charlotte’s public transit by a man with a history of violent crime and untreated schizophrenia.
• Discussion:
  • The viral nature of the surveillance video fuels concern and outrage, especially on right-leaning social media, as mainstream coverage lags.
  • Mary Kathryn: “I am begging Democrat mayors to get angrier, angrier about murders than they are about people not noticing murders.” [07:05]

[06:32]

• Media Framing: Axios and others highlight conservatives “pouncing” on the story, characterizing concern as partisan opportunism.
  • Carol: “The idea of, like, why do you care about this crime where a man at random butchers a woman to death on public transportation? It’s because… that could be any one of us.” [05:09]
  • The hosts contrast random public crime (perceived as relevant to everyone) against gang crime, which feels more contained.

[08:33]

• Political Response:
  • Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles’s statement omitted the victim’s name and focused on not demonizing the homeless, which the hosts liken to a “reversal of victim and offender.”
  • Mary Kathryn: “It is so warped to me that this would be your go to. And yet it is now their go to.” [09:20]

[09:46]

• Daniel Penny Parallel:
  • Carol Markowitz references the Daniel Penny case (the Marine who intervened on the NYC subway and was ultimately acquitted). They lament that had deadly force been used to defend Zarutska, the coverage would have focused on the attacker’s backstory.
  • Mary Kathryn: “If she had defended herself with deadly force…we would be having a conversation deeply unfair to her and her defenders.” [10:30]

[11:33]

• Race and Media Selectivity:
  • Carol dismisses claims that right-wing outrage is racially motivated, instead accusing the media of focusing on identity politics.
  • Carol: “The race is completely irrelevant here. And the idea that the right is angry about this because it’s a white woman, I mean, seriously.” [11:33]

[12:07]

• Policy Context:
  • Mary Kathryn discusses Mecklenburg County’s bail reform (since 2019), noting initial data suggested no rise in crime, but violent crime has since increased—raising questions about the impact of these policies.

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2. Policy Failure, Bail Reform, and Political Accountability

[13:28]

• Judicial Accountability:
  • The hosts discuss calls for holding judges responsible for repeatedly releasing violent offenders.
  • Carol: “There has to be some accountability for judges who just release criminals back out onto the streets.” [13:28]

[14:21]

• Limitations of Policing:
  • They echo criticism of Governor Roy Cooper’s statement calling for more police, arguing, "The police already did their part—they arrested him 14 times.”
  • Carol: “It’s the next step. It’s the keeping him in jail.” [15:33]

[15:33]

• Political Stakes:
  • Mary Kathryn points out that former Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat running for Senate, actively pursued bail reform policies, suggesting these could become potent campaign issues.
  • Mary Kathryn: “If you get caught up in a moral panic and you don’t think about the actual policies, it’s not the pouncing. It’s the actual governing.” [16:57]

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3. Social Pressure, Self-Censorship & Media Narratives

[17:03]

• Reluctance to Oppose Leftist Orthodoxy:
  • Malcolm Gladwell’s recent admission about self-censoring on trans athletes is discussed. The hosts praise the honesty and connect it to the social penalty for dissenting from progressive consensus.
  • Gladwell (clip): “I was ashamed of my performance on that panel because I share your position 100%, and I was…objective in a dishonest way.” [18:06]
  • Carol: “Malcolm Gladwell, who had almost nothing to lose…still was afraid to say what he actually thought.” [18:18]
• Tie-in to Crime Debate:
  • Markowitz urges Democrats: “If you think crime is bad, just say so. Not wait a few years until, you know, other Democrats are saying crime is bad.” [20:12]

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4. The New Face of Socialism: NYC Politics & Wealth Flight

[23:46]

• NYC Socialist Policies (Zohran Mamdani):
  • Segment recaps an interview with Zohran Mamdani, a socialist mayoral contender, pledging things like rent freezes, city-run groceries, and expanded social services.
  • When asked how to retain wealthy residents (who provide 40% of tax revenue), Mamdani claims taxing them more will actually improve their “quality of life."
  • Mamdani: “By showing them that asking them to pay more in taxes would increase even their quality of life…” [25:39]

[26:14]

• Hosts’ Reaction:
  • Carol: “It’s such salad nonsense… the idea that their quality of life will go up by having more of their money taken by this guy who has no experience running anything.” [27:06]
  • Concerns voiced about free/fast buses (potential for becoming homeless encampments), community action departments instead of police, and the likelihood rich New Yorkers will simply leave.
  • Mary Kathryn: “Champagne socialists…think the people who work really hard and make the money will just keep them and their money because reasons.” [28:46]

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5. Polls on Socialism & Family Values: Cultural Divide

[32:14]

• Gallup Socialism Poll:
  • 66% of Democrats now have a positive view of socialism, compared to 14% of Republicans.
  • Carol: “Venezuela is what socialism is. Take a good look and wonder if that’s what you want to be.” [33:18]
  • Mary Kathryn: “It requires the murdering systematically of many, many thousands of people to do it. So maybe not, right?” [33:18]

[33:52]

• Poll on Having Children as Success Metric:
  • Only 6% of women who voted for Harris see “having kids” as important to success; 34% of young men who voted for Trump rank it highly.
  • Hosts lament the societal shift and potential problems for future generations in dating/marriage.
  • Mary Kathryn: “It’s passe to get married and have kids. The left’s reaction to this is going to be like, ‘ew, these men wanting to have children. No good.’” [34:30]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mary Kathryn [07:05]: “I am begging Democrat mayors to get angrier about murders than they are about people not noticing murders.”
• Carol Markowitz [05:09]: “Why do you care about this crime where a man at random butchers a woman to death on public transportation? It’s because…that could be any one of us.”
• Mary Kathryn [10:30]: “If she had defended herself with deadly force…we would be having a conversation deeply unfair to her and her defenders.”
• Carol Markowitz [11:33]: “The race is completely irrelevant here.”
• Carol Markowitz [13:28]: “There has to be some accountability for judges who just release criminals back out onto the streets.”
• Carol Markowitz [18:18]: “Malcolm Gladwell…still was afraid to say what he actually thought.”
• Mary Kathryn [20:12]: “If you’re a Democrat and you think crime is bad, I think you should just say so.”
• Mamdani (via clip) [25:39]: “By showing them that asking them to pay more in taxes would increase even their quality of life…”
• Mary Kathryn [28:46]: “[Socialists think] the people who work really hard and make the money will just keep them and their money because reasons.”

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Important Timestamps

• 03:58: Introduction of the Charlotte stabbing story
• 05:09 – 08:33: Crime, media framing, and political response
• 10:30: Daniel Penny & self-defense discussion
• 12:07: Bail reform policy background
• 13:28 – 15:33: Judicial accountability & Governor Cooper’s policies
• 17:03 – 20:12: Malcolm Gladwell, social pressure, and the pitfalls of elite silence on difficult issues
• 23:46 – 28:46: NYC socialist mayoral candidate Mamdani, tax policy, and the risk of wealth flight
• 32:14 – 34:52: Polls: rising positivity toward socialism among Democrats and shifting attitudes around family formation

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Tone & Style

The conversation is sharply opinionated, blending dark humor, exasperation, and skepticism, especially toward progressive policies and media narratives. The hosts balance cultural criticism with personal anecdotes and policy analysis, aiming for a tone both accessible and challenging to mainstream left sensibilities.

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This summary covers the key themes, moments, and direct quotes, providing a clear window into the core arguments and the tone of the episode. Those who missed the show will find all the highlights, cultural context, and political analysis needed to engage in further discussion.

Transcript

[Mary Kathryn]

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[Glenn Washington]

You think you know Snap Judgment? Yes, it's on NPR. It's a podcast. It's storytelling. But snap has gone deeper, stranger, wilder. We've taken you places that the New York Times, the Rolling Stones, the Ambies, the Webbies, the Gracies all stood up for. Welcome to the podcast hall of fame. Glenn Washington award winning stories, original beats, soundscapes that drop you into the heart of the story. Find Snap Touch from KQED every Thursday, wherever you get your podcast.

[Mary Kathryn]

Hey guys. We are back on normally the show with normalish takes for when the news gets weird. I am Mary Kathryn. Ha.

[Carol Markowitz]

I am Carol Markowitz. How are you Mary Kathryn?

[Mary Kathryn]

I'm all right, you know, just getting into the week, doing okay.

[Carol Markowitz]

You know, my 15 year old says I guess this must be a thing. But she says, you know, existing in the context.

[Mary Kathryn]

I like that.

[Carol Markowitz]

I think this might be what the kids say now.

[Mary Kathryn]

So I'm gonna steal it. I like to pretend I'm a kid sometimes.

[Carol Markowitz]

Same, same.

[Mary Kathryn]

All right, well, we have some sad news to start off the week with from my home state of North Carolina. In the city of Charlotte, a young woman, a Ukrainian refugee, Irina Zarutska. Zarutska in her 20s, was stabbed in late August to death on a light rail train in the city of Charlotte. A surveillance video of this from the official light rail system was eventually released. I have seen the censored version. Just beware out there of that video. It is graphic. And even if you see the censored version, it's graphic and scary. She was stabbed unprovoked by a man named decarlos Brown sitting behind her on the train. Who out of nowhere decides to do this. I have read up on him. He apparently has a schizophrenia diagnosis and a rap sheet of 14 arrests.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn]

Many of them violent and yet was not in serving any time or in any treatment. And this went viral. The video went viral about a week and a half after the murder.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. And you know, the thing is that the story of this horrible incident, this horrible murder is quickly becoming. Why are Republicans pouncing on this? And I just find that, I mean, look, apart from the usual it's obnoxious that Republicans can't ever be concerned about anything. We're always pouncing or seizing or you know, grabbing the issue or whatever. But like the idea of, like, why do you care about this crime where a man at random butchers a woman to death on public transportation? It's because we could, that could be any one of us. And that sense, that's why we're much more concerned about this than we are about gang crime in Chicago, which we're also concerned about, but just on a different level. And the thing is, I'm not in a gang, so I don't think I'm going to get mixed up in the gang crime. Although innocent people do sometimes get mixed up. But to be on public transport and have somebody behind me slaughter me to death while I'm on my phone. I couldn't watch the video. I don't sleep already. I can't add anything to that. But the picture of him kind of lunging at her and she's just looking at her phone and she's doing exactly what I would be doing, what you would be doing, that's terrifying. And of course it shakes us to our core. And I don't understand this insane idea that it shouldn't.

[Mary Kathryn]

Well, yeah, Axios, just to characterize this kind of coverage really, really went to the mats today with stabbing. Video fuels maga's crime message. Many people, including this report, but also politicians in North Carolina, are reacting as if once again, the video is the problem. Yeah, I am, I am begging Democrat mayors to get angrier, angrier about murders than they are about people not noticing murders.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Kathryn]

So the, the intro to this Axios piece. The lead is MAGA influencers are drawing repeated attention to violent attacks to elevate the issue of urban crime and accuse mainstream media of undercovering. Shocking cases. Shocking video of the fatal August 22nd knife attack on 23 year old Irina Zarudska on a light rail car in Charlotte, North Carolina dominated weekend conversation on Trump friendly social media. Here's the thing. Why did it dominate conversation in that sector? Yeah, it's because it didn't get any coverage elsewhere.

[Carol Markowitz]

Exactly.

[Mary Kathryn]

And people thought, gee, I think a news story like this with this visual element should be a large news story. It should be part of our national discussion.

[Carol Markowitz]

Exactly. So the next line of that piece is the big picture. The rising number of surveillance cameras in public spaces, including on Charlotte's light rail, has become a big accelerant in these cases. I think the accelerant is the violent crime.

[Mary Kathryn]

Yes.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's what's actually causing all the, all the commotion and hoopla around it. It's the fact that a young woman was slaughtered to death on public transportation by somebody who had been arrested 14 times. And I'm sorry. Even if I didn't have the video, I would find this to be just an egregious problem that has grown and really festered in major cities.

[Mary Kathryn]

Well. And they just missed the point so egregiously. Vi Lyles, who is the Democratic mayor of Charlotte, released her first statement this week. Tuesday. This is local reporting. Lyles did not mention the victim by name or discuss any. Any specific measures the Charlotte area transit system or police are taking to address safety on public transit. She focused on the suspect and urged others not to demonize homeless people. This is the same reversal of victim and offender as the Annunciation shooting, where lefties immediately go to defending the identity of the person who just murdered people.

[Carol Markowitz]

Exactly.

[Mary Kathryn]

And focusing compassion and sympathy and empathy on that group, not on the poor woman who was slaughtered on a train. It is so warped to me that this would be your go to. And yet it is now their go to. It's really to just take the victim class, take the offender's class, and decide take to the streets on behalf of this.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. And it really did make me think, and I know a lot of people's minds went there as well, about how lucky the people on the New York City subway were to have Daniel Penney there. Daniel Penney, of course, was the man who was arrested and ultimately acquitted of choking to death a homeless person on the New York City subway who had been threatening other passengers in the car. We all wish for Daniel Penny. There was another man in the background of the picture that I saw, the still of the murder in Charlotte. And, you know, could that person have stepped in? Could they have grabbed the guy? Maybe it all happened too fast. We can't possibly know. But we all wish for more Daniel Penneys. Like, let's be serious here.

[Mary Kathryn]

Well, and that's why I will never be a woman of the left. Because I am convinced that much like the Daniel Penney case, if she had defended herself with deadly force or if someone had brought deadly force on her behalf.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn]

That we would be having a conversation.

[Carol Markowitz]

You know, we would.

[Mary Kathryn]

Deeply unfair to her and her defenders and deeply dishonest about the threat that this person posed. You probably would have had a lot of national coverage with, like, pictures of the offender, like, from middle school in his band uniform.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right. Of course. No mention of.

[Mary Kathryn]

No mention of the knife that this man has. And because I watched that play out with Daniel Penny, because I know that the left reviles self defense. I cannot be part of it. It is so backwards to me. And I know that this would be a national story if that man had been killed in defense of this young woman.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's right. I've also saw. Yeah, I. You're absolutely right. I've also seen on X people saying that the right is really mad about this because it was a black man and a white woman. Guys like, be serious. Nobody cares about their races. I would be just as angry if it was a black woman and a white man. I wouldn't care at all what the, you know, or any other race in there. Like, the race is completely irrelevant here. And the idea that the right is angry about this because it's a white woman, I mean, seriously.

[Mary Kathryn]

Yeah. The only thing it highlights is the utter hypocrisy of the media, which covers things based upon the. Whatever their preferred victim class is. By the way, I do want to point out, when it comes to actual policy, I looked up some UNC School of Government Crime Justice Innovation Lab studies and found that indeed, Mecklenburg county, which is where Charlotte is, has been on the forefront of bail reform in North Carolina. And those reforms, as of 2019, they were associated with lower use of secured bonds, which is cash bail, and a higher rate of release on written promise or unsecured bond and a higher rate of supervised release. Now, this study from 2019 goes on to say that good news, it didn't affect crime rates and everybody showed up for their trials.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Kathryn]

It doesn't update you about 2020-2021-2022-2023, crime levels, violent crime levels in Mecklenburg county in Charlotte went up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, and even up into 2024. Defying the pattern in other cities where it started to tickle. Our friend Alex, the chick says, keep pushing the view that only MAGA cares about a woman being slaughtered on public transport, and the result will be people saying, I guess I'm MAGA now.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's a very good way to put it. A lot of people are also saying, perhaps we should go after the judges. There has to be some accountability judges who just release criminals back out onto the streets to need to be held accountable. I could see that being a Donald Trump issue for the midterms. I will make sure that judges who do this kind of thing are held accountable or something similar.

[Mary Kathryn]

Yeah, I understand the desire, as we always advocated for during COVID like, let's be rational about what your statistical probability is of these crimes. Right? But as you say, when you keep seeing these random incidents, and yes, we do have video of them and yes, it does make people feel it in a more real way because, you know, it actually happened.

[Carol Markowitz]

There's no question.

[Mary Kathryn]

And despite the. Despite the mayor's statement that, you know, you can't arrest your way out of it, out of this, you could indeed have incarcerated your way out of this specific problem because the man had been arrested 14 times and his mom had tried to get the state to help him with his mental health and he, you know, missed various dates for that.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. The governor of North Carolina tweeted this morning, and he's been ratioed to just the end of the earth. He tweeted. I'm heartbroken for the family of Irina Zarutska, who lost their loved one to this senseless act of violence and appalled by the footage of the murder. Okay, great. We need more cops on the beat to keep people safe. That's why my budget calls for more funding to hire more well trained police officers. I call upon the legislature to pass my law enforcement recruitment and retention package to address vacancies in our state and local agencies so they could stop these horrific crimes and hold violent criminals accountable. And everybody points out the police already did their part of this. You don't need more police to do this. They arrested him 14 times. The police work done. Check. It's the next step. It's the keeping him in jail.

[Mary Kathryn]

Guess what job the current governor had during the time this man was arrested 14 times? He was Attorney General. He was Attorney General. And the former governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, the Democrat who is running for Senate for Thom Tillis's seat against Michael Whatley, who's the former chair of the RNC in North Carolina and also the party. At any rate, Michael Watley is running against him. Roy Cooper was governor of North Carolina from 2018 to 2025. That is a bad section of years to have overseen when people care about this kind of issue. It will remain to be seen what becomes of this in the race. There are certainly ads to be made of this, partly because he was a 2020 Democratic governor. What do you think he did? He embraced, of course, all of the cash bail reforms. He embraced every Blue Star panel you could put together that would be easier on criminals because that's what they did of citizens. They all did this. He's on tape doing it. He is. He's out there awarding panels to people and taking all of their advice. Happily. And look, these things have consequences. If you get caught up in a moral panic and you don't think about the actual policies, it's not the Pouncing.

[Carol Markowitz]

It's the actual governor governing.

[Mary Kathryn]

Pouncing. The video is the problem. Guys.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn]

One quick thing before we leave this segment. So this is an 8020 issue that Democrats are getting on the wrong side of, like being against crime. Here's one where a left leaning guy got on the right side. Recently, Malcolm Gladwell, very famous author, admitted that on the issue of trans athletes and women's sports, he had been scared out of stating what his actual opinion was. Here's a little clip of him. If we did a replay of that exact panel at the Sloan conference this coming March, it runs in exactly the opposite direction and it would be, I suspect, near unanimity in the room that trans athletes have no place in, in the female category. I don't think there's any question. I just think it was a strange, I mean I felt, I mean I was the reason. I'm ashamed of my performance of that panel because I share your position a hundred percent. And I was count.

[Carol Markowitz]

The idea of.

[Mary Kathryn]

Saying anything on this issue. I was in a, I believe in retrospect, in a dishonest way. I was, I was objective in a dishonest way.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. People are piling on him. I like the admission. It is a little galling that Malcolm Gladwell, who had almost nothing to lose, you know, extremely successful bestseller after bestseller, I've read all of his books, I mean, had still was afraid to say what he actually thought. And how about all the people who aren't at Malcolm Gladwell's, you know, financial level or success level or at where they are in their careers and the risks that they're taking, speaking out. I appreciate the admission.

[Mary Kathryn]

But I know, I know, I appreciate the admission and I want to appreciate it because I want to encourage more people to go down this path and to just say like, yeah, we were in a. What were we doing? What were we doing? I do think Malcolm Gladwell would have been in that class of uncancelable people, basically where he could have said no. I, I think you guys are wrong about this. And look, I, I think I also want to acknowledge, because you and I have felt it during the 20, the years of our insanity from 2020 to 2022.

[Carol Markowitz]

The crazy years.

[Mary Kathryn]

The crazy years. A lot of people will say about like open school moms, like, oh, you guys just were scared of losing your brunch friends and your tennis partners. And it's like, no, I don't, like we're not going to erase the immense social pressure and consequences and ostracization that came with this kind of thing in 2020 through 2022. So he was reacting to a very real thing. Some people say like, oh, he's just a coward and look, I wish he had spoken up. Many others did with less. Right. But there was a real force of really disgusting bullying and consequences that came from doing that. So he wasn't reacting to nothing, which is what some people want to say.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right? Well, to tie it to our original topic, if you're a Democrat and you think crime is bad, I think you should just say so.

[Mary Kathryn]

You should just say that.

[Carol Markowitz]

Not wait. Not wait a few years until, you know other Democrats are saying crime is bad. So you could add on to it.

[Mary Kathryn]

You could jump on now.

[Carol Markowitz]

We'll be right back to talk about the socialist possible mayor of New York City thinking that millionaires are just going to have to live with his policies. I don't think so. We'll be right back with more on Normally.

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[Mary Kathryn]

Our guy Mamdani is back at it. He's doing the interviews, he's talking about all his plans and he's going to keep the rich people in New York. I don't know if you know this. This.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn]

Let's play the clip you've been running.

[Glenn Washington]

On the platform of affordability fixes for New Yorkers like a rent freeze. You mentioned free buses, city owned groceries that made you popular with some working New Yorkers but not so popular with real estate developers in the financial class. You were the only male candidate to march alongside Martin Luther King III and I on our march on Wall street about DEI on last week as we call for economic justice for all New Yorkers and all Americans. But right now the top 1% earners in the city pay 40% of the city's income taxes according to the Empire center for Public Policy. How do you bring these wealthy residents to the table as mayor, stop them from saying they're leaving, going to Florida because we need that tax revenue to pay for some of the things you're talking about, how do you pay for it if they're gone?

[Mamdani]

Well, the first thing I have to say is I was proud to be the only candidate for mayor at that march. And I was proud because some of the chants at that march, they were asking, is the dream alive? Right? Is Dr. King's dream still alive? And he asked the question decades ago, what good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can't afford to buy a hamburger? That's a question that New Yorkers are still wrestling with today in 2025. And so what I have put forward is a vision to make the most expensive city in the United States of America affordable at a time when we have the wealthiest city. It is also one where one in four are living in poverty. And to your point, we have a number of New Yorkers who are doing quite well. The top 1% of New York City earns a million dollars or more a year. And my vision is not one where they leave. It is one where they stay. It is one.

[Glenn Washington]

How do you get them to stay?

[Mamdani]

In part by showing them that asking them to pay more in taxes would increase even their quality of life. Because when you ask New Yorkers what is it that is making them feel uneasy in this city, you often hear from them about the cleanliness of our city, the safety of our city, the affordability of our city. We are not asking to raise these taxes for the sake of it. We're asking so that we can actually make the slowest buses in the country fast and free, so that we can actually create a Department of Community Safety that would deploy dedicated teams of mental health outreach workers to the top hundred stations of the highest levels of mental health crises and homelessness?

[Carol Markowitz]

It's such salad nonsense. You know, I didn't know that it was Al Sharpton who interviewed him, because I only. I had read the response. But now hearing Sharpton, it's like two hucksters talking to each other. I mean, Sharpton says things like, the financial class. What does that even mean? What is the financial class? Sharpton is the financial class. Like, it's. I will tell you that I have had a lot of friends call me and say, we are now thinking of getting out from New York. And some of those friends, they can't.

[Mary Kathryn]

They can't. Carol. Some of those friends, Mamdani needs them.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, yeah, they're gonna be gone.

[Mary Kathryn]

Have they not gotten the memo about Mamdani's vision, which includes them and their.

[Carol Markowitz]

Money and their fast and Free buses. Like I'm, I think I feel like also the, it's either gonna be fast or it's gonna be free. It's not going to be both.

[Mary Kathryn]

No, it's.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn]

The idea that their quality of life will go up by having more of their money taken by this guy who has no experience running anything.

[Carol Markowitz]

No idea what he.

[Mary Kathryn]

Also the combo of like namby pamby Office of Community Action instead of police plus free buses which will inevitably become a housing area for homeless people who probably have any, any number of mental illnesses and violent tendencies. Just combine that with our first segment story. Not. It's not a good look. I really don't feel good about it and I don't feel like people who have means are necessarily going to stick around for it.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, I don't know why they would. And the thing is I think a lot of people didn't want to abandon New York and they wanted to say okay, we're going to stay and rebuild the city after Covid. And now they're like wow, I have to get out of here before it's too late. I have to get out of here before this is all just a bigger problem than it's ever been. The guy who wants to rent freeze and the guy who wants government run stores and the other thing is I don't think he's going to accomplish any of this. I'm concerned about how poorly it will go if he does accomplish it but I actually don't think he actually gets to the point place where it fails because I don't think it actually ever happens. And then I wonder what he does then. And I have to tell you that a lot of people are thinking he's going to get really into like the Free Palestine movement and make that an important part of New York City politics because he'll have nothing else. And I, you know, I think all New Yorkers should be worried. Jewish New Yorkers, it's long past the time to get out.

[Mary Kathryn]

I also just love the entitled nature of all champagne socialists that like no, the people who work really hard and make the money will just keep them and their money because reasons and those people have no agency and somehow they won't do anything differently.

[Carol Markowitz]

The people with the most access to leaving will stay.

[Mary Kathryn]

Well, we will be back in a minute with a little bit more on both socialism and Gen Z.

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[Mary Kathryn]

All right, two quick polls before we're out of here, Carol. Number one, a new Gallup poll asking, do you have a positive or negative view of socialism? You ready for these Democratic numbers?

[Carol Markowitz]

I'm ready.

[Mary Kathryn]

66 positive, 30 negative. It is the highest ever in this Gallup question. GOP 14% approve. 86.

[Carol Markowitz]

All right, Republicans hold the whole country together. Let's do it.

[Mary Kathryn]

Indy 3857. So, man.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, it's not good. It's not good. I think that we need to hear better arguments of why socialism has failed every single time it has been tried. And I think people need to understand that, you know, a lot of times Bernie Sanders will point to Sweden and say, like, oh, I want to be socialist like them. And Sweden had to tell Bernie Sanders, stop calling us socialists. We're actually capitalist. So I think people need to hear stories like that to get that that's not what socialism is. Venezuela is what socialism is. Take a good look and wonder if that's what you want to be.

[Mary Kathryn]

I do think capitalism vanquished socialism, at least in the Western world, so thoroughly that too many people forgot. Like, it starts sounding like a neato idea again. And then you're like, no, no, no, that's not a neato idea. It requires the murdering systematically of many, many thousands of people to do it. So maybe not right.

[Carol Markowitz]

Also, like, I love all the memes that are like, you know, under socialism, I'll tend my garden. And like, your garden, like, our garden.

[Mary Kathryn]

Belongs to all of us. There's just a lot that they're not thinking about there. All right, what's the other poll we have?

[Carol Markowitz]

Poll number is how important it is to have kids. Important to personal definition of success. Women who voted for Harris, say, 6%. It's important to have the bottom of.

[Mary Kathryn]

Their list of things that define success.

[Carol Markowitz]

Young men who voted for Trump, 34%. Yeah, that's a lot better. And actually that's at the top of the list of things that are important to their personal definition of success. No matter who my kids vote for, I hope that they put that at the top of their list. That's actually the most important thing to me by far. I think that the rest of it is important, but not as important.

[Mary Kathryn]

Yeah. Hands down, best thing I've ever done. So, like the idea that it's at the very bottom of the list. And I think it's like, you know, we communicated that it's passe to get married and have kids. And, and of course the left's reaction to this is going to be like, ew, these men wanting to have children. No good. These men wanting to have children.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right. But of course it's our fault that they don't have children. We've somehow tricked them. The greatest trick we've ever pulled.

[Mary Kathryn]

We tricked them.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Kathryn]

This is going to cause some dating problems in that generation.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's the thing. That's why I think Republicans need to focus more on women. But whenever I say that on X, all these people are like, forget those women. Who cares? Well, who are the men marrying?

[Mary Kathryn]

Yeah, you gotta, you know, gotta match them up.

[Carol Markowitz]

Somebody with a daughter and two sons. Like I worry about who my sons will marry.

[Mary Kathryn]

Right. I'm with you.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us on Normally Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us@ normallythepodmail.com thanks for listening. And when things get weird, act normally.

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[Glenn Washington]

I'm Glenn Washington, the host of KQD's Snap Judgment podcast. And at Snap, we don't just tell stories, we live them. Every week a different journey. Like on a plane with Rihanna, a racetrack in Tijuana, a year inside an Oakland homeless encampment. Real people, real voices with original music and cinematic sound. Snap Judgment from KQED New episodes every Thursday. Wherever you get your podcasts, this is an iHeart podcast.