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New York City’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is facing backlash for criticizing a famous quote from former President Ronald Reagan, who cautioned about the dangers of big government.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist and New York’s first Muslim mayor, voiced his disagreement with the beloved conservative president as he launched the first of his long-promised city-run grocery stores in the Bronx.
“Standing here this morning, I cannot help but think of the words of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan. He famously said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,’” he said. “It’s a good quote, but I disagree.”
Instead, Mamdani said, “I think nine more terrifying words are actually, ‘I worked all day and can’t feed my family.’”
He went on to promise, “We are going to use the power of government to lower prices and make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,” adding, “When government understands its purpose as serving the very working people that it has left behind, time and again, it can make a difference in the most pressing struggles facing our city today.”
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New York City socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, turned a famous quote of President Ronald Reagan’s on its head, saying that his government-run grocery stores “will serve as physical proof of our conviction that government can be a force for good, that government can drive change that improves people’s lives.” (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Michael Evans/The White House/Getty Images)
“It’s not just that government can help, it’s that government must help, and our government will help,” he continued.
Mamdani made his promise of opening affordable, government-run grocery stores throughout the city a central tenet of his campaign. He said on Monday that the first location, a 20,000-square-foot store in the Bronx, will open at some point in 2027.
This is the second of the five promised stores to be officially announced. Mamdani previously announced an East Harlem location for the city’s 9,000-square-foot Manhattan flagship store, but that location will be built from the ground up and is slated to open in 2029.
Mamdani said the Bronx location, along with the planned mixed-use development dubbed the “Peninsula,” “will serve as physical proof of our conviction that government can be a force for good, that government can drive change that improves people’s lives.”
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La Marqueta, a Latino marketplace in East Harlem, is chosen as the site of the first city-owned grocery store announced by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, on April 14, 2026. (Kendall Rodriguez/Newsday RM/Getty Images)
Though cheered by the crowd at his announcement, Mamdani’s dig at Reagan earned him scorn from conservatives online.
Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty posted on X: “What a FREAKING DISASTER! He REALLY thinks this will work.”
Daugherty accused the mayor of going “FULL DERANGED MARXIST,” telling New Yorkers to be “prepared for utter failure.”
Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet posted on X that Mamdani had “flipped Ronald Reagan’s warning upside down,” writing that “his answer is government-run grocery stores that will use taxpayer advantages to undercut private competition.”
Jennifer Harrison, founder of the Victims Rights Reform Council, pointed to ongoing public transportation woes in New York City amid widespread strikes, writing on X, “Bc everything government run, like the MTA, is working out so well for Nyers.”
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacts while being introduced during a union rally on Park Avenue in New York City on April 15, 2026. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)
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Meanwhile, the official X account for the GOP simply reposted the clip, labeling Mamdani a “communist.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment.
