George Will — once considered one of the sharpest conservative minds in America — has long puzzled many on the right with his deep disdain for Donald Trump. That disdain drove him to vote for Joe Biden in 2020, a move that already felt like a rejection of the conservative principles he once championed.
But on Friday’s episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Will took that puzzlement to a new level. Discussing New York City’s Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani — a hard-left candidate who openly champions “free grocery stores” and “free buses” — Will said he actually wants Mamdani to win.
Maher himself blasted Mamdani, remarking that “he says the things that communists say.” Yet Will doubled down, arguing:
“Every 20 years or so, we need a conspicuous, confined experiment with socialism so we can crack it up again… The new socialist slogan is, ‘Trust us, this time it won’t be a mess.’”
He even recalled Britain’s post-war socialist government under Aneurin Bevan:
“We have a nation bedded on coal, surrounded by fish. It would take an organizational genius to have a shortage of either.”
Within three years, Britain had shortages of both.
Will’s point seems to be that New Yorkers need to learn the hard way that socialism doesn’t work. But here’s the problem: this won’t be a “confined experiment.” New York City is one of the most influential cultural and economic hubs in the world. If it falls further under the grip of radical left economics, the ripple effects will spread far beyond the five boroughs — through policy, media narratives, and emboldened progressive movements in other cities.
And while socialism’s track record is already crystal clear — from economic collapse in Venezuela to rationing in post-war Britain — history also shows that its champions rarely relinquish power after failure. They shift the blame, change the narrative, and double down. Just look at how the Biden administration spins poor economic performance as someone else’s fault.
Letting a socialist win in the hope it “teaches a lesson” is playing with fire. The people hurt won’t be policy theorists in TV studios — they’ll be working families, small business owners, and the communities already struggling under high costs and unsafe streets.
Radical leftism isn’t something you “test.” It’s something you stop before it can spread. And in today’s political climate, allowing it a stage this big is more than just risky — it’s dangerous.
