Zohran Mamdani, NYC’s youngest mayor at 34, swept to victory on November 4, 2025, with a viral rap and a socialist vow to make “This City Belong to You” through rent freezes and free buses. Yet this charismatic outsider, lacking the managerial scars to navigate a $100 billion budget, embodies a competence vacuum. His promise of radical excellence arrives as the rentier economy — fueled by tax loopholes and asset inflation — starves the city’s treasury, sounding the alarm of institutional collapse. The juxtaposition is shocking, yet deeply illuminating: an administration, defined by the rise of an inexperienced elite, declares...