OPINION:
The speed with which some Democrats in New York are seeking to capitalize on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election is reverberating across the New York City cab industry.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal is pushing the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission to sever its ties with Curb, a taxi content provider whose partnership with Newsmax is problematic for the left-wing politician.
Through its collaboration with Curb, the network provides news updates to riders on small TVs in nearly 15,000 cabs nationwide and about 9,000 vehicles in New York City.
Describing Newsmax as a “right-wing news organization” that downplays “the horrors” of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities, Mr. Hoylman-Sigal doesn’t trust cab riders to control what they wish to watch.
The 60-year-old former New York state senator, who once compared President Trump and Trump supporters to Nazis, wants to censor what appears on the cab customer’s screen and is pushing to remove Newsmax from the Big Apple’s taxis.
The short news segments delivered on TaxiTV are a far cry from the editorializing conservatives see on Newsmax. Still, facts are of little importance when it comes to protecting the constitutional freedoms in the Empire State.
Deflecting from their own policy failures requires Democrats to advance a paradigm that attacks free speech and takes the power out of the hands of the people.
Make no mistake: This latest censorship ploy is not the first time liberal elites have tried to dictate the cultural and economic habits of U.S. citizens living in New York City.
On the contrary, one-party Democratic rule has devolved into lawmakers’ attempts to regulate the behavior of their constituents, who continue to tolerate a consistent stream of paternalizing from the cohort of self-serving Democratic officials.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul felt compelled to clarify her remarks in 2022 after telling millions of Republicans in her state to “just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, OK? Get out of town.”
In Manhattan, Mr. Mamdani seems consumed with perfecting his fashion choices for the press pool while ignoring the fatal fallout from his destructive post-storm policies.
The new mayor has yet to comment on Mr. Hoylman-Sigal’s request to ban Newsmax. It is precisely this air of arrogance that pervades the policymaking decisions of Democratic officials in New York.
Ms. Hochul’s inane “green energy” agenda consists of banning the installation of gas stoves in all new buildings. This initiative has been put on pause as the unpopular executive campaigns for reelection.
New York voters were also recently informed that they will help shoulder the billions of dollars it will cost to enact the state’s universal child care program. Meanwhile, Mr. Mamdani, in all his nepo-baby candor, alerted taxpayers on the campaign trail that they may be forced to foot the $65 million bill for transgender surgeries, including for minors.
As activist “educators” start supplanting more seasoned professionals, parents of students in public schools are contending with politically charged walkouts and a school system that The Heritage Foundation recently ranked 45th in the nation for education freedom.
Whether in the classroom or in cabs, “enlightened” elites are setting the terms for what New Yorkers can listen to and learn.
If Mr. Hoylman-Sigal is successful in blocking Newsmax in NYC cabs, then Americans can expect Democrats to pursue a nationwide effort to regulate the cultural conduct of U.S. citizens.
This latest crusade targeting taxis is merely a test run for lefty politicians who wish to eagerly mirror the surge in Mr. Mamdani’s socialist star power and accelerate an egregious anti-American worldview that attacks our nation’s foundational free speech principles.
For its part, Curb demonstrates no signs that it will succumb to such liberal posturing, which Newsmax appropriately characterizes as a “pure act of censorship targeting a news organization reaching over 50 million Americans regularly.”
This story is much larger than one Democrat’s attempt to recalibrate what riders can watch as they settle into their cabs.
If Mr. Hoylman-Sigal emerges triumphant in his zeal to ban Newsmax, then the thousands of taxis forced to shut off the outlet’s straightforward news will serve as engines driving more dangerous edicts from leftists who are willingly stepping on the freedoms of Americans.
Rather than retreat into brushing off the Manhattan Borough president’s unprincipled push as confined to an ideologically disconnected island, it would be wise to consider that what happens behind the wheel and inside the screen of a New York City cab may soon be pulling up in a city near you.
• Irit Tratt is a writer and former co-chair of the Trump47 National Women’s Leadership Coalition.
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