CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, seen at right in a 2025 photo, called out Democrat-led government in America’s largest cities for their failures in such areas as providing aid to the homeless. (Ronaldo Bolaños – Los Angeles Times / Getty Images; Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz February 23, 2026 at 12:23pm
Extreme polarization has deceived us into accepting tribalism as a substitute for genuine politics.
Imagine, however, what would happen if everyone, especially journalists, held their own party’s leaders to account.
For instance, in a clip posted Sunday to the social media platform X, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, host of “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” declared that “blue cities are out of control” and then spent two minutes illustrating the problems that plague every major Democrat-run metropolis.
“New York is really a prime example of a problem Democrats seem unwilling to confront: Blue cities are out of control — promising more, spending more, delivering less, and pushing off the fiscal problems to some future day,” Zakaria said during his “Fareed’s Take” editorial segment.
Indeed, Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City has already announced a $127 billion budget. To pay for municipal spending, both past and future, the mayor wants an increase in property taxes.
Then, Zakaria shifted his attention to the other side of the continent.
“Take Los Angeles, another one-party metropolis wrestling with affordability and disorder,” he added. “The city’s homelessness budget for fiscal year 2025-26 totals about 950 million dollars.”
And what have the people of Los Angeles received in return for all that spending?
“The LA Homelessness Services Authority reported that in 2023 homelessness was up nine percent countywide and 10 percent in the city,” he continued. “And a 2024 AP account noted that homelessness had surged 70 percent countywide since 2015 and 80 percent in the city — all this amid public frustration despite billions spent.”
Zakaria then cited an audit that could not account for $2.4 billion in LA’s homelessness funding. Based on the 2025-26 budget, that means that two-and-a-half years’ worth of spending on homelessness simply vanished. No one can or will account for it.
“Or take Chicago,” the CNN host said, “with a mayor whose approval rating is deep underwater, where the pension promises are so large that they will surely bankrupt the city at some point.”
Having blasted Democrats for mismanagement of America’s three largest cities, Zakaria then summarized his intelligent critique.
“What is the theory of good government here?” he asked. “If the answer is ‘keep adding programs,’ the city will keep producing unaffordability, because unaffordability is what happens when government becomes a machine that grows faster than the society it governs.”
Finally, the host returned to New York City’s imminent catastrophe.
“Zohran Mamdani’s basic instinct is correct,” Zakaria said. “Focus on affordability, especially housing, but not by providing government subsidies. These only seem to have driven up the cost of rent, as subsidies naturally do.”
The clip concluded with Zakaria noting that New York City’s rental-assistance spending had quintupled since 2020. Meanwhile, rental costs skyrocketed.
Fareed Zakaria: “Blue cities are out of control — promising more, spending more, delivering less.” pic.twitter.com/Iv5jVwZO4Z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 22, 2026
In short, subsidies invariably increase the cost of whatever they subsidize. It is practically a mathematical principle.
When the government subsidizes education, for instance, education costs increase. Administrative positions multiply like locusts, while students pay more for less. The same phenomenon occurs across all areas and levels of government.
Kudos to Zakaria, therefore, for calling out a real problem caused and exacerbated by corrupt urban Democrats. No doubt CNN’s ever-dwindling liberal audience chafed at the criticism of their leaders. But Zakaria apparently did not care. He performed real journalism, complete with honest commentary.
It is no exaggeration, in fact, to say that Zakaria, whatever his personal beliefs, behaved in the spirit of Christ. God commands us to tell the truth, even — perhaps especially — when our own leaders need to hear it.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
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