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Mamdani Reveals What He Believes Are the Nine Most Terrifying Words in the English Language

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  May 18, 2026 1:30 PM

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the opportunity at a press conference on Monday to criticize former President Ronald Reagan and his famous remark that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” 

At an event announcing the opening of the second of five city-run grocery stores, Mamdani said he disagreed, arguing instead that the truly terrifying nine words are, “I worked all day and can’t feed my family.” While those words are undeniably difficult, Mamdani did not acknowledge that government policies are a primary driver of the very conditions behind those words. 

Or that the very hardship Mamdani invokes is what Reagan and conservatives warned the government would produce.

"Today, my friends, I am so proud to announce that the Bronx location will be here at the peninsula. And New Yorkers will not need to wait long for costs to drop. This store will be the first of the five city-run grocery stores to open," the New York City mayor said.

"Bronx residents will be able to begin shopping here next year. It is going to be a 20,000-square-foot location, and its ambition is perfectly placed at the peninsula, which will house 740 units of 100 percent affordable housing by the time that it's fully built," Mamdani continued.

This was a place of failure, where young, predominantly low-income New Yorkers were subjected to brutal physical conditions, human rights violations, and physical abuse. We are reclaiming that same site to tell a very different story. This store and the peninsula as a whole 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.

"And 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.' It's a good quote, but I disagree," he said. "I think nine more terrifying words are actually, 'I worked all day and can't feed my family.' 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. When government understands its purpose as serving the very working people that it has left behind time and again, it can make a difference."

What Mamdani never acknowledged, however, is that the reason many working people today are unable to feed their families is because the government has attempted to help them. 

It is the government that takes a tax on every working person’s wage; it is the government that heads programs that lead to a welfare trap; it is the government that wastes taxpayer money on ineffective programs; it is the government that is constantly convincing Americans that if they just give it a little more in taxes, their lives will be that much better.

While Mamdani says that his government-run grocery store will be a boon to New Yorkers, providing them with cheap groceries, that claim simply isn’t true.

Daniel Di Martino, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, an economist, and someone who grew up under socialist rule in Venezuela, has said that rather than assisting New Yorkers, these government-run grocery stores are simply a waste of money, taking away business from locally owned grocery stores and costing 10 times as much to open as a privately owned store.