Zohran Mamdani presents himself as a “man of the people,” but he’s just the latest rich kid cosplaying as a revolutionary. Born to a famous filmmaker and a successful academic, and educated at expensive private schools, Mamdani is now trying to atone for his privilege by bringing full-blown socialism to New York City. Gavin Newsom found himself in a similar predicament this week after playing up the “struggle” of his upbringing, when in reality he grew up one degree of separation from the Getty Oil fortune. None of this is new—elites have a long history of wearing working-class populism as a costume. But when you get them talking behind closed doors, they’re just as anti-democratic as you’d expect.