Seeing the video of Zohran Mamdani kicking off his “Five Boroughs Against Trump” campaign, my first question is whether he has lost his mind.

I understand his strategy of running against a president who has relatively little support at New York City. I also understand his strategy of tying the former governor, Andrew Cuomo, to President Trump in the belief that it will end Mr. Cuomo’s chance to win.

The problem with turning that strategy into a direct assault on Mr. Trump is that New York City will become ungovernable if Mr. Mamdani’s agenda is passed and the city loses its federal funding as a result. 

Further, Mr. Mamdani’s promise to be “Trump’s worst nightmare” is absurd on two counts.

First, Mr. Trump is dealing with Hamas, the Iranian dictatorship, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Senator Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats, and dozens of other challenges. Does Mr. Mamdani have any idea how hard it would be to become “Trump’s worst nightmare?”

Second, if there was a historic struggle — nightmare to nightmare — between a mayor of New York and the president of America, the mayor would rapidly be crushed, bankrupted, and left powerless and humiliated.

The concept of Mr. Mamdani puffing himself up to be the supposed equal to — or more absurd, a threat — to the President of the United States is a sign of the scale of the candidate’s delusion and self-deception.

There was a grand irony in the pictures of Mr. Mamdani’s rally to kick off his “Five Boroughs Against Trump tour.” Standing behind him were a group of supporters with posters proclaiming they were health care employees. 

I couldn’t help but wonder what percent of their income came from federal programs — starting with Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health program, and others.

On another front, Mayor Adams’s administration estimates New York City has spent $10 billion on illegal immigrants from 2023 to 2025. Without state and federal assistance, how does Mr. Mamdani propose to cope with the huge illegal immigrant population without federal help? 

Mr. Mamdani’s illegal immigration problem will compound if he means what he said during his speech at Staten Island: “It is not enough to fight against authoritarianism. What are you also fighting for? We are fighting to keep this city a sanctuary city.”

Mr. Mamdani’s direct confrontation with Mr. Trump’s intense commitment to control the border and deport people who are in America illegally is embedded through his campaign. 

On Mr. Mamdani’s campaign website, there is a commitment to “Trump-proofing NYC.” This means kicking Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of every city facility and strengthening what I suspect are illegal sanctuary efforts to stop the federal government from executing the law.

The big-government socialists’ determination to interpose city and state government against the federal government is an example of refusing to learn the lessons of American history.

When South Carolina objected to federal tariffs and asserted the state would not collect them, President Jackson threatened to raise an army and crush South Carolina if it did not comply with the law. South Carolina backed down.

In 1861, Southern Democrat slaveholders tried to secede from the Union in defiance of the federal government. After a four-year civil war, they were conquered and the slaves were freed.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Southern Democrat segregationists sought to interpose their states against the federal government. President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne to stop them in Arkansas.

President Kennedy sent in federal forces to break up Democratic segregationists in Mississippi and Alabama.

Now we have the new big-government socialist Democrats with their radical values across the country trying to interpose their governments in defense of illegal immigrants — including criminals. They will suffer the same total defeat as their slaveholding, segregationist predecessors.

There seems to be a requirement to be out of touch with practical reality if you are going to be a true believer in a big government socialist future defined by radical values. 

Since only 18 percent of the country favors big government socialism according to America’s New Majority Project polls — and only 15 percent to 20 percent favor the left’s radical social values — true believers must live in a persistent fantasy world to retain their faith.

The more we learn of Mr. Mamdani’s inability to come to grips with reality, the more we must worry about what will happen to America’s greatest city if he becomes mayor.

The Five-Borough hate tour is not an encouraging sign.