Charles Kushner Abandons New York: “I Won’t Pay Taxes to a Blatantly Antisemitic Mayor”

One of New York’s most prominent real estate investors is officially turning his back on the city he’s called home his entire life—and he’s placing the blame squarely on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s shoulders.

Charles Kushner isn’t mincing words about his exodus to Florida.

“I don’t want to pay taxes and live in a city with a blatantly antisemitic mayor and his antisemitic wife, period,” Kushner declared. “I also don’t want to live in the city with the people who voted for him.”

This isn’t about policy differences or partisan politics. This is about something far more fundamental—and far more disturbing.

The Hostility That Broke the Camel’s Back

Kushner, currently serving as US Ambassador to France under President Trump’s administration, said his decision stems directly from what he characterizes as the Mamdani administration’s unmistakable hostility toward Jews and Israel.

The evidence is damning and abundant.

Mayor Mamdani refused to march in the Israel Day Parade—a decades-long New York tradition celebrating the U.S.-Israel relationship. He publicly called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal.” He rolled out the red carpet at Gracie Mansion for Columbia University protesters who openly celebrated Hamas terrorists.

And then there’s First Lady Rama Duwaji, who apparently found cause to celebrate the October 7th massacre—the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

“I don’t think you can reason with people that celebrate brutality on October 7th and say it was a hoax,” Kushner stated flatly. “I don’t think they are people worth talking to.”

Beyond Political Differences

The Ambassador was crystal clear: this transcends normal political disagreement.

“I speak to a lot of people that don’t have political views that I have, and there’s two sides, and I respect everybody’s opinion,” Kushner explained. “But I don’t respect anybody that celebrates murder, rape, brutality.”

That’s the line in the sand—and it’s exactly where the line should be drawn.

When political leadership moves from policy disputes into celebrating acts of terrorism and barbarism, reasonable people of all political persuasions should be heading for the exits. Kushner is simply doing what any principled American should do when confronted with moral bankruptcy masquerading as progressive governance.

The War on Success

But the antisemitism isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s part of a broader ideological assault on achievement and success that defines Mamdani’s socialist administration.

Kushner pointed to the mayor’s disgraceful public attack on billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin—singled out by name in a viral video promoting Mamdani’s punitive pied-à-terre tax targeting successful people who dare to own property in New York City.

“You know, Ken Griffin worked hard to earn all that money,” Kushner said. “He took a lot of risk to earn all that money. That’s what America’s about.”

Exactly right.

This is the politics of resentment in its purest form—punishing success, demonizing wealth creators, and driving productive citizens out of the city while celebrating those who contribute nothing but grievance and division.

A City on the Brink

Kushner hasn’t completely severed ties with his hometown. He’ll maintain a New York apartment—and yes, he’ll even pay Mamdani’s spiteful pied-à-terre tax. But he’s officially becoming a Florida resident, joining the millions of Americans who’ve already discovered that the Sunshine State offers something New York increasingly cannot: competent, pro-growth leadership that doesn’t despise success.

The real tragedy? Kushner believes New York has always been resilient enough to survive bad leadership.

“Bill de Blasio couldn’t ruin it, because the city is such an economic center, and really a cultural center, and it’s the center of the world,” he noted.

But this time feels different.

“If I was a betting person, if one person could ruin it or bring it down, it’s this mayor,” Kushner warned.

The Opportunity Squandered

Here’s what makes this story particularly infuriating: Kushner built Kushner Companies into one of America’s premier real estate firms through hard work, risk-taking, and seizing the opportunities that New York City once offered to anyone with ambition and grit.

That’s the American Dream in action.

His eldest son, Jared Kushner, became a senior White House adviser and married into the Trump family. His younger son, Joshua Kushner, founded Thrive Capital, a venture capital powerhouse. This is a family that epitomizes what’s possible in America when talent meets opportunity.

And what does Mamdani offer to New Yorkers seeking that same path? Resentment. Punishment. Taxation. Division.

“The opportunity is there for all Americans,” Kushner said. Then he added, with unmistakable contempt: “I hope they find happiness with this moronic mayor.”

They won’t. They can’t. Because socialist governance has never created prosperity anywhere, at any time, under any circumstances.

The Great Migration Continues

Kushner’s departure is merely the highest-profile example of a trend that’s been accelerating for years: successful, productive Americans are fleeing blue-state dysfunction for red-state sanity.

“I’m going to have a very nice life as a resident of Florida, with a lot of family and a lot of friends that are doing exactly that, have done, and continue to do exactly the same thing,” Kushner said.

Indeed, he will. Florida offers no state income tax, competent governance, protection for law-abiding citizens, and leadership that celebrates success rather than punishing it.

Meanwhile, New York City gets Zohran Mamdani—a mayor who despises the very people who built the city’s prosperity, celebrates those who cheered the slaughter of innocent Jews, and apparently believes the path to urban success runs through demonizing achievement and driving wealth creators away.

The Bottom Line

Charles Kushner’s message to New York is unambiguous: when a city’s leadership crosses the line from merely bad policy into celebrating terrorism and demonizing success, it’s time to go.

New Yorkers elected this administration. Now they’ll live with the consequences as their most productive citizens—the job creators, the risk-takers, the wealth generators—take their talents, their taxes, and their economic dynamism to states that actually appreciate their contributions.

New York’s loss is Florida’s gain.

And Mamdani’s mayoralty may well be remembered as the administration that finally accomplished what even Bill de Blasio couldn’t: breaking the greatest city in the world.