New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said that joining the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) helped him deal with anxiety.

Speaking to Theo Von on the comedian’s This Past Weekend podcast, Mamdani described the DSA as his “political home”, adding that the organisation helped him realise he was not alone in his political concerns.

“For me, being a member of this organisation, it was something that opened my eyes to how to make sense of it, and also what I could do to change it,” Mamdani said. “That was something that didn’t just help me with my anxiety; it also just helped me with my sense of my place in the world.”

Mamdani argued that the organisation provided a community for people who felt increasingly isolated from one another, saying: “You are actually part of something much bigger than yourself.” He added that modern society had become increasingly “atomised”, with the social bonds that once connected people beginning to disappear.

The Mayor, who joined the New York City chapter of the DSA in 2017, said the experience also pushed him towards political activism. After joining the organisation, he began volunteering for candidates he supported, knocking on doors and speaking to voters. “One of the most radicalising things is when you knock on somebody’s door, they open their door, they invite you into their home, and you see the life that they live,” he told the podcast.

Von later pressed Mamdani to explain what socialism meant to him in practical terms. The Mayor responded by saying that it was the belief that the government should provide people with the things they need to live a “dignified life”, including housing, childcare and public transport. He also discussed the city’s $12 billion budget deficit, his administration’s dealings with DoorDash and his plans for city-owned grocery stores.

The conversation then moved into Mamdani’s relationship with Donald Trump, with the Mayor describing how the two could work together despite their political differences. “The President and I still have disagreements,” Mamdani said. “We talk about them whenever we meet. And also, the point of those meetings is not just to say, ‘I believe this, you believe that.’ It’s also ‘where is there a place where we could work together to deliver on something?’”

The 78-minute episode ended on the more familiar territory of Israel and Gaza, with Mamdani calling Benjamin Netanyahu the “architect of a horrific genocide” and reiterating his support for the US joining the International Criminal Court and enforcing its arrest warrants. “If I had my say, the US government would have joined the ICC, honoured every single warrant that they’ve issued,” Mamdani said. “It should enforce its warrants for everyone.”