Trust Fund Marxism

Gather ‘round, kids! It’s time for another edition of: “Trust Fund Marxism”

Gustavo Gordillo is a Yale grad. He came to America as a child from Peru with his parents. Once in America, his parents did very well for themselves, building a prosperous life and hefty real estate portfolio in Florida, along with an apparently thriving engineering and construction firm.

I love these stories. Like, SO much. That’s the American Dream, right?

Gustavo is now 38 years old and the co-chair of the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has been making the rounds lately, calling for the redistribution of land “from landowners to the landless.” Gustavo has made it clear he and the DSA “don’t think that anybody should have the constitutional right to double digit returns on their investment.”

And if you’re a grocery store owner in NYC upset over Mamdani’s plan, well, Gustavo isn’t shedding a tear for you or your business:

“If one publicly owned grocery store that brings prices down in the neighborhood is enough to put someone out of business maybe they shouldn’t have been in that business in the first place.”

Ouch.

So what does Gustavo, this champion of the worker, do for a living?

Well, for a while Gustavo was doing a rather convincing bit of blue-collar cosplay as a union electrician.

To be fair, he actually enrolled in the IBEW Local 3 apprenticeship program.

Unfortunately for him, the whole “working-class hero” thing apparently involved an unexpected amount of actual working. Who knew? Not Gustavo.

Gustavo was fired in March for what the union described as a “prolonged absence from and failure to participate in required work and classes.”

In simpler terms: the dude didn’t show up for work.

But don’t worry...the costume survived!

Gustavo still describes himself as a “Union Electrician” in his social media bio. I mean, the job may be gone but the brand lives on. And really, who’s gonna check?

So, how does Gustavo Gordillo make money now? Who signs this “leader of the revolution’s” paycheck?

Why, the Democratic Socialists of America, of course. $95K a year, baby. Who knew you could make a sort of decent living redistributing other people’s money? (Actually, I did. I knew that. I’ve known that for a long time.)

But still, this is New York City. And $95K ain’t exactly beautifully renovated Brooklyn townhouse money?

So how does our 38 year electrician drop-out-turned-socialist revolutionary afford his beautifully renovated Brooklyn townhouse?

One word: CAPITALISM.

Well, specifically, Mom and Dad’s capitalism.

Yup, Gustavo’s fully renovated townhouse was purchased through an LLC linked to his parents for just shy of $1 million. Today it’s reportedly worth around $1.5 million.

(I’m going to give you a minute to let this roll around in your brains. I know. There’s a lot happening here.)

This, dear friends, seems to be the new uniform of America’s young socialist revolutionaries.

Hasan Piker rails against capitalism from his multi million dollar home. He grew up in an upper middle class family, the son of a longtime corporate executive and got his start in media working for The Young Turks, founded by his uncle, Cenk Uygur. Even the New Yorker described him as “in an almost literal sense, a nepo baby.”

Zohran Mamdani grew up surrounded by considerable privilege. His parents helped bankroll his failed “Young Cardamom” music career. And when it came time to celebrate his wedding, his Mom and Dad hosted a lavish party at one of their homes in Uganda...behind the walls of a guarded compound.

And Gustavo?

Gustavo has the million dollar townhouse courtesy of Mom and Dad.

Workers of the World, unite! (Oh, but call your parents first)

So, to recap: Mom and Dad succeeded at the American Dream. Mom and Dad built wealth through business and real estate. Mom and Dad bought the kid a million dollar house. And from inside that house, the kid lectures America about redistributing property from “landowners to landless.”

I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but it seems to me that the first step in overthrowing capitalism is...wait for it...

having parents who were really good at it.