Mamdani-backed socialist Aber Kawas got slapped with a cease-and-desist letter from the New York Knicks for ripping off their trademark logo in campaign ads—another leftist who preaches against private property while stealing someone else's.

The move exposes the core contradiction of the socialist left now ascending in New York: they want to dismantle ownership rights while showing zero respect for the property that already exists.

Kawas, a Democratic Socialists of America member backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, clinched the Democratic nomination for a Queens state Senate seat Tuesday. Throughout her campaign, she plastered social media and campaign stickers with a doctored version of the Knicks' iconic logo—same font, same orange-and-blue colors, same basketball design, but with "Kawas" replacing "Knicks."

A June 20 post on X urged voters to "Head to the polls to claim your 'I Voted for Aber Kawas' champion sticker," complete with a basketball emoji. The post went up one week after the Knicks won their first NBA Finals championship in 53 years.

Brian N. Warner, senior vice president and head of legal for Madison Square Garden Sports, sent the cease-and-desist letter Friday night demanding Kawas "immediately remove all promotional materials incorporating Knicks Intellectual Property" and "cease any further use." The letter, obtained by the New York Post, accused the campaign of "trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition."

"Neither the Knicks nor NBA [Properties] have authorized the Campaign to use Knicks Intellectual Property in any way," Warner wrote, noting the ads "are likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks."

Mamdani tried the same trick in October, airing an ad during the Knicks' season opener with an altered logo replacing "Knicks" with "Zohran." He pulled it after the team sent its own cease-and-desist letter and stressed it wasn't making endorsements.

The trademark theft comes as the Mamdani-aligned socialist slate tightens its grip on New York politics. Three far-left radicals backed by the mayor swept congressional primaries this week, prompting President Trump to post that "the Communists are finally making their move" and that "the game is on." As the Gateway Pundit reported, Jesse Watters described a Democratic Party fracturing under pressure from a wing that operates like a purge machine: "The commies come in, they take power, then purge."

The New York Post framed the story around the legal action and Kawas's radical ties—she's a former intern for the Council on American-Islamic Relations who has remained affiliated with the controversial Muslim charity for more than a decade, and once described 9/11 as a terror attack that "a couple people did," according to the Post. The Gateway Pundit cast the broader primary results as a communist takeover, with Watters warning that Democrats who don't "kiss Mamdani's ring are marked men."

Kawas wants to represent Queens while treating intellectual property like it belongs to whoever grabs it first. The Knicks have lawyers to fight back. Ordinary property owners aren't so lucky.