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Call me Portlyanna-ish, but I don’t think the off-season elections were the dire warning to Trump and Republicans that much of the media—both mainstream and alternative—have made them out to be. I think there is some cause for concern in the enthusiasm department, but the trumpeting of these elections being a massive victory for the Democrats—and a huge blow to Trump—are more overblown that Michael Moore.
Consider the big three elections that captured most of the media’s focus: Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race; Abigail Spanberger and the violent Jay Jones in the Virginia gubernatorial and State attorney general races, respectively; and that lady with a man’s name in the New Jersey gubernatorial race. None of these races were a real surprise:
- Mamdani appealed to the base of NYC voters: recent immigrants, ethnic minorities, and white socialists;
- Virginia is very blue in a cycle where Trump is not on the ballot and tens of thousands of federal workers—who vote Democratic anyway—are sitting at home, unpaid, who are highly motivated to get back at Trump;
- and New Jersey is… New Jersey. It always looks like a State that might fulfill our wildest hopes that, “this year, it’s finally going to happen”—the refrain of every University of South Carolina Gamecocks football fan since time immemorial (I write—painfully—as a Gamecock myself).
Democrats are naturally going to distort—their favorite pastime, it seems—these results as a clear sign that momentum is on their side and that Trump is losing support. Conservatives should not be amplifying this message if it’s not true.
At best, I think it’s incomplete.
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The Portly Politico 
One snippet I’ve seen passed around on social media is the disbelief that a city which saw the largest terrorist attack in American history could elect a Muslim mayor.
Of course, another snippet appears to suggest that it wasn’t born and bred New Yorkers who voted him in. That suggests, to me, that America has similar migration problems to us.
I imagine you kept tabs on it. What are your thoughts?
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Yes, the situation with Mamdani is the result of a few factors:
1.) Massive immigration to NYC – immigrants voted overwhelmingly for Mamdani.
2.) The Progressive Stack Appeal – as a Muslim and a “person of color,” lots of white progressives, as well as plenty of ethnic minorities, were willing to vote for him based on his skin color alone (we saw the same thing in the mayoral race in Lamar, where the black challenger trounced our incumbent mayor, who was an excellent mayor and who worked with people of all races to improve our town).
3.) Appeal of Socialism – unfortunately, lots of young people have been indoctrinated through education, the Internet, and their own sense of economic futility into believing that socialism is a viable, even desirable, socioeconomic worldview. That’s especially true in a place like NYC, a haven and hotbed for progressivism.
4.) Short Memories – Americans have, sadly, short memories. As I’ve noted in some past posts about 9/11, the commemoration of that tragic day has become an afterthought. As a kid, I remember being acutely aware of 7 December 1941 (the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), and while it wasn’t like we had huge celebrations, there was a sense that the “day which will live infamy” was important and worth reflection. It was a patriotic observance. 9/11 seems to have lost its staying power; how soon we forget!
5.) Massive Demographic Changes – again, this goes back to the immigrant vote. The United States has allowed hordes of people to immigrate; like you are experiencing in Britain, we have often rolled out the red carpet for them, getting them hooked on the welfare state immediately. These folks often come from cultures were socialism or the similar ideologies are celebrated as the birthright of the downtrodden. Some of these cultures have zero concept of self-governance. In essence, it’s the Great Replacement in action.
There is probably also some sense among progressives and immigrants that a Mamdani mayoralty is a middle finger to Trump. Progressives have shown their willingness and eagerness to engage in self-destructive behavior to spite Trump (see also: pregnant women killing themselves and their babies by overdosing on Tylenol after the Trump Administration announced a link between taking Tylenol during pregnancy and increased rates of autism in children).
That’s my back-of-the-envelope analysis. I was not surprised at all that Mamdani won. It was a demographic and statistic inevitability. It’s also a warning to the rest of the nation—and especially our large cities—that we need to get immigration under control—and we need to offer young people opportunity so they don’t turn to these destructive ideologies out of desperation.
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Good points though conservatives should really stop calling leftists progressives. A progression towards conflict and ruination seems more regressive to me.
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Agreed. I’m going to have to adopt that terminology.
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