Mamdani Analysis

12 November 202510 November 2025 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Saturday I wrote a detailed analysis of the 2025 off-cycle elections. I don’t think they’re quite as dire as everyone makes them out to be—at least, not dire for conservatives’ electoral prospects in 2026. If you’re living in New York City, the outcome is pretty bad.

Regular reader and contributor Ponty asked me my thoughts about the election of Zohran Mamdani, the Socialist Islamic Mayor-Elect of New York City. He voiced a view he and I have both seen circulating: the disbelief that New York City could elect an openly Muslim mayor a mere twenty-four years after 9/11.

I offered up my “back-of-the-envelope analysis” for him, which I’m reproducing here today.

I boiled down Mamdani’s election to five factors (and I am sure there are more): massive immigration, identity politics, socialism’s current appeal, Americans’ short memories, and large-scale demographic shifts. Really, it’s little different from why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got elected the first time: she is Hispanic in a district that is overwhelmingly Hispanic and Left-leaning. That shouldn’t shock us.

With that, here is my take on the Mamdani situation:

TBT: The Price of Freedom: A Good Attorney

25 June 202024 June 2020 The Portly Politico1 Comment

One of the harsh realities for conservatives these days is that the only true guarantee of your rights is deep pockets and a good attorney. With the direction things are heading, that’s even truer today than when I wrote this post one year ago.

Indeed, I think the Masterpiece Cakeshop guy got sued again, but at this point, I’m not even sure. There are endless combinations of protected and preferred identities at this point, so I’m sure refusing to bake a cake for a Wookie Life Day banquet will result in fines from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Delusional Crone (Almost) Divorces Husband over Trump

25 February 202023 February 2020 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

If you’re ready for your blood pressure to spike before you even eat your cholesterol-thick breakfast, here’s an example of the delusional loonies on the Left: a California woman (almost) divorced her husband because he voted for Trump.

This story is a bit old, as it dates back to early 2017, but it’s indicative of where our nation is. It not only demonstrates the intense loyalty of the Left to their progressive dogma, but also how cheaply marriage is held.

The short version is thus: 73-year old Gayle McCormick threatened seriously to divorce her husband of twenty-two years when she found out he voted for Trump (ultimately, they merely separated permanently).

Nevada Feels the Bern

24 February 202023 February 2020 The Portly Politico1 Comment

Well, the Commies and “natural conservatives” in Nevada have spoken, and it looks like Bernie Sanders is going to sweep the state’s caucuses. That means he’s currently leading in Democratic delegates heading into South Carolina’s primaries this Saturday.

Joe Biden appears to be in second place, somewhat surprisingly, with l’il Pete Buttigieg in third. That’s going to make South Carolina a big showdown between Sanders and Biden. Biden is banking on blacks in South Carolina to buoy his flailing campaign. Buttigieg will likely flame out (no pun intended) in SC, and the rest of the South, because of those same voters—blacks do not like homosexuality.

All that said, Bernie appears to be in the driver’s seat. While folks are predicting Trump will mop the floor with the ancient socialist, a Sanders nomination is a very dangerous development.

Election Season 2020: Iowa Caucuses

3 February 20203 February 2020 The Portly Politico5 Comments

After all the anticipation, it’s finally here—the proper beginning of the 2020 presidential election. The Iowa caucuses kick off tonight, and there’s no telling how it’s all going to shake out (although it looks like Bernie is on track to have a good night).

The Iowa caucuses work differently than the primaries in other States. Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day today explains the process succinctly. Essentially, if a candidate does not receive 15% of the votes at a precinct, his or her supporters must recast their votes for one of the remaining candidates. That means that, while a candidate always wants to be a voter’s first choice, being the second choice can still work well. It also makes it possible to see where support will go if a candidate drops out.

Tucker Carlson’s Platform for Victory in 2020

27 January 202027 January 2020 The Portly Politico2 Comments

Tucker Carlson is the gift that keeps on giving. In a segment from last week, the populist-friendly television host offered up a winning strategy for President Trump—and a warning.

In essence: while economic numbers are very good, many of Trump’s base of supporters—the working and middle classes—are still struggling, or at least perceive that they are. In a longer piece from Joel Kotkin (also on Carlson’s Daily Caller website), the author argues that the tensions between the Trumpian lower classes and the ascendant upper class is akin to the friction between the French Third Estate (the commoners) and the First and Second Estates (the aristocracy and the clergy) just prior to the French Revolution.

TBT: Democrats Show Their True Colors

1 August 201931 July 2019 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Even after the rapid cultural changes I’ve witnessed since the Bush II administration, I’m always amazed how quickly our national debate changes. We’re accelerating towards something, and fast.

One bit of evidence—when I wrote “Democrats Show Their True Colors” eleven months ago, it was still somewhat rare for Democrats to openly call themselves socialists. Now, they’re all clamoring to assume the mantle of big government spendthrifts.

Trump Up in Polls

23 July 201922 July 2019 The Portly Politico3 Comments

Yesterday’s post looked at blogger photog’s musings about the radical implosion of the Democratic Party. photog surmised that either the Democrats will tone down their ultra-progressive rhetoric, or they will continue to double-down on—and let President Trump bait them into—their death’s embrace with socialism. My money is on the latter.

Shortly after that post went to press, I read a National Review blurb about Trump’s record-high approval ratings. Trump has hovered around 35-40% in most approval polls, with a solid base of support. Democrats and Never Trumpers have been banking on Trump not gaining substantially beyond 40% approval ratings (never mind that the 2016 polling was egregiously far off). If we figure that some poll respondents simply aren’t confessing that they like the president or will vote for him, we could probably add 3-5% to that support.

Rudyard Kipling’s “The Mother Hive”

17 July 201916 July 2019 The Portly Politico11 Comments

To start yesterday’s History of Conservative Thought class, I had students skim through Rudyard Kipling’s 1908 short story “The Mother Hive.” I stumbled upon the reading in our class text, Russell Kirk’s The Portable Conservative Reader.

It is a grim little fable that warns about the perils of progressivism infiltrating a proud but weakened nation. In the story, a deadly wax-moth sneaks into a large but bedraggled beehive during a moment of confusion. She quickly steals away to the cell of the youngest bees, who have yet to take their first flight. There, she fills their impressionable heads with gentle words and promises of a glorious future, all while covertly laying her eggs.

One young bee, Melissa, who has just returned from her first flight, is suspicious of the beautiful stranger’s soothing words, but the wax-moth plays the victim and insists that she’s only spreading her “principles,” not the eggs of her hungry future children.

SubscribeStar Saturday: The Real Color of Environmentalism is Red, Not Green

13 July 201913 July 2019 The Portly Politico4 Comments

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive. To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Environmentalism is an easy target for the Right, but radical environmentalists are dogmatic and effective at advancing their anti-humanity agenda. “Climate change”—and before that, “global warming” and “global cooling”—have been tools for advancing Marxism and statism for over fifty years.

Environmentalism is one of the many gods in the polytheistic pantheon of pagan progressivism. It fits in nicely with some of the other deities in Leftism’s cosmology, such as Abortion and Open Borders: “don’t procreate because babies use up too many resources and there are starving children in Guatemala—bring them in instead!”

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The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: socialism