Socialism Didn’t Win. Social Media Hype Did.

1. No, Mamdani Doesn't Have a Mandate.

Zohran Mamdani won a little over 1 million votes (at current count) in a city with a population of around 7 million adults.

That’s about 14%.

The total election turnout was a little over 2 million (that will likely increase) making for an election turnout of 28%.

That’s not even a third of New York City’s population.

New York City’s election turnout has always been weak. And while the city has a large illegal alien population, it still has 5 million registered voters. That’s a below 40% turnout rate even for registered voters.

The media is hyping this as the highest election turnout in decades. Only if you don’t pay attention to population growth.

In the 1993 showdown between Giuliani and Dinkins, a racist hack who let the city burn, and whom Bill de Blasio viewed as an inspiration, 1.9 million voters turned out in a city with a smaller population and 3 million registered voters for a 59% voter turnout.

The turnout fell in the 2001 election that was effectively a referendum on Giuliani’s policies by Bloomberg, versus another liberal Democrat, was at over 40%.

So no, this isn’t a mandate.

Putting together 1 million votes in a city whose Muslim settler population is somewhere below 1 million (most estimates are dubious) and whose leftist population is certainly in that range is not a big deal.

The opposition didn’t put together enough votes. Everything rested on turnout and with the Muslim settler population and the leftist TikTok voters and college students, Mamdani had a cushion that was hard to beat.

It’s not a mandate. It’s colonization and apathy.

2. Socialism Didn't Win. Social Media Hype Did.

Two mayoral elections in major cities with two candidates.

Both Omar Fateh and Zohran Mamdani followed the familiar AOC playbook of seizing their party’s nomination in low turnout primaries or in Fateh’s case, DFL conventions, against an established candidate.

Both were Islamists running on ‘free stuff’ and socialism.

Mamdani beat Cuomo in New York City while in Minneapolis, Jacob Frey appears to have defeated Fateh. 

The difference didn’t come down to policies, it came down to social media hype.

Mamdani kept that fake smile up the entire time and painstakingly followed the ‘people’s struggle’ handbook of pretending he was representing some electorate other than fellow Muslims and leftists. Omar Fateh tried the same routine, but it doesn’t help that he looks like a fairy tale goblin. 

Smiling only gets you so far when you look like you’re about to demand that a fairy tale queen guess your name or you’ll make off with her daughter.

Mamdani mostly benefited from massive amounts of astroturfed social media hype. 

We’ve seen the waves of fake hype for Obama before, not to mention other radical candidates like Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul, in which a small social media campaign by radicals pumps up a candidate that otherwise no one would care about. It only works when the candidate, like Obama, has enough charisma to front it. No amount of hype could make anyone make Bernie Sanders or Ron Paul president. And the hype wasn’t enough for the Minneapolis goblin.

Socialism is only a part of it. The radical candidates don’t really run on socialism. They run on hype aimed at low-information voters. Especially young ones. That worked for Mamdani, but you have to have the media training, the looks, the polish and the personality to make it happen.

Those can be manufactured.

Consider the difference between the pre-politics and post-politics Mamdani.

Would this guy, who looks like the neighborhood sex-offender, have won? Less likely.

And compare 2000 era Obama with the guy who eventually took over the party.

Mamdani didn’t win a policy debate. He won a personality contest.

And would Mamdani had even won if he were facing a single focused opponent instead of two aging narcissists from the past who spent half their time squabbling with each other? Much like the Obama era might have been averted if the GOP hadn't run a holdover from another era who got the nod because 'it was his turn'.

3. These elections weren't about the issues. They were about the economy.

The average voter cast ballots based on his or her perception of the state of things and a big part of that is the economy. Trump and Republicans had that going for them in 2024. They don’t in 2025 and they won’t in 2026.

This is an urgent reality check.

Yes, Republicans and conservatives will agonize that Virginia voters didn’t make their decision based on the Jay Jones death threats. It’s 2025. Moral qualifications for candidates are deader than Gary Hart (correction Gary is still alive) which is why Graham Platner is doing better than ever after the SS tattoo and the Communist declaration. There may be nothing too awful that a politician can do to be morally disqualified. People vote down party lines, they vote based on which party they think is screwing them harder, based on identity politics and just sheer ‘cussedness’.

Conservatives become complacent. These elections should be a dash of cold water. President Trump has done a lot of great things, but much of the country is still agonizing over prices, over the economy at ground level, and is not feeling good about the state of the nation. Unless that changes, not just Dems, but Islamists and the far Left will exploit the opportunity to take more positions, climb the political ladder and eventually take over the country.

We’re not safe. We’re in the middle of a war. The echo chambers have become too cozy and we’re seeing too many memes while losing sight of the battle.

There’s still time before 2026 and 2028. But only so much time..