Elections are here, and the situation is depressing.
By the time you read this article, it is entirely possible—based on all statistics and appearances—that Zohran Mamdani, a far-left, woke, socialist anti-Semite, will be the mayor of New York City. Many other races will also have been decided on all levels—national, local, and state.
It is important to step back for a moment and look at what has happened and how this country has gotten to where it is today.
Let’s begin with Mamdani. How could such an illegitimate candidate gain traction in the city with the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel? The answer is not that he has a message that resonates. It doesn’t resonate with the vast majority of voters. The reason is that the other politicians running for the job are awful, unelectable, and corrupt.
Boruch Mordechai or Arur Haman?
In our parlance, we would say that Mamdani’s appeal—and a vote for him—is not boruch Mordechai, but arur Haman.
Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor, has shown himself to be both incompetent and corrupt. His polling numbers were so dismal that he had no choice but to exit the race. Curtis Sliwa, a radio personality, never had a chance. No Republican has a realistic shot in New York, and given Sliwa’s long history in the city, he is viewed more as a clown than as a serious politician.
Then comes Andrew Cuomo. It is hard to imagine a more unlikeable candidate than the former governor. As governor of New York, he was arrogant, heavy-handed, scandal-prone, and just plain mean. The fact that our community supported him again was not because of boruch Mordechai, but rather because of arur Haman. For all his faults—and there are many—he is still far better than Mamdani.
The New York mayoral election is a microcosm of what we’ve seen across the country. Voters are simply fed up with the status quo candidates. The “official politicians” on both sides of the aisle—and their political playbooks—are nearly identical. They promise much, deliver little, and continue to squeeze the people, stunting economic growth while getting stuck on the same political minefields again and again.
Trump’s “Trump” Card: The Reason for His Success
Truthfully, this was the very reason President Trump was elected. It wasn’t that Trump didn’t have flaws. He certainly did. But he had something no other politician possessed: He came into office with no preconceived notions about how politics “had to” work.
They said that tweeting was “unpresidential.” Perhaps it was. But it was his only way to get his unfiltered message out to the people. By using Twitter, and later Truth Social, he bypassed the hostile press and spoke directly to Americans.
Both parties had long maintained a tacit agreement to let illegal immigration continue at some level, bleeding the country’s coffers to pay for healthcare and education for illegal immigrants while flaunting existing immigration law. Trump shattered that paradigm and showed that the law could, in fact, be enforced. He broke out of the “Sedom bed” that both parties had placed themselves in.
The same was true with healthcare. He sought to revamp the system so that it would not continue to drain the country dry, something no one else even dreamed of attempting.
His battle with the Deep State followed the same pattern. While both Democrats and Republicans viewed the Deep State as an inevitable force to which they had to submit or risk their jobs and freedom, Trump, the ultimate street fighter, refused to be cowed into submission. That is why, at least regarding the presidency, the status quo finally began to change.
On the economic front, Trump decided that America had to stop being the world’s biggest sucker, allowing other countries to impose tariffs on U.S. goods while not responding in kind. His economic policies and trade wars broke old stereotypes and put America’s interests first. These moves have already changed things dramatically, and it appears that the effects will continue to bear fruit.
In foreign affairs, too, Trump threw out the old diplomatic playbook. That same playbook had been responsible for decades of stalemates in many of the world’s intractable conflicts. He upended the conventional approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Whether or not the current ceasefire holds, the fact that he succeeded in bringing home all the living hostages is an accomplishment that would have been unthinkable under the traditional “peace process” model followed by the so-called “experts” for the past two decades.
The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Politics
That is why today’s political scene, especially at the local level, is so depressing. It seems that local politicians still haven’t received the memo that a paradigm shift in how politics is conducted is long overdue.
This is why Zohran Mamdani, a candidate with no experience and few redeeming qualities, has gained support: because people are simply fed up with establishment politicians. Voting for Mamdani is, for many, a protest vote against the entrenched system that has failed them for so long.
In our communities, as well, local politicians keep making the same promises, election after election: “tuition relief,” “vouchers,” “traffic improvements,” “lower taxes.” Yet, we all know that nothing will change. How do we know? Because they’ve been making these same promises for years, only to vanish until the next election cycle.
The old way of doing politics—the backroom deals, the lack of transparency, the same faces over and over again—fits Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing again and again while expecting different results.
It’s high time that we bring the “Trump wrecking ball” to politics on both the state and local levels. We need entirely new people, leaders willing to tear down the “givens” of entrenched politics and look at things with fresh eyes just as Trump did when he tackled the Middle East, immigration, tariffs, and the economy.
If we keep doing the same thing every election cycle, we are, indeed, insane.
Mounting a political campaign against the entrenched interests is neither easy nor for the faint of heart. Still, sometimes there is no choice but to bring a wrecking ball to the status quo.
Now, after this election, is the time to begin preparing for the next one. Are there any potential wrecking balls ready to roll? It won’t be easy, and it’s not for the timid, but at this point, there is no alternative.
Any candidates?
