Zohran Mamdani is the mayor-elect of New York City, and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is Champagne drunk, celebrating his ascension.

But should it be? Mamdani has only narrowly prevailed in a race with a clear spoiler candidate, Republican Curtis Sliwa, lead-blocking for him against a charmless opponent, former governor Andrew Cuomo. With tougher, more honorable competition, it’s possible — likely, even — that he may not have even made it to the general election, much less won it.

Only when compared to a corrupt, sleazy, nepobaby with blood on his hands, and a beret-clad, narcissistic cat-man whose own friends begged him to step aside, did voters view Mamdani as a much-needed alternative.

Both the Republican and Democratic establishments in New York have much to reflect upon — and atone for. Mamdani’s victory is less a ringing endorsement of his agenda than it is an indictment of the lazy, complacent power brokers to whom he’s meant to be a middle finger.

Moreover, while he may scratch every neurotic, fanciful itch to plague his party’s radical base, Mamdani’s mayoralty will most assuredly prove a failure. And on a scale that neither the nation, nor even the Democrats will be able to deny.

The tragedy of it all, though, is that for the country to avoid falling into the hands of an explicitly anti-American socialist, its greatest city will have to do just that. For New Yorkers, it’s difficult to imagine Tuesday night’s results yielding anything but pain, and, indeed, suffering.

Four years ago, Eric Adams swept into office amid not only the Covid-19 pandemic but the crime epidemic that accompanied it. The intervening years have seen a partial recovery, with significant decreases in some of the most important categories.

Mamdani threatens to reverse what progress has been made. In 2020, amidst the pandemic crime wave, he declared that “police do not create safety,” and “actually create and amplify violence,” even going so far as to suggest that non-cops should be the ones to respond to domestic violence calls.

In other comments, Mamdani smeared law enforcement as “racist,” “wicked,” and “anti-queer,” lamented the “boot of the NYPD” on residents’ necks, and reveled in officers’ tears.

The mayor-elect may have tacked to the center and apologized to the NYPD during his campaign, but the sheer number of prior statements expressing his vitriol in no uncertain terms suggests that his backtrack was one borne of convenience rather than a genuine change of heart.

Not only can New Yorkers expect Mamdani to implement policies that will leave them and their loved ones less safe, but his presence in Gracie Mansion will send unmistakable messages to police and criminals alike — with terrible consequences.

Similarly, while Mamdani has succeeded, in large part, thanks to his focus on affordability, his agenda in action will make life anything but.

Price controls have failed anywhere and everywhere they’ve been tried, but that hasn’t stopped Mamdani from touting them as the fix for the city’s housing crisis. What else? How about free transit and childcare, a ludicrous minimum wage hike up to $30 an hour, and, get this, city-owned and operated grocery stores.

These heavy-handed interventions into the free market, which are meant as stepping stones toward a seizure of the means of production, if Mamdani himself is to be taken at his word, are sure to have the exact opposite effect they’re meant to.

It has been said that a rising tide lifts all votes. By driving wealth out of the city and punishing that which remains, Mamdani will lower the tide to the detriment of every boat on the Hudson, from the most magnificent yacht to the smallest dinghy.

New York’s fall is a moral one, too, of course. It isn’t just a city in America, it’s a symbol of it.

Alas, there is little sign that Mamdani has anything but resentment for his adopted country or the values for which it stands. Hence, his shameless photo-ops with an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and a far-left influencer who believes the United States had 9/11 coming.

And all of that is to say nothing of his undeniable sympathy for Hamas, or his obsessive hatred for the world’s Jewish-majority state, about which he has articulated conspiracy theories worthy of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

So yes, New York has fallen, but not permanently. The good news is that David Dinkins and Bill de Blasio’s disastrous tenures both led to furious, righteous backlashes, and so too will Mamdani’s.

The better news is that Mamdani’s shortcomings will serve as a warning system for the nation.

The closest parallel to Mamdani on the national stage, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lives in his city. Both rose to national prominence inside of blue bubbles where progressive politics are not just popular, but required. Both have proudly claimed, rather than run away from, the dreaded “socialist” descriptor. Both have been praised for their communication skills and social media strategies. And both defeated avatars of a complacent — even stultifying — Democratic establishment on their way to victory.

Ocasio-Cortez is among the early favorites in the 2028 Democratic primary and was a vocal backer of Mamdani’s campaign. Ironically, though, she may end up a victim of his success.

For the better part of a decade now, Ocasio-Cortez has been able to skate by as a congresswoman — one of 435 — whose unpopular, destructive ideas are never actually put into action. Now, those ideas will take center stage as New York plays the role of a lab rat, seemingly blissfully unaware of the toll the experiment took on its forerunners, let’s call them San Francisco and Chicago.

America as a whole is seemingly next up, but will have every opportunity to opt out after surveying Mamdani’s handiwork.

So enjoy that Champagne, progressives. It isn’t the kind that ages well.

From The Spectator.