It was a rude awakening for some young, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed socialists in New York City last week, as they arrived at the Zohran Mamdani victory party in Brooklyn to discover that a Bud Light cost a whopping $13. I mean, what kind of socialist utopia is that?
In fact, the pricey suds are probably quite indicative of the impact that Zany Zohran's policies will have across Gotham. It will almost certainly be more carnival of errors than clinical communist takeover, making New York City more expensive and less attractive, but with snazzy Soviet-style posters and TikTok videos.
And guess what? Even if crime skyrockets because Mamdani hates cops, buses still aren't free, rents continue to go up and the city becomes more divided than ever - Mamdani will be a two-term mayor.
There's no Republican Rudy Giuliani 2.0 waiting in the wings, and even if there was, this electorate wouldn't pick him.
REPUBLICANS PUSH TO MAKE MAMDANI THE NEW FACE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
In the days prior to the election, I traveled around the five boroughs and found that among moderate and conservative New Yorkers there was no fear of apocalypse regarding Mamdani, even as billionaires, politicians and editorial boards scolded them for not lining up behind Andrew Cuomo to "save the city."
"I don't even go to Manhattan," Steve, a lifelong Bay Ridge, Brooklyn resident, told me. "I've got everything I need right here."
In Steve's almost half a century in the blue-collar nabe where cops live and the mafia used to roam, he's seen it survive not only under the disastrous leadership of former socialist Mayor Bill de Blasio, but the even worse old days of David Dinkins.
FLASHBACK: WILDEST MOMENTS MAMDANI OVERCAME ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL TO BECOME NYC'S NEXT MAYOR
Like The Dude in "The Big Lebowski," this and so many hard working areas of New York City will abide. Other parts of the city, where gang crime, drug dealing and vagrancy fester, will get worse and worse, but such places are easily ignored by champagne socialists.
Another reason why Mamdani should have smooth sailing into a second term is that his base is transplants, young adults in their 20s and 30s who come to New York City to live it up, knowing full well that they will settle down somewhere else. To them, a little crime might as well be the mustard on a Nathan's hot dog.
Ultimately, the reason that Gotham is looking at an eight-year sentence of Zohran's socialist leadership is that the Republican Party, from the national, state and even city level, simply refuses to even try to compete.
NYC OFFICIAL EXPOSES MAMDANI'S 'MARXIST PLAYBOOK' IN REVEALING NEW FOX NATION SPECIAL
Some of this dates back to Michael Bloomberg, who cynically ran as a Republican in 2002 to win the mayor's race and then abruptly became an Independent, all but making the GOP a third party, clinging to its one competitive congressional seat and a few city council slots.
Maybe it is hopeless for Republicans in Gotham. Maybe things will never get bad enough again, for everybody, that a new Rudy can emerge, and given how the original is treated today, who would want to be that person, anyway?
No matter how bad it gets, the city will blame Presidnt Donald Trump. Or Vice President JD Vance. Or racism, Islamophobia or whatever they can think of. Not for nothing, they'd have re-elected De Blasio if they could've.
LIZ PEEK: DEMOCRATS CHEER MAMDANI'S WIN - THEY'LL BE CRYING SOON ENOUGH
Note how the billionaires are now changing their tune, pledging to work with Mamdani, begging for meetings with their new commie mayor. Gone is the gnashing of teeth and wailing of wails over the death of New York City.
Right-leaning Gothamites never bought all the Sturm und Drang anyway, and they sure as hell don't let rich guys tell them how to vote.
If there is any hope for the GOP to make a comeback in New York City, they better get started now, because with rank-choice primary voting there isn't a moderate Democrat in the universe, to the extent they still exist, who could topple Zohran.
Elections have consequences, and for the next eight years, at least, in New York City the consequence is socialism. Like sitting at a two-hour recital after your kid has already performed, they'll have to sit through the whole thing.
Those $13 dollar Bud Lights will be the least of it.
Buckle up, Gotham, it's gonna be a bumpy ride, and if there is any Republican other than Curtis Sliwa who will stand up against socialism, they should say so now, or they may truly, forever hold their peace.
