The Friday Brief, June 27, 2025

Inside: Being Mayor Is Harder Than It Looks
BBB Is Big Trouble for the GOP
The Economy Is Shrinking
Please Stop Trying to Kill Us
Peter Thiel’s Vision
Trump Threatens To Sue CNN and The NYT Again
Please Don’t Call Him Daddy
Fly Like You Train
Scenes From The Home Front

The Big Picture

Being Mayor Is Harder Than It Looks

There’s quite a flush of excitement over Zorhan Mamdani, who swept the New York City Democratic primary for Mayor on Tuesday night. He’ll face off against Eric Adams in the General election this November. Adams, a recent convert to Esoteric Trumpism following his pardon by Donald Trump, will run as an independent, and this likely represents the most awkward decision for the wealthy people you’ve ever seen. He’s corrupt as hell, but Mamdani’s socialist promises will scare them into the arms of Adams.

Andrew Cuomo was not only a flawed candidate (to put it mildly) but a terrible one. He tried to ride name ID to victory, but when your name ID is linked to being a terrible fucking person it doesn’t always work out as you think it might.

Having seen more than a few NYC races up close, and having served as a Senior Advisor to the Mayor of New York in the Before Times, I have some news for Mandani.

Being Mayor is hard.

It’s a massive executive responsibility that transcends the easy promises of the campaign. Being a Democratic Socialist doesn’t mean that you get to ignore things like potholes, building collapses, street crime, and the thousands and thousands of pedestrian details of the mayoralty. For all the DSA types hoping to be the Commissar of Punishing the Filthy Kulaks or whatnot, I have some terrible news for you.