By Gary Tilzer
The New
York Post columnist Michael Goodwin missed the real story when he focused
on Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Tish James’ warnings to protect
New Yorkers from their claims of potential federal legal threats posed by
President Trump’s second term. These statements were just political posturing;
they distracted from the opening shots in a growing cultural war unfolding
across New York City for control of politics and the government. This battle is
far more than a political posturing—it’s a clash between the ideologically
driven socialist-progressive elite in control of NY, largely centered in
Manhattan, and a rising coalition of working-class voters from the city’s outer
boroughs that could change government and politics in NY.
This growing
working-class coalition, led by Hispanics, Asians, conservative Jews, and new
immigrant communities, has the potential to disrupt and challenge the
entrenched one-party, ideologically driven Democratic control that has
dominated New York’s government and politics for decades. The policies of this
ruling elite have contributed to the city’s decline. By uniting around shared concerns about
economic opportunity, public safety, and quality of life, this working-class coalition
represents a powerful counterforce that can break the stranglehold of a
political class that has prioritized progressive ideology over the needs of
everyday New Yorkers. If given the platform and support to organize, this rebellion
which had the highest percentage of voters abandoning the Democratic Party for
the GOP of any large city in the nation, could reshape the city’s political
landscape, pushing back against the destructive socialist overspending policies
of the City Council and offering a new vision to make NYC great again.
The New York
Post and the rest of New York City's local media are unaware of a new
working-class coalition against the one-party control is forming in dark blue
NY despite clear evidence in the voting results. Local media even ignored Congressman Ritchie Torres’
tweet after the election that said the Democratic Party's progressive
ideological culture is “killing the (Democratic) party.” Torres, who is deeply
attuned to the political shifts unfolding in his Bronx district, recognized the
significance of the presidential race results. In his home borough of the
Bronx, support for Trump surged by 40%—from 16% in 2020 to 27% in 2024.
Nationwide, 46% of Hispanic voters rejected Vice President Kamala Harris,
signaling the beginning of a dramatic realignment of their vote.
Congressman Torres wrote on Twitter/X: "The working
class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far ideological left is
selling. Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has
managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from
the Democratic Party with absurdities like 'Defund the Police' or ‘From the
River to the Sea’ or ‘Latinx."
Torres
understands that these shifts are not just about changing voter preferences;
they reflect a larger cultural war playing out on the streets of New York City,
where ideological progressives are losing their grip on key working-class
communities, who are looking for ways to challenge NY’s progressive political
establishment who are not meeting their needs and concerns, and lowering their
quality of their life.
The 40%
surge of support for Trump led by the working-class in four out of five of the
city’s boroughs is clearly a response to socialist progressive policies that are
hurting the City’s working class and immigrant communities. The 43% surge (27% in 2020 to 35% in 2024) in
support for Trump in Queens is partially in response to a bail law that allows
mentally ill criminals to punch Asian women in the face or push Michelle Go off
a Times Square subway platform to her death.
The 36% surge (16% in 2020 to 28% in 2024) in support for Trump in Brooklyn
is partially in response to a 150% increase in antisemitic attacks against Jews
who live in the borough of Kings and the daily anti-Israel marches and antisemitic
protests at Columbia university. The 54%
surge (57% in 2020 to 68% in 2024) in support for Trump in Staten Island is
partially in response to Congestion Pricing and Socialist City Council attempt
to allow non-citizens to vote, which the SI Borough President Vito Fossella is
suing in court to stop. There was no
increase in Trump’s vote in Manhattan (17% in 2020 to 17% in 2024) where the
high rents have pushed out most of the working class.
New York’s
Jewish voters, a traditionally Democratic constituency, delivered a
record-breaking 50% increase in support for Republican Trump compared to the
2020 election. This shift underscores the Jews growing frustration with the
city's progressive Democrats who sided with or won’t speak out against the anti-Israel
and Jewish socialist activists running the city’s Democratic Party.
The surge in
support for Trump among New York City's immigrant communities is a direct
response to the city’s declining economy and its negative impact on their
lives. For generations, immigrants have thrived in NYC, benefiting from its
robust economy, securing jobs, starting businesses, and building better futures
for their families, the American Dream. However, many of these immigrants,
particularly those who fled socialist regimes, understand more than native New
Yorkers the dangers posed by the socialist policies that gained traction under
Mayor de Blasio’s administration. These policies are steadily eroding the
city's economic foundation: driving away jobs, stifling small immigrant businesses
through looting, lack of affordable housing, and a crime wave undermining the
quality of life of immigrant families.
NYC’s
once-excellent education system, which helped immigrant children like Colin
Powell achieve success, now is struggling under the weight of socialist
priorities that focus on controversial content rather than essential academic
skills and excellence. The policies
championed by the progressive elites are not just failing these new growing immigrant
communities—they are actively blocking their aspirations, pushing them to seek
leadership that promises to restore the economic vitality and educational
standards earlier generations of immigrants relied on.
NYC was Saved by a President and a Bi-Partisan Cooperative City Leader During the Great Depression in the 1930s
In City
of Ambition: FDR, LaGuardia, and the Making of Modern New York City,
Professor Mason Williams masterfully illustrates how Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Fiorello LaGuardia, despite their stark contrasts, formed an unlikely yet
extraordinarily effective partnership that reshaped New York City. Roosevelt,
the patrician president with a calm, intellectual demeanor, and LaGuardia, the
scrappy, immigrant-born mayor with a firebrand personality, were an odd couple
in nearly every way—one, the eloquent voice of fireside chats selling New Deal
policies to the nation, the other, famously reading tabloid cartoons to
children during a newspaper strike; one a pragmatic Democrat, the other a
reform-minded Republican.
Amid the suffering
of the Great Depression and rampant corruption of Tammany Hall, two New Yorkers
-- Roosevelt and La
Guardia -- came together to rescue NYC. Through their collaboration that lifted
the city out of economic despair, by making New York City the largest recipient
of New Deal public works projects and federal funded jobs in the nation.
By 1937, FDR’s
Works Progress Administration (WPA) was responsible for supplying 31% of New
York City's budget—funding transformative projects and jobs that reshaped the
city's infrastructure and public services. Under Roosevelt’s leadership, the
WPA helped build iconic landmarks like the Lincoln, Brooklyn-Battery and Queens
Midtown Tunnels, the Triborough Bridge, and the Henry Hudson Pkwy and FDR
Drive. La Guardia Airport and the outer-borough segments of the Eighth Avenue
Independent Subway Line, once considered a defunct project, were also completed
with WPA support. The federal government funded the creation of Orchard Beach,
the Roosevelt Boardwalk, Carl Schurz Park, and Flushing Meadows, Bryant Parks,
as well as the construction of the Astoria Pool. The WPA also initiated the
city’s first public housing projects, the East Village’s First Houses. The city also received federal funds to build
health clinics, libraries, educational facilities, homeless shelters,
courthouses, firehouses, police stations
According to
early media reports, New Yorker Donald Trump is determined to follow in the
footsteps of fellow New Yorker President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by directing
federal funds into New York City’s struggling economy and working to restore
the city to its former greatness. However, for Trump to succeed in rescuing New
York City from its deepest crisis since the near-bankruptcy of the 1970s, he
faces significant challenges. Chief among these is the deep resistance from the
city's political leaders—many of whom not only opposed his election but
vilified him throughout his presidency, campaigns, and even sought to imprison
him. These political adversaries, entrenched in their progressive ideology or the
silent moderate elected officials afraid of being primaried by them, now stand
as formidable obstacles to Trump’s efforts to deliver much-needed relief to the
city. Overcoming this opposition will require more than just federal resources;
it will demand political cooperation and a shift in the city's ideological socialist
leadership dynamics—empowering the working-class voters who supported Trump is
the key to saving NYC.
Goodwin
and the Media Fail to Understand that it is “We the People” That Change the
Culture Not Politicians
New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin undermined Trump’s ability to save New York City by overlooking the record-breaking support he received from the city’s Hispanic, Asian, Jewish, and immigrant working-class communities, instead choosing to focus his column on what he called a bitter, politically motivated press conference by Governor Hochul and Attorney General James, whose Washington, D.C. futures were crushed by Trump’s victory.
It is
fostering the cultural shift—evidenced by the growing number of Democrats who
crossed party lines to support Trump—that has the potential to fundamentally
change New York City. Finding the right
leader—a modern-day "Odysseus"—who can guide this transformation in
the deep blue heart of NYC is a challenge that seems more rooted in Greek
mythology than in today’s political reality, where the political socialists
running the city count on 75% of the city not voting for ballots full of
left-wing candidates in the Democratic Primary to stay in power.
In a
follow-up column, Goodwin draws on Jimmy Breslin’s iconic book Can’t Anyone
Play This Game? —which chronicled the disastrous 1962 Mets losing first season—to
criticize Governor Hochul’s leadership of New York. Goodwin is right in
pointing out the failure to "play the game," but he misses the mark
on what the game actually is. It’s not about Hochul’s political alliances with
the Attorney General or folding to the progressive left who want her to start
Congestion Pricing immediately, as Goodwin suggests. The real game is about
standing up to the progressive policies that have driven half-a-million New
Yorkers and a trillion in Wall Street business to leave the state, and the
outer borough working-class to rebel, a rebellion clearly expressed in their
crossing party lines to support Trump.
By failing
to cover or even acknowledge this growing working-class revolt, the media,
including Goodwin, is effectively suppressing the voices of those who are
rejecting the one-party socialist Democratic control of NYC. In light of the
media’s failure to cover the rebellion, it would be political suicide for
Hochul or Mayor Adams to take a stand against the progressive agenda that
controls the city’s political machinery, as they still rely on progressive
voters for their re-election prospects. The fault lies squarely with the media
for failing to properly cover the government failures that resulted in strong
support for Trump in working-class New York City, a failure that is only
further entrenching the dysfunction and stagnation that have disabled the city
and its democracy for years.
Michael
Goodwin, whose columns are often among the first to spot shifts in the city’s
political landscape, missed election results that could be considered the Battle
of Lexington and Concord in New York City's working-class cultural war—a
pivotal moment that, if given fair and thorough coverage by the media, could
challenge the entrenched political power of the city's progressive socialists,
political bosses, and ruling elites who run NY. A working-class cultural war
has the potential to disrupt the political stranglehold of New York's ruling
class, but by ignoring it, Goodwin and others in the media are effectively
allowing the status quo to persist, potentially sabotaging any meaningful
efforts to bring real change to the city's broken government and politics.
As the 2025
mayoral race heats up, it is crucial that progressive candidates do not
undermine Trump’s efforts to help New York City. With Trump’s administration
likely to take a hard stance on sending migrants back home, progressive mayoral
and City Council candidates will undoubtedly attack him and any leader who
tried to work with him. It is imperative that any potential efforts to
collaborate with the federal government on economic relief, crime reduction,
and citywide infrastructure revitalization are not sabotaged by political
ideological resistance from the progressives.
There is little chance that Trump will be able to do as much for NYC as
FDR without empowering the working class to become a political force, a check
against progressive rule of NY.
Until the
Media Gives A Voice to the City’s Disenfranchised Voters, the Dysfunctional Government
Will Continue to Destroy NY
New York’s
progressive narrative media led by The New York Times has consistently
focused on amplifying the voices of the progressive groups and elected
officials it seeks to empower, while simultaneously underreporting and
suppressing the concerns of the working-class communities who are struggling
under progressive policies. The NY Times announced the end of the safe
space protective progressive bubble in the city, in the same column
interviewing so called victims who live in communities who voted for Trump.
Goodwin, who
is usually great at connecting the dots to expose political trends, corruption,
dumb NY elected officials and deceptive bias journalism by The NY Times,
needs to expose how NYC local liberal media won’t cover, or give a voice to the
city’s working class because they voted for Trump.
The NYC media
never investigated or reported on the reasons for NYC’s working-class support
for Trump during the campaign. When Trump
held his rally in the Bronx, progressive narrative NY1 wrote, “Trump
appeared on stage at his Bronx rally with two rappers charged in a felony gang
case.” Nobody in the city’s Hispanic community was interviewed during the campaign
about widespread support for Trump in their community. The Reverend Rubén Díaz who organized the
president- elect Bronx rally was never interviewed by any of NY’s press about support
for Trump in NYC’s Hispanic communities. The NYC press has also failed to talk
to anyone in the growing Asian, Russian or immigrants’ community on why their
community voted for Trump.
The media's
failure to cover or give a voice to the working class who voted for Trump,
enables the progressive establishment to maintain its stranglehold on power,
while silencing the voices of the 44% of New Yorkers who turned to Trump for
solutions. By ignoring and not nurturing this critical realignment in the
presidential race, media outlets like Goodwin and others are complicit
in perpetuating the progressive agenda that is crushing the city’s working
class, perpetuating undemocratic representation destroying NYC, and also a
potential roadblock to efforts by Trump to reverse the city's decline.
At present, with
progressive in control, NYC working class voters who supported Trump lack of
power have forced the incoming president to seek out selective office
holders. It took only two days after the
governor and AG defiant news conference against president-elect Trump, for the
new president to beginning separating Governor Hochul and Attorney General
James when he spoke last Thursday with the Governor and expressed interest in
working together with her to make the crumbling Penn Station and subways
“beautiful” again. This transit fix-up move
echoes the approach of FDR and Fiorello La Guardia, who, during the Great
Depression, utilized military bomb shelter funds to repair and improve several
subway stations, including the West 4th Street station, where the middle
platform—still marked as a bomb shelter—remains a testament to their legacy of creatively
utilizing federal resources for urban renewal in NYC.
Trump is
also developing a relationship with NYC’s embattled mayor that deepened at the
Al Smith dinner when he pointed out that Adams is the victim of lawfare like
himself. Right after President-elect
Trump’s call to Mayor Adams the mayor canceled the migrant food credit card
program and his girlfriend’s job with the Department of Education.
It is up
to the Press to Empower the City’s Growing Working Class Who are the Only Hope
to End Progressives Control That is Destroying NY
Judging by
how the socialists’ progressives and ruling elites have governed NY during the
last decade they have no understanding of what was done by generations of
political leaders of the city before them to create the greatest city in the
world. They also lack the important
knowledge of how Mayor La Guardia worked with FDR to funnel funds into the city
to build major project, create jobs to rescue NYC from the great depression. Progressives
do not understand the once in a lifetime opportunity Trump can give every New
Yorker by saving NYC with federally funded projects and jobs, reinventing NYC to
again become the greatest city in the world. The press needs to educate New Yorkers on what
was needed to create the great city of NY, and also educate them on how the
historic partnership between President Roosevelt and Mayor La Guardia saved NYC
and made it great.
It is also time
for the media to hold NY leaders like Senator Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader
of the House Congressman Hakeem Jeffries responsible for saving the city. As
the new minority leader in the Senate, Schumer must be asked if he is willing
to work with the new president to save New York City—especially in light of the
2024 election failure and loss of leadership positions, that resulted from his
and other Democratic leaders' excessive catering to progressive ideological policies.
House Leader Jeffries should also be asked the same question. The city's future
depends on finding NY leaders willing to work with Trump to restore NYC
greatness.
Connecting
the Trump Working Class Voters to Other New Yorkers Who Want Changes to the Bail
Law, Stop Congestion Pricing, & End the 5 billion Spent on Migrants is a Silent
Majority
It is not
only the city’s working-class that is opposed to how NY is being governed by
the progressive Democrats. According to
the polls 80% to 90% of New Yorkers want changes to the crime causing bail law,
congestion pricing, and how the city wastes billions on the migrants. Their concerns
are being blocked by the city’s low turnout local elections primaries controlled
by socialist progressives and the liberal narrative NYC media who do nothing to
encourage non-partisan elections which would increase ballot competition and
turnout. New Yorker’s voices on
government policies are further being repressed because they are not permitted
to vote on public measures like California voters who just voted to take the law
into their own hands to shut down soft-on-crime progressive experiments, like
the bail law. It is time for local media to report on why the needs and
concerns of the city’s working-class are being ignored by the NY progressive
leader, and why the local press is helping these same progressive leaders to
stay in power by suppressing the voice of the city’s working class.
Goodwin and
the rest of New York City's local media should use their articles or video
reports to give the working-class supporters of Trump a voice in local politics
to pressure the Trump haters in charge of NY politics and government from
blocking Trump’s offer to Make NYC Great Again.
This progressive controlled media 180 will be difficult, at the mayor’s
recent news conference almost every question was how Adams was going to protect
the migrants against the Trump administration plan to deport them. When the mayor said he represents all New
Yorkers including the working class that voted for Trump, there was no follow
up, only additional questions about protecting migrants. We will soon find out if the ideological driven
press and politicians think it is more important to protect migrants, fight
Trump and stick to their socialists’ ideological policies, than allow Trump to provide
jobs, infrastructure projects, safety measures including deporting migrant
criminals, and making New York City Economy Great Again.
The outcome
of the city’s culture war for control between the city working class and the progressive
socialists ruling class will determine the quality of life for every New Yorker
and the future of New York City for generations to come.
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