United States of What, Exactly?
424: It’s not the same country. You’re not imagining it
Good morning.
Spicy one today followed by a new episode of Risk On this afternoon with my friend Will Tanner of
.Somewhere along the way in the United States, we stopped defending the fundamentals.
We outsourced the economy, hollowed out the culture, and pretended that endless immigration was strength. We let activists redefine what it means to be a citizen, a community, a country. And now—after years of drift—we’re watching the consequences hit the political surface.
This week, New York gave us a preview of what happens when ideology, identity politics, and demographic shift converge in one of the most powerful cities in the world.
Let’s get into it.
Socialist Takeover of New York
New York City just crossed a political Rubicon.
A democratic socialist who identifies as Muslim —naturalized only seven years ago—is now poised to become the next mayor of America’s most iconic city.
Zohran Mamdani’s rise wasn’t driven by fringe activism. It was fueled by a surprisingly broad coalition: progressive whites, young professionals, Asian neighborhoods, segments of the Orthodox Jewish community, and even parts of the Black and Latino vote. This wasn’t a fluke. It was a signal.
If you’re paying attention, this isn’t just about Mamdani. It’s about a rapidly shifting electorate—who’s voting, what they believe, and where the country is heading.
His coalition defied all conventional wisdom.
White progressive voters formed the backbone of his campaign, making up nearly half his base.
In Asian-American neighborhoods, Mamdani pulled in large margins—over 60% in some precincts.
Orthodox Jewish areas like Kensington delivered surprisingly strong numbers considering past positions from Mamdani, with some precincts showing over 70% support.
While he didn’t dominate in Black and Hispanic communities, he performed better than expected, benefiting from strong turnout and broad progressive messaging.
The Jewish numbers are surprising — Mamdani has taken several hardline stances on Middle East issues that have raised serious concerns—even within his own party.
He’s openly supported the BDS movement, accused Israel of genocide and apartheid, and introduced a bill to block NYC charities from funding groups tied to Israeli settlers. He refused to co-sponsor standard resolutions honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel’s founding, and has defended the use of slogans like “globalize the intifada,” framing them as human rights expressions.
In interviews and public statements, he’s made it clear he sees U.S. support for Israel and strikes on Iran as imperial overreach, even once suggesting he’d have Netanyahu arrested if he set foot in NYC.
These positions, while popular with certain activist circles, highlight just how far the Overton window has shifted and how comfortable some officials are with elevating foreign interests over national cohesion.
That coalition may have won a primary but it won’t fix the city. It’s one thing to ride a wave of identity politics and radical policy promises; it’s another to govern a collapsing metropolis.
The very last thing New York City (and our country) needs right now is an ultra dose of far left progressive ideology.
For anyone being honest with themselves — New York City (and the country) has not been the same since the Covid pandemic. I lived there for 7 years between 2016 and 2023. The changes that I personally saw in the city were drastic. Pre-2020 it was amazing and I had some of the best times of my life in the city. But during Covid and after things degraded quickly. Crime soared, prices skyrocketed, migrants flooded the city, and the general vibe changed.
Crime is obviously one of the major if not biggest issues at play. In my time in the city post Covid, I was jumped, saw people get robbed, regularly had issues commuting or walking to work on the subway and the sidewalk, heard dozens and dozens of stories from friends and colleagues of the same, saw a man drop a revolver on the subway, and watched as the defund the police movement ripped through the city amplified by BLM, Pro Palestine movements, and general disruption.
I spent time in San Francisco for several years — this is and was not your typical big city druggie homeless problem for those who love the classic “conservatives are afraid of cities” line. There are countless examples of wanton violence in the city in the last several years.
If this man is elected in the Fall — crime will soar. That is a guarantee, because his brand of socialist policy consistently prioritizes ideology over enforcement, decriminalization over deterrence, and redistribution over public safety.
His economic platform includes rent cancellation, public housing expansion, and taxpayer-funded guarantees that sound good on paper—but collapse in practice under the weight of fiscal reality and zero accountability. Wealthy people are already canceling the purchase of homes and apartments and looking to leave the city on this news.
Because this isn’t just about one mayor. It’s about an ideological shift that’s already rotting the foundations of American cities. The policies he represents have been tested—and they’ve failed. Every time.
It's no secret for the last 10 to 15 years we have seen a surge in socialism and cultural Marxism creeping into every single corner of American Society.
Tyler Winklevoss did an excellent thread on this on X last night.
I've done plenty of posts on some of the predictions made by Yuri Bezmenov, the alleged former KGB informant and Soviet journalist who defected to the US in 1970.
Bezmenov is famous for his analysis and commentary on the process of subversion against the West in which he details the slow decades long process of undermining the core values, cohesion, and structure of the United States by describing a psychological warfare strategy that weakens the moral, cultural, and political fabric of a nation. If you're somewhat familiar with it, you know that it's practically spot on when you look at the events and trends within the US over the last several years.
A complete infiltration and corruption of our universities, institutions, government and society by far left ideology. It is thought that Over 60–65% of white college-educated voters under 40 backed Mamdani.
“College educated” lol. These are brainwashed socialists.
While there’s a laundry list of far-left damage that has plagued this country for years, now this ideology along with former administrations has facilitated what is arguably the largest threat facing this country today — unchecked, unbridled, mass immigration. Mamdani, who has openly called for the abolition of ICE and supports expanded protections for undocumented migrants, is a clear reflection of where this agenda is headed.
And the US is not alone in this phenomenon with Canada and most of Europe, also seeing the same events. While you have the rapid spread of far left ideology across our country you also have a massive shake up of the demographics and make up of our nation — which has directly accelerated tolerance for agendas and movements that clash with the fabric of our national identity.
Some of you might remember my conversation on Risk On with BowTiedRanger some time back.
In it - he and I discussed the his career experience in investment banking, time in the military as an Army Ranger, US politics and more. We talked about immigration, specifically illegal immigration, but we also broached the topic of legal immigration, which Ranger believed at the time — would become a highly discussed topic in the near future.
And he was right — this week it is certainly being talked about along with a whole host of other issues related to the events in New York City.
Let’s talk about why this issue is sure to be a hot topic in the US moving forward.
Immigration, Society, and The United States Trajectory
The truth of the matter is people are becoming more and more aware of the widening culture gap that we now have in the United States.
As they say, politics is downstream from culture.
The partisan political divide, growing unrest in the streets, corruption from our politicians, the rise of support for socialism, and degrading social cohesion are all evidence of this shift in the US.
Immigration — both legal and illegal are massive drivers of this in the West and the US — anyone denying this has lost the plot.
There are very few nations with the exception of those already dealing with severe immigration related issues like the UK and Canada, that allow the volume of immigration, both legal and illegal that our country has endured over the last 10 years.
Since the start of COVID, the U.S. has seen a significant surge in both legal and illegal immigration, pushing the foreign-born population to historic highs:
Roughly 3.2 million people have received green cards since 2020.
Another 2.6 million became naturalized U.S. citizens in that time.
The total foreign-born population now sits between 48 and 53 million, making up about 15–16% of the total U.S. population—the highest share in over a century.
The official estimated number of illegal immigrants ranges from 11 to 13 million (I would venture to say it could be 2-3x that number), though 2025 saw a small drop of about 1 million due to increased enforcement and voluntary returns.
These numbers reflect a dramatic shift in the country’s demographic landscape—one that’s reshaping cities, politics, and the national identity debate.
The basic questions that are largely danced around in public discussion because of course we’ve all been conditioned to consider discussion racist, xenophobic, etc. are:
how much immigration is enough immigration?
what is the long term impact of immigration — both legal and illegal, on national identity, cohesion, and our future?
Even if you are the strongest advocate of diversity, multiculturalism, immigration (be it legal or illegal), melting pot syndrome, and whatever else you want to call it — where do you end up drawing the line? It's a genuine question.
Let’s play with some hypotheticals.
Assuming you were born in the US are you be okay with a massive surge of tens of millions of Asians to the United States? What if over a 25 year period - they ended up making up 60% of the population in the United States? Would that still be considered the United States of America? If you’re a part of the majority, you probably wouldn't care.
We could look at it through a religious lens as well — for those of you who live in Europe, what would you think if the United Kingdom had 70% of its inhabitants identifying as Muslim 10% as Buddhist and only 20% as Christian or Catholic? If you were Muslim, you probably wouldn't care.
Would a radically different demographic/political balance still feel like America?
If the culture, values, and governance looked nothing like what came before—would it be the same nation in anything but name?
Basic Example
To put this as simply as possible let's use a very basic allegory.
There are two types of dogs—red dogs and blue dogs.
Blue dogs are calm, quiet, and eat once a day.
Red dogs are high-energy, bark constantly, and eat six times a day.
The blue dogs have lived peacefully in a park for years. Then, the city manager decides it’s only fair to bring in red dogs from all over, and there are many red dogs constantly showing up in the region.
At first, things seem fine. A few red dogs adapt to the park’s vibe and the blue dog’s behavior. But soon, differences re-emerge: barking rises, food times clash, waste piles up. The red dogs overwhelm the blue dogs by sheer numbers and behavior.
Eventually, the blue dogs start barking back—not because they want to, but because the environment demands it. Their entire environment has changed and they no longer have control of it.
The point is simple: without a shared baseline of behavior, even good-natured groups clash. And when there’s no assimilation, the most assertive traits and numbers dominate over time.
Without consistent assimilation or cooperation it's not realistic to expect these dogs to live together in perfect harmony or for one group to not be at a disadvantage or advantage based on who has higher numbers, who is more aggressive, and what the dog’s nature or preferences are— it's also not realistic to expect that group to not strive for power or control of their environment.
Sure you could read this and say so what?
But without assimilation all you really have is an invasion.
When Assimilation Stalls
There are few people that would entirely ignore the role of immigration in the United States, particularly its impact on business and economy, but the major underlying difference that is obvious at this point is a growing portion of recent immigrants both legal and illegal show little interest in assimilating—or worse, seek to reshape the country in their own image.
There are vast numbers of notable immigrants who have changed our country for the better:
Albert Einstein (Germany) – Physicist who transformed science in America and influenced national policy.
Elon Musk (South Africa) – Founder of Tesla and SpaceX, driving U.S. innovation in tech and aerospace.
Sergey Brin (Russia) – Co-founder of Google, shaping the internet age.
Andrew Carnegie (Scotland) – Built U.S. Steel and became a titan of American philanthropy.
Hamdi Ulukaya (Turkey) – Built Chobani into a billion-dollar brand; major U.S. jobs creator.
Luis von Ahn (Guatemala) – Co-founder of Duolingo, computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon; pioneered crowdsourcing and reCAPTCHA.
Dr. George Ayittey (Ghana) – Economist, author, and professor; leading voice in African development and U.S. academia.
Carlos Gutierrez (Cuba) – Former CEO of Kellogg’s and U.S. Secretary of Commerce under George W. Bush. Immigrated after the Cuban Revolution.
Padmasree Warrior (India) – Former CTO of Cisco and Motorola, influential in U.S. tech innovation and AI development.
Souley Abdoulaye (Niger) – Early African immigrant entrepreneur in the Midwest, founded a successful logistics firm and mentored Black business networks.
Dambisa Moyo (Zambia) – Economist and author with a doctorate from Oxford and MBA from Harvard. Serves on U.S. boards (Chevron, 3M) and has influenced U.S. investment policy with books like Dead Aid.
And I’m not naive — there are caveats to this as well — the recent H1-B visa debate is an excellent example, putting forth a valid argument, is the US an economic opportunity zone or is it a nation? Can it truly be both? That is one question I still haven’t figured out myself given there is no other country like ours.
And of course — there are likely tens of millions of others not as famous or well known who have assimilated, contributed, and made the US what it has been historically.
But that trend has shifted drastically and the evidence is all around us that this is now the case, New York is only the most recent example.
In the last five years or so, we've even seen the intentional dumping of the very worst that countries have to offer, including violent criminals, unvetted illegal immigrants from third world countries, and even terrorists. Europe has been impacted drastically — Europe’s foreign-born population is now at a historic high. As of 2024, the EU has over 63 million foreign-born residents, accounting for roughly 14.1% of its total population.
Many are here to extract from this country as if it is a free economic zone (which in some regards it is), they are here to push their own initiatives and agenda, and they have no desire to truly acclimate at all.
It adds insult to injury that a large number of our politicians, not only enrich themselves and fail to serve the people they represent, but also facilitate policies that encourage this type of behavior. We see this daily with left wing politicians, including Mamdani pledging to resist ICE efforts to remove ILLEGAL immigrants.
Aside from the growing trend of individuals in the United States and other countries that clearly have no intention of assimilating, contributing positively, or aligning themselves with the values of the native population, the other thing that you need to understand (that was illustrated in the super complex dog example) is that when any group AT SCALE, I don't care who they are or where they come from or what they believe, gain a majority they will not only impose their will, but they will revert to their customs, their way of living, and actions that benefit those like them.
This process is ramped up dramatically when you have governments encouraging and facilitating the entire process.
This should not come as any surprise. This is super super basic stuff.
A nation is supposed to be comprised of people that are similar and share the same values — that second piece is incredibly crucial, without it you don't have a nation at all, you have a zone.
A nation is generally defined as:
A large group of people who share a common identity, typically based on shared elements such as culture, language, history, ethnicity, and often a sense of belonging to a particular territory.
Even ChatGPT wasn't able to give me a left - leaning slanted definition of what a nation is, it knows what a nation actually is.
People aren't used to talking about this kind of thing — but I'm telling you right now.
It is going to be a pillar of discussion in the coming years.
You can't play devil’s advocate, and pretend like things would never get to a point where the examples I am giving are relevant, but they are already trending in that direction.
On a long enough timeframe, there will be a defined outcome of the people that make up this country, where they come from, what they believe, how they behave, their politics, how they allocate resources, and how they want to rule.
Zohran Mamdani represents what happens when foreign interests and domestic fractures collide—where imported ideologies intersect with a political system already splintered by a loss of cohesion, absence of shared values, and a growing obsession with non-American priorities. He’s not just a candidate—he’s a symptom of a deeper erosion.
Closing Thoughts
The only people who will be triggered by this post and unable to have a discussion around it are:
those who won’t admit or can’t understand the consequences of unchecked mass migration into a country
those who are benefitting from this phenomenon or want to see the US system be changed radically
those who are far left progressives who fully support the overhaul of our national norms and identity
If you immigrate to the United States the proper way, that does not mean that you need to abandon your former self or shed traditions or customs that you had in your past life, that would be an asinine thing to believe in.
But it does mean that you need to make a reasonable effort to assimilate to our country and it sure as hell means if it ever came down to it, you would be willing to give your life in defense of it (and not in another meaningless war in the Middle East).
Your priority is the country you live in and its continued success and longevity — full stop.
You should love your country and the opportunities that it has provided to you, particularly if you were not born here, you should want to protect it. You should be staunchly against any efforts to undermine it, degrade it, harm it, or subvert it.
Anything anything short of that and you have absolutely no business being here.
What we’re seeing now isn’t just a demographic issue—it’s ideological.
The rise of democratic socialism and the normalization of cultural Marxism in our institutions, media, and schools has accelerated the unraveling of national identity. Economic redistribution is now paired with cultural deconstruction. Traditional values are seen as oppressive. Patriotism is treated as a threat. And anyone who demands assimilation is labeled a bigot.
This wasn’t organic. It’s by design.
It’s the downstream effect of decades of ideological subversion—exactly the kind of long-game that thinkers like Bezmenov warned about. Socialism attacks the structure of the economy.
Cultural Marxism erodes the foundation of shared values. Together, they create a population that's economically dependent, culturally fragmented, and easy to control.
We’re not just arguing about policy anymore. We’re in a battle over what America is, who it’s for, and whether it will survive as a nation—or dissolve into a borderless economic zone ruled by whoever shouts the loudest.
And most people still haven’t realized how far gone we are.
Without serious reform of our legal immigration system—and a decisive end to the chaos of illegal immigration—this country will become unrecognizable over time. The cracks are already visible. What we’re seeing in politics today and in New York isn’t just noise, it’s the unraveling of a shared identity, a warning sign that we’re losing the core ideals that built this nation in the first place.
What makes it worse? A disturbing number of Americans think this trajectory is normal—or worse, sustainable.
It’s not.
I’ll leave it there for now. Tomorrow we’ll pivot back to markets. Drop your thoughts below, and keep it civil—this wasn’t an easy post to write, but it needed to be said.
Andy
I heard that even when the park is composed of only 13% red dogs, that they're still responsible for 50% of the barking.
Canada is like the NYC except on a national scale. They admitted 2 million Indians in the span of a couple of years. Already struggling to define a national identity, Canada as a nation is now all but lost. Their experiment of being a mosaic versus the American melting pot is close to failing for good.