There's an old saying that's often brought up in political discussions; I remember the late, great Rush Limbaugh saying something along these lines, when discussing the legacy media: It's a "gaffe" when a Republican accidentally says something that's incorrect. It's a "gaffe" for a Democrat when they accidentally say what they really think.
Here's the problem facing the left right now: The quality of leftist politicians, especially at the municipal level, is decreasing as the competent and productive people leave the big, blue cities in the hands of a few wealthy elites and the much larger dependency class. This tilts elections further to the left, bringing to the fore "democratic socialists," the likes of whom couldn't have been elected as Third Assistant Dogcatcher a decade or two ago.
Case in point: Seattle's new mayor, Katie Wilson, who is a literal gaffe machine, who may well outdo Kamala Harris in the competition for the greatest word-salad tosser.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's gaffe "pattern" was called out by Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat in a piece published Saturday, as the far-left mayor continues to face backlash over her viral dismissal of wealthy residents in her state.
"A first political gaffe is like the first time you forgot to do your homework," Westneat wrote. "It leaves a pit in the stomach, and maybe you get an F that day, but it’s only a lasting big deal if you keep repeating the mistake. So a second gaffe is more a cause for concern. By the third gaffe, we have a trend."
Wilson went viral after she waved goodbye to millionaires who want to flee the state during an interview in April.
Mr. Westneat has more:
The Seattle Times columnist highlighted two other gaffes. He pointed out one from February, as she spoke to a room of supporters.
"This city is filthy rich," she said.
The other gaffe Westneat highlighted was one from November, in which she joined a Starbucks protest.
After winning the mayoral election in 2025, Wilson joined a Starbucks protest picket line, and said, "That is why I am proud to join them on their picket line and proud to say loud and clear, I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either," according to KUOW.
Now here's the thing: This, right here, all three of these examples, just prove the maxim noted above. Does anyone doubt that Katie Wilson really believes the things she said? The legacy media may call these gaffes, but it's more accurate to say that Mayor Wilson was saying what she really thinks.
We have another example, that being New York's new mayor, the communist Zohran Mamdani:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani acted like a bozo mobster from the “Godfather” by protesting outside billionaire Ken Griffin’s luxury Manhattan pad in a “dangerous’’ stunt, according to ex-Gov. David Paterson.
“Mamdani had a press conference talking about how we’re taxing the rich. … [He] went to [Griffin’s] home, as they would say in ‘The Godfather’ which is a very dangerous thing to be doing right now with all of the attempts on peoples’ lives,” Paterson said in an interview that aired Sunday — pre-taped before a madman opened fire Saturday on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which President Trump attended.
This shows an appalling lack of judgment on the part of an elected official, but that's nothing new for the current resident of Gracie Mansion. And, as the former governor notes, Zohran Mamdani may be mayor, but he's still acting like a student protestor.
Paterson said Mamdani — who posted a now-viral online video of his staged publicity event outside Griffin’s apartment April 15 — needs to be more mature now that he’s mayor, instead of acting like a lefty street activist.
“If this was a student protest, I’d understand it and see [Mamdani] as puerile and callow,’’ Paterson said of Hizzoner’s attention grab, designed to support Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes worth more than $5 million.
“But apparently, even at his age, he’s still that way,’’ Paterson told host John Catsimatidis on 77 WABC radio’s “Cats Roundtable” program.
It's becoming a pattern, this increasing lack of competence in Democrat elected officials, from the city level to the White House.
Read More: Americans Voting With Their Feet: Is Our National Divorce Underway Now?
Blue States Double Down on Tax Hikes As Wealth and Residents Head for Red States
Why is this happening? Well, here's why, and I'm going to tell you.
First: This is a symptom, more than a cause. We have documented, often and completely, the ongoing self-sorting that's happening in our nation. People are voting with their feet, and they are increasingly leaving the blue jurisdictions for red ones. This is happening across the board, from the city level to the state level, to the point where it's nearly impossible to rent a U-Haul trailer to move your household lares and penates from California, New York, or Illinois to Texas, Tennessee, or Florida, because they're all already gone. (In fact, one may be able to make a good side business out of organizing convoys of paid drivers to move U-Haul trucks and trailers back to California.)
Second: It's not just a matter of people leaving. It's a matter of who is leaving. These include business owners, who are, in many cases, taking their businesses with them, along with the jobs they have created. The people voting with their feet are also the productive: People who work, who build things, who fix things, who are the linchpin of their local economies, and who receive no thanks for it.
Third and finally, it's a matter of the people who are remaining. As the productive and the politically moderate leave, the nuts are left in charge; our cities are, increasingly, becoming havens for the wealthy far-left, who are insulated by their bank accounts from the consequences of their own lunatic politics, and the dependency class, who vote reliably for the candidates who offer them the most free Schiff; and nobody makes Santa Claus-like promises more than a "democratic socialist," most of whom have never done an honest day's work.
The famed science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein once wrote:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."
America's big blue cities are about to experience some really bad luck indeed, and the only thing worse than their bringing their areas to that pass is the fact that they were too clueless to see this obvious effect coming.
