The Gotham City election, explained

 

By Stu Tarlowe

I’ve been trying to come up with an analogy to express what just transpired in the NYC mayoralty race. So far, the best I can muster is this one:

Everyone knows that Gotham City represents New York City. Well, the voters of Gotham City, given a choice between Batman and The Joker, have chosen The Joker.

And despite the name, The Joker, and the fact that these are characters in comic books, there is nothing even remotely funny about what just transpired.

Just as Batman is a fictional crimefighter, having devoted his entire life to fighting crime, Curtis Sliwa was a real-life crimefighter who has also devoted his entire life to fighting crime; any New Yorker who has been paying the slightest bit of attention over the past forty or more years knows this; it is indisputable.

And The Joker is a criminal mastermind, who seeks to exert control over all aspects of life in Gotham. Back when Americans better understood the goals and perils of communism (not to mention the goals and perils of Islam!), the analogy between The Joker and Zohran Mamdani would have been much clearer. But it still represents a choice between being unequivocally opposed to criminal activity, and being much more tolerant, even favorable, toward it.

A majority of Gotham City’s voters have chosen more crime over less, the criminal over the crimefighter, and ultimately have endorsed communism and slavery over capitalism and freedom. Like the Indians who “sold” Manhattan island for $24 worth of trinkets, they have sold out their city and their own futures for the promise of “free stuff” and fewer restrictions on criminality and anti-social behavior.

As for the other contender in the race, Andrew Cuomo represents The Penguin; perhaps not nearly as evil or dangerous as The Joker, but a criminal nevertheless and only a smidgen less un-desirable than The Joker, and still in no way preferable to Batman, at least not to any sane and normal resident of Gotham City. But sane and normal residents of Gotham City are now a distinct minority.

Author’s Note: Stu Tarlowe was born in NYC in 1948 and spent his formative years there, but has not lived there in decades. He has been contributing to American Thinker since 2010; most of his work for AT can be viewed here. He also posts on Stu’s Stack o’ Stuff, where subscriptions are still free and where the content is not exclusively political. For more than a decade, Stu was the personal editor for the late Conservative talk radio icon Barry Farber; his tribute to Barry Farber may be read here.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/11/the_gotham_city_election_explained.html