Zohran Mamdani is not mayor yet, but given his trajectory, New Yorkers are in for a world of hurt.

On Saturday, the United States dropped bunker-busters on the Iranian nuclear program. Three days later, the Iranians retaliated by winning the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. Who says blowback isn’t real?

You likely already read the news last night when I pounded out the first draft of history in the making: Andrew Cuomo’s career has ended in defeat, as he was squarely upset in the Democratic primary for mayor of the city by young progressive Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani — a heretofore unknown anti-Israel activist with four years as a state assemblyman and zero other work experience to his name — won by such a convincing margin in the first round of ranked-choice voting that Cuomo immediately conceded the race to him.

It is a staggering humiliation for the former governor, and my initial thoughts focused primarily upon his plight. (To summarize: I wish I could enjoy this more than I currently do. Few deserve such a pathetically public end to their career more than Cuomo, a legitimately vile man and politician whose entire family legacy haunts the state of New York.)

And as we mop up the blood and entrails this morning, spare a thought for what the city has chosen to bring upon itself: They’re in for a world of hurt. Keep in mind that Mamdani is not mayor yet. It remains to be seen whether will voters will turn to once-unacceptable incumbent Eric Adams, now running as an independent, to prevent Mamdani from winning the general election.

So for now, many are daydreaming about November in New York as some giant last stand of minorities, Republicans, and Democratic moderates rallying around Adams to stave off the Zohranians — the Forces of Men, Dwarves, and Elves, their strength diminished but not yet gone, repelling Sauron’s dark hordes. That’s fine if you enjoy fantasy, but I advise you not to pursue the analogy too far unless you’re the sort of fantasy buff who prefers stories where the heroes all die and the bad guys win.

New York City is ultimately a Democratic town, and Mamdani is a surprisingly gifted retail politician riding the crest of a wave. He is a citywide primary winner rising on the most organically vast groundswell of online media coverage and progressive goodwill the world has seen since Barack Obama emerged like Paul Muad’Dib from the mists of Hyde Park 20 years ago. Mamdani’s supporters back him with quasi-religious fervor, so expect the cult of personality surrounding this man — and protecting him from media scrutiny — to become biblical. He will almost certainly be the next mayor of New York.

So what is there to say about the plight New York City voters awaken to find themselves in? I know what most on the right will say, for I have seen it countless times in response to my writings on the state of my home city of Chicago: They chose this destiny, they voted for it — they brought it on themselves. (Typically such comments are larded with dully repetitious references to H. L. Mencken’s theory of democracy.)

The thing is, these people are correct, albeit not in the way they realize: The people who just voted Mamdani the Democratic nomination are a mere fraction of a fraction of the city’s population. Even though turnout and enthusiasm for the NYC Democratic primary was up over 2021, yesterday’s vote represented something like only 17 percent of the eligible voters in the city. (The same situation applied here in Chicago, where turnout for both rounds of the 2023 mayoral race that put Brandon Johnson into office were dismally low.) They will now govern 100 percent of the city.

In my piece previewing the New York City mayoral election from last week, I ended with a bitter reflection on the view from Chicago, from a man who had seen his own city barrel down this path straight to hell, more quickly than I would have ever thought possible as a resident of the city for half of my life. I sarcastically dared New York’s voters to look at what Brandon Johnson brought to Chicago and bring that kind of Second City midwestern failure to the big bright lights of Broadway. But it was the jest of the damned, clearly meant as a plea for sanity. Instead, chaos prevails. It shall be instructive if nothing else.