Jack Dart’s opinion-piece on FB…

”Mamdani wins it, and the world breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York set the pace for the rest of the country. A Muslim, Ugandan-born, Indian-origin Democratic socialist winning the most powerful city in America was more than a surprise. It was a statement that the United States has not given up on progress or on democracy itself. His campaign united young people, workers, and immigrant communities who wanted fairness and decency to matter again. What followed across the country showed that they are not alone.

The results were extraordinary. Democrats swept to victory in states and cities that had been written off. They broke Republican control in Virginia, expanded their majority in New Jersey, and gained ground from the South to the Midwest. This was not a protest vote but a rejection of the authoritarian direction Donald Trump has been driving the country towards. It proved that even in the face of suppression, intimidation, and propaganda, Americans are still prepared to fight for their democracy.

Trump’s regime has spent years trying to tighten its grip on power. Federal agencies have been purged, voting rights attacked, and dissent punished. He has relied on fear to hold his movement together, insisting that only he can defend the nation from chaos while creating chaos himself. Yet when voters were given the chance to speak, they chose something else. They chose governors and mayors who believe in housing, education, healthcare, and accountability. They chose a future that looks beyond Trump’s control.

Predictably, the excuses followed. His supporters flooded social media with claims of interference and rigged ballots, recycling the same conspiracies that have defined his movement for years. Each time they lose, they insist democracy itself is broken, as though the only legitimate outcome is their own victory. Yet the results cannot be denied. The far right was defeated, and the people they tried to silence turned out in greater numbers to prove it.

The victories this week were not only about party politics. They revealed the persistence of a public that refuses to be ruled by fear. Even under a government that has used its power to suppress, intimidate, and divide, millions stood firm in defence of their rights. Mamdani’s win in New York embodied that strength, not as a spectacle of identity, but as a reaffirmation that solidarity, when organised and sustained, still has power.

Trump’s authority has begun to crumble. The structures he built to tighten his control are still there, but they no longer command the fear they once did. Americans have seen the damage his movement has caused and are standing their ground. The results on Tuesday night were not a flicker of resistance but the start of a reckoning. Authoritarians can seize offices, but they cannot own the future. That will belong to those who still believe in democracy, and who refuse to let it die quietly.

Well done America. ????”

Jack Dart is a UK-based writer and political commentator. For the Non-Facebook-Phobic amongst us, the original piece is here.